Herbert Marshall

Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen, and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the United Kingdom and North America, he became an in-demand Hollywood leading man, frequently appearing in romantic melodramas and occasional comedies. In his later years, he turned to character acting. The son of actors, Marshall is best remembered for roles in Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (1932), Alfred Hitchcock's Murder! (1930) and Foreign Correspondent (1940), William Wyler's The Letter (1940) and The Little Foxes (1941), Albert Lewin's The Moon and Sixpence (1942), Edmund Goulding's The Razor's Edge (1946), and Kurt Neumann's The Fly (1958). He appeared onscreen with many of the most prominent leading ladies of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. From 1944 to 1952, Marshall starred in his own radio series The Man Called 'X'. Often praised for the quality of his voice, he made numerous radio guest appearances and hosted several shows. He performed on television as well. The actor, known for his charm, married five times and periodically appeared in gossip columns because of his sometimes turbulent private life. A leg amputee due to injuries sustained during the First World War, he worked for the rehabilitation of injured troops, especially aiding amputees like himself, during the Second World War. Marshall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Early years Marshall was born in London in 1890, as the only child of stage actors Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. Theatrical critics praised his father for his comic flair and "rich voice". In addition to acting, Percy wrote and directed some plays in which he appeared. Most popular in the 1880s and 1890s, Marshall's father retired from acting in 1922 and died on 28 December 1927 at the age of 68. Marshall later recalled: "My father was a grand actor—better than I could ever dream of being." His mother was the sister of journalist and drama critic, Leopold Godfrey-Turner (born Leopold McClintock Turner). Marshall's grandfather, Godfrey Wordsworth Turner, wrote several books and articles on art and travel. In an article about his love of the theatre, he noted that one of his uncles was an actor.