Engaging performer who made his mark as the nice-but-bland fellow who loses the girl to Cary Grant or his ilk in the screwball comedies "Hands Across the Table" (1935), 1937's "The Awful Truth" (for which he received an Oscar nomination), "Carefree" (1938) and "His Girl Friday" (1940).
Bellamy appeared in over 100 films but won his greatest acclaim on Broadway, as a lionized presidential aspirant in "State of the Union" (1945); as an overzealous police officer in "Detective Story" (1949); and, especially, for his Tony Award-winning portrayal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello" (1958), which he repeated in the 1960 film. Bellamy also played Roosevelt in the TV miniseries "The Winds of War" (1983). Late in his career he contributed an excellent turn as a manipulative Wall Street mogul in the amusing social comedy "Trading Places" (1983).
- Also Credited As:
Ralph Rexford Bellamy
- Born:
June 17, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois
- Died:
November 29, 1991.
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Job Titles:
Actor, Designer, Director, Propmaster
Family
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Mother: Lilla Louise Bellamy.
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Sister: Carolyn Walbridge.
Education
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New Trier High School, Winnetka, Illinois
Milestones
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1921 Ran away from home at age 16 to join a William Owen's band of traveling Shakespearean players
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1921 Worked as an usher at Ravinia Park Open Air Pavilion
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1922 Toured with stock companies
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1922 Began performing in stock and repertory with the Chautaupua Road Company; first play was "The Shepherd of the Hills"
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1929 Broadway debut, "Town Boy"
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1931 Screen debut in "The Secret Six"
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1933 Founding member, Screen Actors Guild
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1934 Returned to Broadway stage in "Oh, Men! Oh, Women!"
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1944 Debut as Broadway producer and director, "Pretty Little Parlor"
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1945 Returned to Broadway in "State of the Union"
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1948 TV debut, "Philco Television Playhouse"
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1991 Hospitalized with respiratory illness (August 27)
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As a boy, delivered newspapers and groceries, and worked as a soda jerk at a local drugstore
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Founded The Ralph Bellamy Players
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Panelist on TV quiz show, "To Tell the Truth"
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Starred in first TV series, "The Man Against Crime"
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Starred on TV series, "The Eleventh Hour"