George Bancroft (actor)

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This article is about the actor. For the historian and statesman see George Bancroft.

George Bancroft (September 30, 1882 - October 2, 1956) was an American actor.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become one of the top Hollywood stars of the 1920s. Bancroft's first starring role was in Pony Express (1925), and the next year he headed a cast including Wallace Beery and Charles Farrell in the period naval epic Old Ironsides (1926), then went from historical pictures to the gritty world of the underground in such films as Underworld (1927) and The Docks of New York (1928). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for Thunderbolt. Those who knew him, such as Budd Schulberg, said that he developed an inflated ego. Reportedly he refused to fall down on set after a prop revolver was fired at him, saying "Just one bullet can't stop Bancroft!"

By 1934 he had slipped to being a supporting actor, although he still appeared in reduced roles in such classics as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Angels with Dirty Faces, Each Dawn I Die, and Stagecoach.

In 1942 he left Hollywood to be a rancher. He died in Santa Monica, California and was interred there in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.