Charles Dingle

Charles Dingle (December 28, 1887 – January 19, 1956) was an American stage and film actor born in Wabash, Indiana. His father was John Crockett Dingle, and Dingle was said to be a descendant of Davy Crockett. His Broadway career spanned from 1928 to 1954, encompassing productions including The Little Foxes, Miss Liberty, American Landscape, All the Living, and The Immoralist, among others.

Dingle's early performing life began well before his Broadway debut. His first dramatic appearance came in a production of Forgiven, during which he played a 65-year-old man at the age of 14. By 18 he had risen to leading man status with the Woodward Stock Company, and in 1914 he held the same position with the Fosberg Players. He stepped away from acting in 1927 to sell real estate in New Jersey, making his Broadway debut the following year in Killers in 1928. A return to real estate followed, but declining sales brought him back to the stage. He went on to play Duke Theseus in a 1932 revival of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sheriff Cole in Let Freedom Ring in 1935.

Dingle became particularly associated with the role of Ben Hubbard, the calculating eldest member of the Hubbard family in Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, a part he performed on both stage and screen. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther described his film portrayal as that of a "perfect villain in respectable garb." He appeared in over 50 feature films and was frequently cast as hard-edged businessmen and villains, including Senator Brockway in the film adaptation of Call Me Madam. His musical stage debut came in 1950 with Irving Berlin's Miss Liberty.

His final Broadway appearance was in the 1954 production of The Immoralist, which also featured Louis Jourdan, Geraldine Page, and James Dean in what proved to be Dean's last Broadway role as well. Dingle was married to actress Dorothy L. White. He died on January 19, 1956, following a brief illness, at Worcester Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the age of 68. He was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in Germany.