Duncan Penwarden

Duncan Penwarden, born William Duncan Penwarden on February 9, 1880, in Mabou, Nova Scotia, was a Canadian-American actor who worked in both stage and film. The eldest of seven children, he was raised by his parents, Robert and Eva Penwarden, English immigrants who settled in Winnipeg, where his father held a position as caretaker at a local newspaper office. Penwarden came to the United States in his early twenties and eventually became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1927. He was survived at his death by his wife, Gertrude, a Michigan native, and their two sons.

Penwarden's Broadway career spanned from 1925 to 1929. He made his Broadway debut in Is Zat So?, which ran from January 1925 through July 1926, followed by Scalawag in March and April of 1927 and The Scarlet Lily, which played from January through March of that same year. In February and March of 1928 he appeared in The Clutching Claw, and later that year took part in Gentlemen of the Press, which ran from August through December 1928. His final two Broadway engagements came in 1929, with Now-a-Days in August of that year and Broken Dishes, which opened November 5, 1929, and continued into April 1930.

Alongside his stage work, Penwarden appeared in several films. His screen credits include The Woman God Sent (1920), The Imp (1919), The Bishop's Candlesticks (1929), The Lady Lies (1929), the film adaptation of Gentlemen of the Press (1929), and Laughter (1930). The 1929 film version of Gentlemen of the Press connected directly to his Broadway appearance in the same production.

Penwarden died on September 13, 1930, at the age of 50, at his home in Jackson Heights, Queens, from pneumonia, several weeks following surgery.