George Bancroft (September 30, 1882 – October 2, 1956) was an American

film actor, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1925 to 1942. A star of pre-Code Hollywood, he is best known as the tough guy lead in four Josef von Sternberg films, the last of which, Thunderbolt (1929) earned him a Best Actor Award nomination. He was later a supporting actor in a number of notable movies, including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Stagecoach (1939).

Early years

thumb|George Bancroft in Berlin (1929)

Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. He attended Tomes Institute in Port Deposit, Maryland. During his days in the Navy, he staged plays aboard ship. and The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly (1923). He played the title role in The Wolf of Wall Street (1929, released just prior to the Wall Street Crash), appeared in Paramount's all-star revue Paramount on Parade (1930) and starred in Rowland Brown's Blood Money (1933), condemned by the censors because they feared the film would "incite law-abiding citizens to crime."

Reportedly, he refused to fall down on set after a prop revolver was fired at him, saying "Just one bullet can't stop Bancroft!".

Bancroft enjoyed his career height in the late 1920s, his thirties' films where he was the leading man, didn't quite have the same impact and by 1936 he had slipped to being a supporting actor; although he still appeared in such classics as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with Cagney and George Raft, and Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne and Thomas Mitchell. In 1942, he left Hollywood to be a full-time rancher.

Personal life

Bancroft first married actress Edna Brothers In 1934, Brothers sued him, claiming they had never divorced. He was interred there in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.

Complete filmography

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!Year

!Title

!Role

!Notes

|-

|1921

|The Journey's End

|The Ironworker

|

|-

|1922

|The Prodigal Judge

|Cavendish

|

|-

|1923

|Driven

|Lem Tolliver

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1924

|Teeth

|Dan Angus

|

|-

|The Deadwood Coach

|Tex Wilson – in play

|

|-

| rowspan="4" |1925

|Code of the West

|Enoch Thurman

|

|-

|The Rainbow Trail

|Jake Willets

|

|-

|The Pony Express

|Jack Slade

|

|-

|The Splendid Road

|Buck Lockwell

|

|-

| rowspan="4" |1926

|The Enchanted Hill

|Ira Todd

|

|-

|Sea Horses

|Cochran

|

|-

|The Runaway

|Lesher Skidmore

|

|-

|Old Ironsides

|Gunner

|

|-

| rowspan="5" |1927

|White Gold

|Sam Randall

|

|-

|Too Many Crooks

|Bert the Boxman

|

|-

|Underworld

|"Bull" Weed

|

|-

|Tell It to Sweeney

|Cannonball Casey

|

|-

|The Rough Riders

|Happy Joe

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1928

|The Showdown

|Cardan

|

|-

|The Drag Net

|Two-Gun Nolan

|

|-

|The Docks of New York

|Bill Roberts

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1929

|The Wolf of Wall Street

|The Wolf

|

|-

|Thunderbolt

|Thunderbolt Jim Lang

|

|-

|The Mighty

|Blake Greeson

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1930

|Paramount on Parade

|Mug (Impulses)

|

|-

|Ladies Love Brutes

|Joe Forziati

|

|-

|Derelict

|Bill Rafferty

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1931

|Scandal Sheet

|Mark Flint

|

|-

|Rich Man's Folly

|Brock Trumbull

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1932

|The World and the Flesh

|Kylenko

|

|-

|Lady and Gent

|Stag Bailey

|

|-

|1933

|Blood Money

|Bill Bailey

|

|-

|1934

|Elmer and Elsie

|Elmer Beebe

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1936

|Hell-Ship Morgan

|Captain Ira 'Hell-Ship' Morgan

|

|-

|Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

|MacWade

|

|-

|Wedding Present

|Pete Wagg

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1937

|A Doctor's Diary

|Dr. Clem Driscoll

|

|-

|John Meade's Woman

|Tim Mathews

|

|-

|Racketeers in Exile

|William Waldo

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |1938

|Submarine Patrol

|Capt. Leeds

|

|-

|Angels with Dirty Faces

|Mac Keefer

|

|-

| rowspan="4" |1939

|Stagecoach

|Marshal Curley Wilcox

|

|-

|Each Dawn I Die

|John Armstrong

|

|-

|Espionage Agent

|Dudley Garrett

|

|-

|Rulers of the Sea

|Captain Oliver

|

|-

| rowspan="5" |1940

|Green Hell

|"Tex" Morgan

|

|-

|Young Tom Edison

|Samuel 'Sam' Edison

|

|-

|When the Daltons Rode

|Caleb Winters

|

|-

|Northwest Mounted Police

|Jacques Corbeau

|

|-

|Little Men

|Major Burdle

|

|-

|1941

|Texas

|Windy Miller

|

|-

| rowspan="3" |1942

|The Bugle Sounds

|'Russ' Russell

|

|-

|Syncopation

|Steve Porter

|

|-

|Whistling in Dixie

|Sheriff Claude Stagg

|

|}

Notes

References

  • Photographs and literature