| Richard Arlen | |
|---|---|
from Wings (1927) |
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| Born | Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore September 1, 1899 St. Paul, Minnesota |
| Died | March 28, 1976 (aged 76) Hollywood, California |
| Years active | 1921–1977 |
| Spouse | Margaret Kinsella (1946–1976) (his death) Jobyna Ralston (1927–1946) (divorced) 1 child Ruth Austin (?-?) (divorced) |
Richard Arlen (September 1, 1899[1] – March 28, 1976) was an American actor.
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Born Sylvanus Richard Van Mattimore in St. Paul, Minnesota, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club. Then he went to the oilfields of Texas and Oklahoma and then found work as a tool boy, a messenger and sporting editor of a newspaper before going to Los Angeles to star in films but no producer wanted him. He was a delivery boy for a film laboratory when the motor cycle he was riding landed him a broken leg outside the Paramount Pictures lot. A sympathetic film director gave him his start as an extra. He appeared at first in silent films before making the transition to talkies. His first important film role was in Vengeance of the Deep (1923).
He took time out from his Hollywood career to teach as a United States Army Air Forces flight instructor in World War II.
Arlen is best known for his role as a pilot in the Academy Award-winning Wings (1927) with Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Gary Cooper, El Brendel, and his first wife, Jobyna Ralston, whom he married in 1927. He is one of the more famous residents of the celebrity enclave, Toluca Lake, California. [2]
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Richard Arlen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6753 Hollywood Blvd.
On his death from emphysema in 1976, Richard Arlen was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
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Although Arlen's birthplace is often listed as Charlottesville, Virginia and his birth name as Cornelius Richard Van Mattimore, census data provides the correct information: Arlen's father, James Mattimore (whose name is provided on Arlen's World War I draft card), is found in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1900 with five children, the youngest of whom is Sylvanus, born in Minnesota (city unspecified) in September 1899. His name, place of birth and birth year are corroborated by the 1910 census. On Arlen's 1918 draft card—his name given as Van Mattimore—he is listed as a member of the Royal Flying Corps of the British Army, based in Toronto. Here, his date of birth is given as 1 Sep. 1900 but this date cannot be correct as he was already enumerated in the 1900 census three months earlier. There were no other James Mattimores in Minnesota at the time except for the known James Mattimore's eldest son.