Douglass Montgomery and Dorothy Wilson, in 8 Girls in a Boat (1934)

British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 139. Photo: Paramount. Douglass Montgomery and Dorothy Wilson in 8 Girls in a Boat (Richard Wallace, 1934).

American film actor Douglass Montgomery was also credited as Kent Douglass. The tall, oval-faced, fair-haired actor often played sensitive or idealistic young men. Among his most celebrated roles was Laurie in Little Women (1933), opposite Katharine Hepburn's Jo March.

Robert Douglass Montgomery was born in 1907, 1908 or 1909 (the sources differ) in Los Angeles, California. He was the son of Chester Montgomery, a jeweller, and Leona Smith. Montgomery graduated from Los Angeles High School. He gained early acting experience at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Montgomery used the stage name Douglass Montgomery when he began acting in New York. On Broadway, he was quickly typecast as a dashing suitor in romantic and social dramas. Montgomery was discovered and signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) at the beginning of the sound film era. The tall, blond actor made his film debut in 1930 in Paid, directed by Sam Wood, in which he had a major supporting role alongside Joan Crawford. When he signed his contract at the studio his name was changed to Kent Douglass, to avoid confusion with that studio's star Robert Montgomery. In 1931, he was Mae Clarke's film partner in James Whale's film drama Waterloo Bridge in the role of a kind-hearted soldier. Other MGM credits include Daybreak (1931) starring Ramon Novarro and Helen Chandler, and Five and Ten (1931) with Marion Davies and Leslie Howard. He was the son of Walter Huston and love interest to Helen Chandler in the melodrama A House Divided (William Wyler, 1931). Upon leaving MGM in 1932, he changed his name back to Douglass Montgomery.

Among his most celebrated roles was Laurie Laurence alongside Katharine Hepburn's Jo March in George Cukor's literary adaptation Little Women (1933). He took part in Little Man, What Now? (Frank Borzage, 1934), the American film adaptation of Hans Fallada's novel 'Little Man, What Now?', in the leading role of Hans Pinneberg. In addition to several films in which he was the main star, Montgomery also played second-lead roles behind the actual star on several occasions. Montgomery scored well with his first top-billed role as the frail, alcoholic 19th-century 'Swanee River' composer Stephen Foster in the Poverty Row" biopic Harmony Lane (1935) with Evelyn Venable and Adrienne Ames as his lady loves. This success was followed by a co-starring role opposite Constance Bennett in Everything Is Thunder (1936) as well as a top-billed role in the British comedy Tropical Trouble (1936); a lead role as spoiled playboy Life Begins with Love (1937) opposite Jean Parker, who played "Beth" in his version of Little Women (1933); the crime drama Counsel for Crime (1937); and a fourth-billed role in the Bob Hope comedy-mystery classic De kat en de kanarie (1939).He was often loaned out by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to other studios. In the second half of the 1930s, however, he almost only made B-movies. In 1939, he played a murderer in the crime comedy Inheritance at Midnight, which was also to be the actor's last Hollywood film. After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, Montgomery moved to Great Britain and made films there. He played Johnny Hollis (Johnny-in-the-Clouds) in the war drama The Way to the Stars (Anthony Asquith, 1945) alongside John Mills and Michael Redgrave. His final film was Forbidden (1949). He later returned to the U.S. and appeared in several television shows. He retired in 1957. In 1952, Montgomery married British actress Kay Young. He was her second husband. Young had divorced film actor Michael Wilding the year before she wed Montgomery. Young and Montgomery remained married until his death. Douglass Montgomery died of spinal cancer in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 56, in 1966. He was cremated, with his ashes given to his widow.

Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia (English and German) and IMDb.

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Taken on: December 4, 2024

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