Ralph Bellamy (Actor)

About Ralph Bellamy

From his late teens to his late 20s, Ralph Bellamy worked with 15 different traveling stock companies, not just as an actor but also as a director, producer, set designer, and prop handler. In 1927 he started his own company, the Ralph Bellamy Players. He debuted on Broadway in 1929, then broke into films in 1931. He went on to play leads in dozens of B-movies; he also played the title role in the "Ellery Queen" series. For his work in The Awful Truth (1937) he received an Oscar nomination, playing the "other man" who loses the girl to the hero; he was soon typecast in this sort of role in sophisticated comedies. After 1945 his film work was highly sporadic as he changed his focus to the stage, going on to play leads in many Broadway productions; for his portrayal of FDR in Sunrise at Campobello (1958) he won a Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Award. From 1940-60 he served on the State of California Arts Commission. From 1952-64 he was the president of Actors' Equity. In 1986 he was awarded an honorary Oscar "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting." He authored an autobiography, When the Smoke Hits the Fan (1979). ~ All Movie Guide

Notes

"Mr. Bellamy was also known for championing his profession, as founder and board member of the Screen Actors Guild and as president of Actors' Equity for 12 years. He doubled Equity's assets within six years, and in 1960 shepherded the union through a one-week Broadway theater lockout and the signing of a landmark contract that established the first actors' pension fund. ... He guided Equity through the political blacklisting of the McCarthy era in the early 1950s's by forming a panel that devised ground rules to protect members against unproven charges of Communist Party membership or sympathy. ... He lobbied successfully for the repeal of theater admission taxes and for income-averaging in computing taxes for performers." --Peter B. Flint in Bellamy's November 30, 1991 obituary in The New York Times.

Describing his prototype role Bellamy said: "It takes talent, even when it's 'just pretend,' to alienate females in a believable way. ... The end of all that came for me one day in Hollywood when I read a script in which a character was described as 'charming but dull--a typical Ralph Bellamy type.' I promptly packed my bags and headed for New York to find a part with guts." --quoted in Variety obituary, December 2, 1991.

He was awarded the Merit from the State of Israel (1968)