Robert Montgomery

Robert Montgomery, born Henry Montgomery Jr. on May 21, 1904, in Fishkill Landing, New York — now known as Beacon, New York — was an American actor, director, and producer of Scottish and Scots-Irish heritage. He died on September 27, 1981, at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, and was cremated. His father, Henry Montgomery, served as president of the New York Rubber Company before dying by suicide in 1922. Montgomery is also remembered as the father of actress Elizabeth Montgomery.

After relocating to New York City to pursue writing and acting, Montgomery built a stage career substantial enough that he turned down a film offer to appear opposite Vilma Bánky in This Is Heaven in 1929. His Broadway work spanned 1924 to 1928 and included the plays Possession, The High Hatters, The Carolinian, and The Complex, as well as the revue Bad Habits of 1926, among other productions. Working alongside George Cukor on stage provided Montgomery an introduction to Hollywood and a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he made his screen debut in So This Is College in 1929.

During the production of So This Is College, Montgomery made a point of consulting crew members across multiple departments — sound, electrical, set design, camera, and editing — an experience he later described as revealing to him the fundamentally collaborative nature of filmmaking. His screen popularity grew steadily as MGM placed him in one production after another. He worked initially in comedy roles before lobbying successfully for the dramatic part of the weak-willed prisoner Kent in The Big House in 1930. He appeared as Greta Garbo's romantic interest in Inspiration that same year, and Norma Shearer selected him to co-star in The Divorcee, Strangers May Kiss, and Private Lives, the last of which brought him to full stardom. He appeared opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Faithless in 1932 and in the pre-Code film When Ladies Meet in 1933, alongside Ann Harding and Myrna Loy. Montgomery served as president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1935 and was elected to the position again in 1946.

Two of his performances earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor. The first came for his portrayal of the psychopathic murderer Danny in the thriller Night Must Fall in 1937. The second followed his role as Joe Pendleton, a boxer and pilot mistakenly sent to Heaven, in Here Comes Mr. Jordan in 1941. That same year he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. and Mrs. Smith opposite Carole Lombard.

Before the United States entered World War II, Montgomery enlisted in London with the American Field Service while the country remained officially neutral, driving ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation. After returning to Hollywood, he addressed a large American Red Cross rally on the MGM lot in July 1940. Following the U.S. entry into the war in December 1941, he joined the United States Navy, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant commander. His naval service included roles as commanding officer of PT-107, service aboard the light cruiser USS Columbia, a posting as assistant naval attaché at the U.S. Embassy in London, and executive officer of Motor Torpedo Boat 5. He was present at the invasion of Normandy.

Montgomery's transition into directing began during the production of They Were Expendable in 1945, when he stepped in to direct certain PT boat sequences without credit after director John Ford was sidelined by illness. His first credited directorial work was the film noir Lady in the Lake in 1947, adapted from Raymond Chandler's novel and starring Montgomery as Philip Marlowe; the film was shot entirely from Marlowe's point of view, with Montgomery appearing on camera only a handful of times, including three instances in mirror reflections. He also directed and starred in the film noir Ride the Pink Horse. In 1955, Montgomery received the Tony Award for Best Direction for his work on The Desperate Hours. He hosted an Emmy Award-winning television series, Robert Montgomery Presents, from 1950 to 1957, and hosted the Academy Awards ceremony in 1948. His final involvement in any production capacity was The Gallant Hours in 1960, which he directed and co-produced with James Cagney.

Montgomery testified as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947. Beginning in 1954, he served without pay as a media consultant and television coach to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, maintaining an office in the White House. He holds two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — one for film at 6440 Hollywood Boulevard and one for television at 1631 Vine Street.

On April 14, 1928, Montgomery married actress Elizabeth Bryan Allen, sister of stage actress Martha-Bryan Allen. The couple had three children: Martha Bryan, who died at fourteen months in 1931; Elizabeth, born April 15, 1933, the actress best known for the television series Bewitched, who died May 18, 1995; and Robert Jr., born January 6, 1936, who died February 7, 2000. Montgomery and Allen divorced on December 5, 1950. Four days later, on December 9, 1950, he married Elizabeth Grant Harkness, known as Buffy, who lived from 1909 to 2003.