Monroe Owsley

Monroe Righter Owsley (August 11, 1900 – June 7, 1937) was an American actor who worked in both stage and film. He was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to Henry Owsley, a manufacturing executive, and his wife, a concert singer. Owsley received his education at the Loomis Institute in Windsor, Connecticut, Bristol High School in Bristol, Connecticut, and Philadelphia High School, and began studying acting as a teenager.

Before pursuing a career in performance, Owsley worked in journalism, serving as a reporter and drama critic for the Public Ledger in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He built his early acting experience through stock theater companies in Chicago, Cincinnati, and Dayton, and also traveled with a road company performing The Meanest Man in the World in tent venues on a one-night-stand circuit.

Owsley's Broadway career spanned from 1925 to 1928 and included appearances in Young Blood and Blue Holiday. Young Blood, which opened in 1925, marked his Broadway debut. His transition to film came in 1928 with The First Kiss, a picture starring Fay Wray. In 1930 he appeared in the Philip Barry adaptation Holiday, taking on a role that Lew Ayres would later play in the 1938 version of the film. His subsequent film work placed him opposite a number of prominent actresses of the era, including Clara Bow, Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Mae West, and Kay Francis.

Owsley died on June 7, 1937, from a heart attack in Belmont, California, at the age of 36.