Ralph Bellamy

Ralph Bellamy (born June 17, 1904, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died November 29, 1991, Los Angeles, California) was an American actor who was best known for his work in screwball comedies and dramatic stage productions.

Bellamy grew up in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka and began his involvement with theatre as a teen. He formed his own troupe of actors, the North Shore Players, in the Chicago area in 1922 and later performed in repertory, in touring companies, and in multiple roles with his repertory troupe, the Ralph Bellamy Players (1926–29), which he formed in Des Moines, Iowa. He appeared in two unsuccessful plays on Broadway in 1929 and 1930, but it was enough to secure him a film contract in 1930.

Bellamy’s first role was as a gangster in the crime picture The Secret 6 (1931). In dozens of movies over the coming years, he became a master of sophisticated comedy, often cast as a sympathetic yet naive character who loses the girl to the leading man. Typical films from this period included Hands Across the Table (1935), in which he lost Carole Lombard to Fred MacMurray. Bellamy drew particular praise for The Awful Truth (1937), in which he appeared as an oil baron whom Irene Dunne toys with before returning to Cary Grant. For his performance, Bellamy received his first and only Academy Award nomination. After losing Ginger Rogers to Fred Astaire in Carefree (1938), he again was bested by Grant in His Girl Friday (1940). Bellamy also starred in several Ellery Queen mystery movies.

Britannica Quiz

Oscar-Worthy Movie Trivia

By the 1940s Bellamy had come to favour acting on Broadway and in 1943 secured his stage reputation as an antifascist professor in Tomorrow the World. He also had a successful run (1945–47) as the star of the comedy State of the Union. He achieved his greatest acclaim on Broadway with his dramatic, emotionally charged portrayal of Franklin D. Roosevelt as he battled polio in Sunrise at Campobello (1958), for which he won a Tony Award; he reprised his brilliant portrayal of Roosevelt in the 1960 film version of the play and again in 1983 for the television miniseries The Winds of War. He also appeared in numerous anthology television shows during the 1950s.

Bellamy later played a satanic doctor in Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and he won a new generation of fans with his performance as one of the wealthy Duke brothers (the other being Don Ameche) in Trading Places (1983). His last performance was in the movie Pretty Woman (1990). Bellamy made more than 100 films during his career, and he also served as president of Actors’ Equity (1952–64) and was a founder and board member of the Screen Actors Guild. He wrote an autobiography, When the Smoke Hit the Fan (1979), and received an honorary Academy Award in 1987 for the body of his film work.