George Arliss

George Arliss 1868-1946, English actor. He first appeared on the stage in 1887. In 1901 he came to the United States with Mrs. Patrick Campbell to appear in the Belasco production of The Darling of the Gods, and thereafter he became extremely popular for his portrayals of the suave villain. His performance in The Green Goddess was especially noted. He also became a favorite in films; his performance in Disraeli won him an Academy Award (1930).

Bibliography: See his autobiographies, Up the Years from Bloomsbury (1927) and My Ten Years in the Studios (1940).

Arliss, George [né Augustus George Arliss‐Andrews] (1868–1946), actor. He was born in London and made his American debut in 1901 opposite Mrs. Patrick Campbell as Cayley Drummle in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray. After playing a season of repertory with her, he was enlisted by David Belasco to portray the villainous Zakkuri in The Darling of the Gods (1902). Arliss then came under the management of Harrison Grey Fiske and appeared with Mrs. Fiske as the Marquis of Steyne in Becky Sharp (1904), Raoul Berton in Leah Kleschna (1904), Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler (1904), Sir Cates‐Darby in The New York Idea (1906), and Ulric Brendel in Rosmersholm (1907). After playing the title role in The Devil (1908) and the absent‐minded inventor Septimus (1909), Arliss essayed one of his greatest interpretations, the title part in Disraeli (1911), a role he played across the country for four years. This was followed by the leading figure in Paganini (1916), a revival of The Professor's Love Story (1917), and the principal role in Hamilton (1918). He toured as a member of the all‐star cast of Out There (1918) before assuming another of his most famous roles, the malevolent of Rajah in The Green Goddess (1921). Alexander Woollcott wrote of his performance, “With his countenance at once gentle and diabolic, with his cat‐like tread and with his uneasy but sinister hands, he seems to have been roaming our stage all his days in wistful quest of a play about a rajah with . . . an evil heart.” After making many films, Arliss returned to Broadway in 1924 to play the dogged eighty‐year‐old Sylvanus Heythorp in Old English, then four years later offered his Shylock on tour and then in New York before retiring. Autobiography: Up the Years from Bloomsbury, 1927.

Arliss, (Augustus) George [ George Andrews] (1868–1946), English actor, now chiefly remembered for his films, who also had a successful career on the stage in London and New York. He made his first appearance in 1886 and first came into prominence in 1900–1 in revivals of Pinero's The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith and The Second Mrs Tanqueray opposite Mrs Patrick Campbell, with whose company he subsequently toured the United States. In 1902 he was seen on Broadway in Belasco's The Darling of the Gods with Blanche Bates, and in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1903) and Rosmersholm (1907) with Mrs Fiske. Among his finest parts at this time were the title-roles in Molnár's The Devil (1908) and L. N. Parker's Disraeli (1911), and the Rajah in William Archer's The Green Goddess (1921). In this last part he reappeared in London in 1923, after an absence of over 20 years. He then returned to New York to show his versatility by playing with equal success the elderly gentleman in Galsworthy's Old English (1924) and, his last stage role, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice (1928).