John Loder

John Loder, born William John Muir Lowe on 3 January 1898 in Knightsbridge, London, was a British film and stage actor whose career spanned silent German cinema, Hollywood studio productions, and a Broadway appearance in 1947. He died on 26 December 1988. His father, W.H.M. Lowe, was a career British Army officer who rose to the rank of general and was the officer to whom Patrick Pearse, leader of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, surrendered.

Following his father's path, Loder was commissioned into the 15th Hussars as a second lieutenant on 17 March 1915. On 21 March 1918, German forces captured him at the village of Roisel. He was held first at Le Cateau gaol, then transported by train through a succession of prisoner-of-war camps, beginning with Rastatt in Baden, Germany. After leaving the cavalry, he entered into a business partnership with a German associate, Walter Becker, and the two established a pickle factory in Potsdam. His interest in acting developed during this period, and he performed at the British Theatre Guild in Berlin in productions including The Last of Mrs Cheyney and Loyalties. He began taking small roles in German films at the Tempelhof Film Studios, starting with Dancing Mad in 1925, and went on to appear in a substantial number of productions through 1928, among them Madame Wants No Children, directed by Alexander Korda, and Alraune, Casanova's Legacy, and Adam and Eve.

Loder briefly returned to Britain before sailing to the United States aboard the SS Île de France in 1928, aiming to work in the emerging sound film industry. Paramount Studios signed him, and he appeared in The Case of Lena Smith, directed by Josef von Sternberg, and The Doctor's Secret, Paramount's first talking picture, in which he played opposite Ruth Chatterton. He also appeared in the Western Sunset Pass alongside Jack Holt. His distinctly English screen presence did not connect broadly with American audiences during this first Hollywood period. Additional credits from this time include Black Waters, the first British talkie, produced in the United States by Herbert Wilcox, and The Unholy Night at MGM. Korda, who had also relocated to Hollywood, cast Loder in Lilies of the Field for Warner Bros. in 1930, and that studio continued to use him in several further productions. He appeared in Seas Beneath at Fox, directed by John Ford, and in On the Loose, a Hal Roach production at MGM.

Loder returned to Britain, where he worked steadily through the 1930s in a range of productions. He starred opposite Ida Lupino in Money for Speed and appeared in Korda's The Private Life of Henry VIII, playing the love interest of Elsa Lanchester's Anne of Cleeves. He took the lead role of John Ridd in Lorna Doone and appeared three times alongside Gracie Fields, in Love, Life and Laughter, Sing As We Go, and Queen of Hearts. He starred in the IRA drama Ourselves Alone and supported Boris Karloff in The Man Who Changed His Mind. In Alfred Hitchcock's Sabotage, he played the heroic investigator, having replaced Robert Donat in the role. He then took on the part of Sir Henry Curtis, the male romantic lead, in the 1937 film version of King Solomon's Mines, opposite Anna Lee. He and Lee were reunited in Non-Stop New York that same year. He appeared as Alexander II of Russia in the French production Katia alongside Danielle Darrieux, and starred in several British thrillers including The Silent Battle with Rex Harrison.

After Britain entered the Second World War, Loder returned to the United States, where he worked primarily in B-picture roles, frequently portraying upper-class characters. At 20th Century Fox he appeared in Tin Pan Alley, Scotland Yard, and How Green Was My Valley, in which he played a brother of Roddy McDowall's character. Warner Bros. cast him opposite Bette Davis in Now, Voyager, in which he played a wealthy widower engaged to her character, and as Errol Flynn's romantic rival in Gentleman Jim. He was reunited with Davis in Old Acquaintance and supported Humphrey Bogart in Passage to Marseille. During the early 1940s he also served as host of Silver Theater, a dramatic anthology broadcast on CBS radio, and starred in its 11 June 1944 episode. His freelance credits from the mid-1940s include The Brighton Strangler, Jealousy, and A Game of Death, a remake of The Most Dangerous Game. He appeared opposite his then-wife Hedy Lamarr in Dishonored Lady in 1947.

That same year, Loder made his Broadway debut in For Love or Money, appearing opposite June Lockhart. The production ran into 1948 and constituted his sole stage credit in New York. He became an American citizen in 1947. His later film work included the British productions The Story of Esther Costello and Gideon's Day, and his final screen appearance came in The Firechasers in 1971. He subsequently lived in Argentina, becoming a naturalized Argentine citizen in 1959.

Loder was married five times, two of his wives being actresses. His first marriage, to Sophie Kabel in Berlin, preceded the birth of their son Robin, who later attended Eton, served in the Grenadier Guards, and became a theatrical and literary agent. Robin Lowe was married three times, including to British actress Hilary Tindall.