Ben Bard

Ben Bard, born Benjamin Greenberg on January 26, 1893, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was an American actor, stage performer, and acting teacher who worked across vaudeville, Broadway, film, and Hollywood education until his death on May 17, 1974, in Los Angeles.

Bard began his performing career in vaudeville, where he teamed with comedian Jack Pearl in a comedy duo. In 1926, the two collaborated with Sascha Beaumont on a short film produced using Lee DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. That same year, Bard was recruited as a leading man at Fox Film Corporation, though his screen persona quickly became defined by a particular type: the smooth-talking, well-dressed villain the industry labeled a "Suave Heavy." His film appearances spanned several decades, including a small role in The Bat Whispers in 1930 and a cluster of notable performances in 1943, when he appeared in three Val Lewton-produced horror films. He portrayed Mr. Brun in The Seventh Victim, played Robles, the Police Chief, in The Leopard Man, and took the role of First Officer Bowns in The Ghost Ship.

On Broadway, Bard appeared in two productions in 1923: the musical The Dancing Girl and the revue Topics of 1923.

Alongside his performing career, Bard established himself as a prominent Hollywood acting teacher. He operated the Ben Bard Theater in Hollywood for at least twenty years, an institution that served the dual purpose of staging productions and training actors. In 1952 alone, the theater mounted a new show each week, involving 150 students and seven directors. Alumni and participants included Alan Ladd, Jack Carson, Gig Young, Turhan Bey, and Kathy Lewis, and talent scouts attended regularly to identify new performers. The theater's facilities included classrooms, a dance auditorium, a miniature theater, study halls, and offices. Bard also ran Ben Bard Drama, a leading Hollywood acting school, which he later reopened in 1960 after a period of closure.

In September 1956, Bard was appointed head of the New Talent Department at Twentieth Century-Fox, a position he held until his resignation in August 1959.

Bard married three times. In 1929 he wed serial film star Ruth Roland, remaining married to her until her death in 1937. In 1939 he married Roma Clarisse, an actress who had been the last recipient of the Ruth Roland Scholarship to Ben Bard Drama; they had three children together before her death in 1947. His third marriage, in 1948, was to actress Jackie Lynn Taylor, known for her appearances in the Our Gang series; that marriage ended in divorce in 1954.

Bard died in Los Angeles in 1974 at the age of 81. He is interred alongside Ruth Roland in an unmarked grave in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.