Frank Marlowe

Frank Marlowe, born Frank Marlowe Riggi on January 20, 1904, in Massachusetts, was an American character actor who worked under the names Frank Riggi and Frank Marlo in addition to his stage name. He died on March 30, 1964, in Hollywood, California, at the age of 60. Over the course of a career spanning roughly three decades, Marlowe accumulated credits in more than 200 feature films, dozens of television appearances, and a Broadway presence that extended from 1927 to 1946.

Marlowe entered the film industry in the early 1930s. While certain sources place his screen debut as early as 1931, the American Film Institute identifies his earliest verified film appearance in Howard Hawks's 1934 production Twentieth Century, which starred John Barrymore and Carole Lombard. From that point forward, Marlowe built a prolific body of work in supporting and character roles across a wide range of genres. Hawks's 1938 romantic comedy Bringing Up Baby, starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, numbered among his earlier notable credits, as did John Ford's 1935 comedy The Whole Town's Talking, with Edward G. Robinson and Jean Arthur. He also appeared in Grant's 1940 comedy My Favorite Wife alongside Irene Dunne.

The early 1940s brought Marlowe roles in several prominent productions. He appeared in both One Foot in Heaven and Sergeant York, released in 1941 and starring Fredric March with Martha Scott and Gary Cooper, respectively. Alfred Hitchcock's 1942 thriller Saboteur, featuring Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane, included Marlowe among its cast, and he returned to Hitchcock's work in the 1946 thriller Notorious, which starred Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. Additional 1940s credits include the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby comedy Road to Utopia, the Danny Kaye vehicle The Kid from Brooklyn with Virginia Mayo, the 1945 musical Anchors Aweigh starring Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, and Kathryn Grayson, and Michael Curtiz's Cole Porter biopic Night and Day with Cary Grant and Alexis Smith. Kaye and Mayo reunited with Marlowe again in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in 1947, and the following year he appeared in the swashbuckler The Three Musketeers, starring Gene Kelly and Lana Turner, as well as in Joan of Arc with Ingrid Bergman.

Throughout the 1950s, Marlowe continued appearing in notable films while also establishing himself in television. His film work during this period included Flying Leathernecks with John Wayne and Robert Ryan, Trouble Along the Way with Wayne, Donna Reed, and Charles Coburn, the 1954 version of A Star Is Born with James Mason and Judy Garland, Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm starring Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, and Kim Novak, and The Three Faces of Eve with Joanne Woodward. The American Film Institute identifies his final film appearance as a role among the taxi drivers in Hitchcock's North by Northwest in 1959, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason, though the Internet Movie Database credits him with two additional films in 1961. On television, Marlowe made guest appearances on programs including The Abbott and Costello Show, Adventures of Superman, The Millionaire, Dragnet, Perry Mason, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Alongside his screen career, Marlowe maintained a connection to the stage. His Broadway work spanned nearly two decades, from 1927 to 1946, and included appearances in the play The Heaven Tappers and the production Toplitzky of Notre Dame.