Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a2430e06292a1ef0

Jump to content

Donald MacBride

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald MacBride
MacBride in the trailer for My Favorite Wife (1940)
Born
Donald Hugh MacBride

(1893-06-23)June 23, 1893
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedJune 21, 1957(1957-06-21) (aged 63)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place
Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
OccupationActor
Years active1914–1955
Spouse
Esther MacBride
​
​
(m. 1930)​

Donald Hugh MacBride (June 23, 1893 – June 21, 1957) was a prominent American character actor on stage, films, and television. Starting in vaudeville, he went on to appear in nearly 140 films between 1914 and 1955. His credits include Northwest Passage (1940), My Favorite Wife (1940), High Sierra (1941), The Glass Key (1942), and The Killers (1946), and the final film was The Seven Year Itch (1955).

Early life

[edit]

MacBride was born 1893 in Brooklyn, New York.[1] His year of birth is given variously as 1889 or 1893 in the standard reference books.[1] He launched his entertainment career as the leader of the choir at St Thomas Fifth Avenue and Garden City Cathedral in New York. As a teenager, he recorded the earliest example of a solo recording by a chorister from the United States, on November 15,1907, singing Handel's 'Angels Ever Bright and Fair'.[2]

Career

[edit]

Motion pictures

[edit]

Beginning in 1930, like many New York-based, stage-trained actors, he found work at the Paramount, Vitaphone, and Educational studios, all of which had East Coast branches. He is clearly visible as a crowd extra welcoming Groucho Marx in the Paramount feature Animal Crackers. Speaking roles in short subjects followed which established MacBride as a comic tough guy or villain opposite Tom Howard, Shemp Howard, Buster Keaton, and other comedy stars.

MacBride's fortunes improved when he was featured in the hit play, Room Service.[3] In this farce comedy about a shoestring producer and his desperate associates trying to avoid eviction from a hotel, MacBride played the no-nonsense hotel manager, who frequently met bad news with an explosive "Oh, God damn!"

RKO Radio Pictures bought the film rights to Room Service as a vehicle for The Marx Brothers, and brought many of the Broadway cast members to Hollywood, including Donald MacBride where he reprised his role (with his catchphrase sanitized to "Jumping butterballs!").

Hollywood producers noticed MacBride's comic timing and he was established overnight as a skilled character actor. Like fellow character actor and comedian Edgar Kennedy, MacBride specialized in the comedy of frustration, and his portrayals showed the harried MacBride enduring various indignities patiently and yet progressively reaching his boiling point. He often played police inspectors, detectives, military officers, and other authority figures, all of whom were tormented by the leading players in the films.

MacBride signed a non-exclusive RKO contract, allowing him to freelance among the major studios for the next several years. In 1947, with the larger studios cutting down on the number of films in production, MacBride accepted featured roles at smaller studios: Monogram, Republic, and Lippert. He continued to work at the larger studios, but often in smaller or uncredited roles.

MacBride was an early arrival in the new field of television, having appeared in the pioneering series Public Prosecutor in 1947. He continued to work in television until shortly before his death.

Personal life

[edit]

Death

[edit]

MacBride died on June 21, 1957 in Los Angeles, California, of a heart ailment. Survivors included his wife and a stepson, Jack Craddock.[1][4]

Selected filmography

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 "Donald M'Bride, Actor, 63, Dead: Stage, Screen and Television Performer Was Noted for Many Character Roles". The New York Times. June 23, 1957. p. 84.
  2. ↑ "The First Ever recording by an American chorister : 1907". Archive of Recorded Church Music.
  3. ↑ "("Donald MacBride" search results)". Playbill Vault. Playbill. Retrieved April 3, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ↑ "Film, Stage, TV Actor Donald MacBride Dies". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Texas, Corpus Christi. Associated Press. June 24, 1957. p. 28.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Donald_MacBride&oldid=1365534293"