Monroe Owsley

Biography

Largely forgotten today, glossy, beak-nosed, oval-faced actor Monroe Owsley, whose unappetizing film career lasted less than a decade, was born in Atlanta, Georgia near the turn of the century on August 11, 1900, and raised by his mother, stage actress Gertrude Owsley (1872-1936). A younger sister, Abbie, died at five months of age. Monroe trained as an actor as a teen and started his career in such stock and repertory theatre productions as "The Meanest Girl in the World," and "Merton of the Movies." He eventually made it to Broadway in 1925 with "Young Blood." After making a 1928 Broadway splash in the role of Ned Seton, the tipsy, ne'er-do-well scion of a well-to-do family, in Philip Barry's hit comedy "Holiday," Monroe was invited to move into films around the advent of sound. His first movie role was as a young suitor in The First Kiss (1928) starring Fay Wray, but made more of a celluloid impact when he repeated his stage role in the first filming of Holiday (1930), which starred chic socialite Ann Harding. Katharine Hepburn's more famous remake came out eight years later with Lew Ayres playing Monroe's role. Known for his high forehead, narrow eyes and persistent sneer, Monroe usually found himself cast as the slick third wheel in a number of opulent, pre-Code romantic dramas/musicals opposite a number of the top female stars including Barbara Stanwyck in Ten Cents a Dance (1931); Claudette Colbert in Honor Among Lovers (1931); Gloria Swanson in Indiscreet (1931); Joan Crawford in This Modern Age (1931); Helen Twelvetrees in Unashamed (1932); Clara Bow in Call Her Savage (1932); Kay Francis in The Keyhole (1933); Bette Davis in Ex-Lady (1933); and Carole Lombard in Brief Moment (1933). He had the leading man role in The Woman Who Dared (1933). Unfortunately, the role of the inebriated, elegantly despairing Ned severely typecast him in an unappealing vein as the weakling son, charming cad, jellyfish husband, or debauched "Richie Rich" type, and his career skidded downhill and further down the credit list starting in 1934. Sadly, his personal life appeared to be just as unappealing as that of his film characters, succumbing to drink, drug and gambling addictions. After a minor role in the "B" musical The Hit Parade (1937), Monroe was involved in a Southern California car accident. This alleged triggered a fatal heart on June 7, 1937, the very same day that superstar Jean Harlow died. He was only 36.