Reginald Sheffield

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Reginald Sheffield (February 18, 1901 - December 8, 1957) was an English-born actor.

He was born Matthew Reginald Sheffield Cassan in the St. George Hanover Square District of Surrey near London, a son of Matthew Sheffield Cassan (September 14, 1852-April 20, 1910) and Alice Mary Field (born 1868). Reginald had a brother named Edward Sheffield Cassan (born 1893) and a sister named Flora Kathleen Sheffield Cassan (July 12, 1898-December 26, 1968) (actress Flora Sheffield).

His father was born in Ireland and his mother in England. They were married in London in 1892. Matthew died when Reginald was nine. In 1914, Alice Sheffield and her children immigrated to the United States where they lived in Queens, New York. Reginald acted on the stage and in motion pictures. While his sister, Flora, was an actress, brother Edward worked as an accountant in a bank and later became a theatrical agent.

Sheffield's Broadway performances credited as Reggie Sheffield include Evidence (1914), in which his mother, Alice Sheffield, also appeared, The Merry Wives of Windsor (1916), If (1917), The Betrothal (1918) and Helena's Boys (1924); his performances credited as Reginald Sheffield include Youth (1920), The Way Things Happen (1924), Hay Fever (1925), playing Sandy Tyrell, Slaves All (1926), Soldiers and Women (1929), playing Lieutenant Mason, and Dear Old England (1930).

Reginald Sheffield was married in 1927 to Louise Van Loon (January 21, 1905-April 14, 1987), a New York born Vassar College graduate with a liberal arts education who loved books and lectured widely.

He and Louise had three children, Mary Alice Sheffield Cassan (born 1928), Jon Matthew Sheffield Cassan (born April 11, 1931) (actor Johnny Sheffield) and William Hart Sheffield Cassan (born 1936) (actor Billy Sheffield).

As motion picture production became more and more located in Southern California, Sheffield and his wife traveled back and forth between New York and Los Angeles. After several years they moved permanently to the West Coast.

Being a trained stage actor, Sheffield easily made the transition from silent movies to talkies. He was a working actor who became memorable in numerous character and supporting roles and appeared with some of the greatest movie stars of the day, including Constance Bennett, William Powell, George Arliss, Loretta Young, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Anyone who has seen the Hitchcock movie Suspicion (1941) will remember Sheffield as Reggie Wetherby, who Joan Fontaine dances with at the Hunt Ball while she is waiting for Cary Grant to arrive.

In 1954, he began starring as Professor Mayberry in the television series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. And after his son, Johnny Sheffield, appeared in his last jungle movie in 1955, Reginald created, produced and directed a pilot for a TV series, Bantu, the Zebra Boy. Although the production values were extremely high compared to other TV jungle shows of the day, a sponsor was not found and the show was never produced as a weekly series.

Sheffield acted in both versions of Cecil B. DeMille's The Buccaneer in (1938) and (1958), the latter being his last screen appearance.

Reginald Sheffield died in Pacific Palisades, California.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] TV series starring roles

  • Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954) ... Professor Mayberry
  • The Robot of Regalio (1956) ... Professor Mayberry
  • Renegade Satellite (1956) ... Professor Mayberry ... aka The Trial of Rocky Jones (1980) (USA video title)
  • The Magnetic Moon (1956) ... Professor Mayberry
  • The Cold Sun (1956) ... Professor Mayberry

[edit] TV guest starring roles