Lowell Gilmore

Lowell Gilmore was an American actor born on December 20, 1906, in St. Paul, Minnesota, who worked across stage, film, and television until his death on January 31, 1960, at age 53.

Gilmore's connection to Broadway began in 1929 when he served as stage manager on The First Mrs. Fraser. His transition to performing came when he stepped in to replace actor Eric Elliott in that same production. He went on to appear in a range of Broadway productions through 1943, including The Wind and the Rain (1934), The Taming of the Shrew (1935), Leave Her to Heaven (1940), Parnell, the dramas The Family and Golden Wings, and several other productions.

His film career began in 1944 with Days of Glory, a war drama directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Gregory Peck, in which Gilmore played an extensive supporting role as Peck's second-in-command. The following year he appeared as painter Basil Hallward in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel. He subsequently portrayed the Duke of Gloucester, the future Richard III, in The Black Arrow (1948), and played Eric Masters in King Solomon's Mines (1950), which won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.

Though American by birth, Gilmore frequently portrayed British characters, including doctors, military officers, and men of social rank, as well as villains and cads. During the 1950s his work shifted increasingly to television, with appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Jack Benny Program, among other series. He portrayed Pontius Pilate in the television production The Living Christ Series (1951) and reprised a related role in the film Day of Triumph (1954). Gilmore's final screen performance came in 1958.