George Brent

Biography: Born in Ireland, George Brent briefly lived in the U.S. as a child, then returned to Dublin where he worked as a utility actor with the Abbey Theatre. Brent's political activities forced him to leave Ireland once more and seek refuge in Canada, where he acted in several stock companies before relocating to New York. An established Broadway leading man by the end of the 1920s, he made his film debut in 1931, taking whatever jobs came along (including a Rin Tin Tin serial!) until he was signed by Warner Bros. in 1932. Despite his somewhat stiff, stolid acting style, Brent proved popular with Depression-era film audiences, and was especially valuable to Warners thanks to his gift for working easily with some of the studio's most contentious actresses. One of his most frequent co-stars was Bette Davis, with whom he appeared in 11 films, including such classics as Jezebel (1938), The Old Maid (1939), and The Great Lie (1941). He kept working throughout the 1940s in films of lesserBorn in Ireland, George Brent briefly lived in the U.S. as a child, then returned to Dublin where he worked as a utility actor with the Abbey Theatre. Brent's political activities forced him to leave Ireland once more and seek refuge in Canada, where he acted in several stock companies before relocating to New York. An established Broadway leading man by the end of the 1920s, he made his film debut in 1931, taking whatever jobs came along (including a Rin Tin Tin serial!) until he was signed by Warner Bros. in 1932. Despite his somewhat stiff, stolid acting style, Brent proved popular with Depression-era film audiences, and was especially valuable to Warners thanks to his gift for working easily with some of the studio's most contentious actresses. One of his most frequent co-stars was Bette Davis, with whom he appeared in 11 films, including such classics as Jezebel (1938), The Old Maid (1939), and The Great Lie (1941). He kept working throughout the 1940s in films of lesser importance, then turned to TV in the early 1950s, hosting the weekly anthology Fireside Theater; he also appeared as one of three "rotating" stars of the 1956 adventure series Wire Service (the other two stars were Dane Clark and Mercedes McCambridge). He retired from films to run a horse breeding ranch, re-emerging briefly with a good supporting role in 1978's Born Again, directed by his old Warner Bros. colleague Irving Rapper. Among George Brent's six wives were actresses Ruth Chatterton (his co-star in such films as Female, The Rich Are Always With Us, and Lily Turner), Constance Worth, and Ann Sheridan.… Expand