John Emery (actor)

John Emery (May 20, 1905 – November 16, 1964) was an American stage, film, radio and television actor.

John Emery
John Emery in 1958
Born(1905-05-20)May 20, 1905
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 16, 1964(1964-11-16) (aged 59)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting placeFerncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum
OccupationActor
Years active1937-1964
Known forRoles as a villain
Spouse(s)
Patricia Calvert
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(m. 1926; div. 1929)​

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(m. 1937; div. 1941)​

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(m. 1942; div. 1963)​

Early years

Born in New York City, Emery was the son of stage actors Edward Emery (c. 1861 – 1938) and Isabel Waldron (1871–1950). He was educated at Long Island's La Salle Military Academy.[1]

Film

Through the late 1930s to the early 1960s he appeared in supporting roles in many Hollywood films, beginning with James Whale's The Road Back (1937) and ranging from Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound to Rocketship X-M.

Stage
Katharine Cornell, Robert Flemyng and John Emery in a revival of W. Somerset Maugham's The Constant Wife (1953)

Emery appeared on Broadway in John Brown (1934), Romeo and Juliet (1934-1935), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1935), Flowers of the Forest (1935), Parnell (1935-1936), Alice Takat (1936), Sweet Aloes (1936), Hamlet (1936-1937), Antony and Cleopatra (1937), Save Me the Waltz (1938), The Unconquered (1940), Liliom (1940), Retreat to Pleasure (1940-1941), Angel Street (1941-1944), Peepshow (1944), The Relapse (1950), The Royal Family (1951), The Constant Wife (1951-1952), Anastasia (1954-1955), Hotel Paradiso (1957), and Rape of the Belt (1960).[2]

Peepshow was the first production in which Emery and his second wife, Tamara Geva, appeared together.[3]

Television and radio

Emery was also known for his television work, appearing on programs like I Love Lucy and Have Gun Will Travel. In 1946 he starred in a radio program as detective Philo Vance.

Personal life

Emery married Patricia Calvert in 1926, ending in divorce in 1929, before his film career.[4] He married Tallulah Bankhead on August 31, 1937 in Jasper, Alabama (her only marriage), divorcing on June 13, 1941 in Reno, Nevada. The two remained friendly after their marriage. In 1942, Emery married dancer Tamara Geva, divorcing in 1963.[5] Emery had started a long-term relationship with actress Joan Bennett in 1961, who cared for him through his final illness and death in 1964.[6]

Due to their resemblance, Emery often was rumoured to be the illegitimate child of John Barrymore.[7] As a child, Emery roomed for a while with Barrymore and his first wife, Katherine Corri.[8]

Death

Emery died on November 16, 1964 in New York City, aged 59.[9]

Selected filmography

Notes
  1. "John Emery of 'Angel Street' Had Cauliflower Ear". New York, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. February 7, 1943. p. 29. Retrieved November 13, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "John Emery". Playbill Vault. Retrieved November 14, 2015.
  3. "Emerys Are Together First Time on Stage in 'Peepshow'". New York, Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 30, 1944. p. 27. Retrieved November 13, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Goodridge, Paul F. (April 2, 2015). William Brockman Bankhead. ISBN 9781634176965.
  5. "JOHN EMERY DIES; ACTOR 40 YEARS; Tallulah Bankhead's Former Husband—Equity Leader". The New York Times. November 17, 1964.
  6. Kellow, Brian. The Bennetts Page 406. The University Press of Kentucky (2004)
  7. Israel, Lee. Miss Tallulah Bankhead. Page 177. Putnam, 1972.
  8. John Barrymore: A Bio-Bibliography c.1995 by Martin Norden
  9. Rainho, Manny (November 2015). "this month in movie history". Classic Images (485): 32–33.
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