Webb, Clifton

Clifton Webb (his birth name is Webb Parmily Hollenbeck) was born November 19, 1889 in Indianapolis , Indiana , in a family of railway clerks. Two years after his birth, the family broke up, and Webb with his mother Maybell soon moved to New York, where he began dancing with three years. When he was seven years old, he attracted the attention of the director of one of the children's theaters, and "already in 1900 made his debut in the prestigious Carnegie Hall " ^{[3] [1]} . The debut was followed by a series of teenage actor roles in children's productions ^[4] . In addition to dance and theater education, Webb began to study music and painting ^[5] . At the age of 13 he entered the Chase Art School , where he studied with the famous artist George Wesley Bellouz ^[4] . At age 14, he took part in the exhibition for the first time, however, despite obvious successes, Webb, in his own words, "was tired of painting, and instead began to study vocals" ^[6] .

In 1906, Webb made his debut on the New York stage under the name Master Webb Raum ^[4] . For some time he worked under various names, eventually making his name a surname, and choosing the name of a town in New Jersey , the sound of which his mother liked ^[1] . As an opera singer, Webb performed in such operas as “ Mignon ” ”,“ Madame Butterfly ”,“ Bohemia ”and“ Hansel and Gretel ”. However, Webb again felt the need to change his creative role ^[6] , and in 1908, in parallel with his vocal career, he began working as a professional dancer in a ballroom in New York. “It was as a dancer that he achieved the greatest recognition” ^[1] . Webb soon began touring the country with ballrooms and even opened his own dance studio, and since 1913 he began to dance in Broadway musicals . At the same time, he began to play in dramatic productions, although nevertheless he achieved the greatest success as an artist in musical comedy. After he successfully performed the roles of Mahatma Gandhi and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in the musical review “ When Thousands Welcome ” (1933-1934), one of the critics called him “the most versatile among all American artists of the review” ^[6] .

By 1913, Webb had already played in more than 20 operettas before debuting on Broadway in the operetta Purple Road , which withstood 136 performances. By 1920, "a tall and slender artist who danced and sang with a clean, soft tenor," took part in a series of popular Broadway musicals and revues. In the 1920s, Webb played in eight major Broadway productions, not counting one-time performances ^[7] . "Webb’s play did not go unnoticed, and in the 1920s and 1930s he was already recognized as one of the country's greatest theater talents, a multifaceted artist equally capable of playing musicals, comedies and dramas." ^[1] Most of Broadway's productions of Webb were musicals, but he also played in purely dramatic works, among them The Importance of Being Serious (1939) by Oscar Wilde and the plays of his long-time friend Noel Coward , among them the play Restless Spirit (1941-1943) , which went on Broadway for three years and withstood more than 600 performances ^[4] . In total, from 1913 to 1947, Webb played in 23 successful Broadway shows, starting with prominent supporting roles and quickly switching to the main roles ^[7] .

Webb first starred in a movie in 1917 as a dancer in the silent revue film Parade of the National Red Cross (1917) ^[4] , and in 1920 played a small role in another silent film - Polly with the Past (1920) ^[6] . In 1925, the popular acting couple Mary Hay and Richard Bartlemess invited Webb to shoot in one of the main roles in his film " New Toys ." The film was successful financially. After that, Webb played in the melodrama "Heart of the Siren" (1925), but then did not appear in feature films for almost 20 years ^[4] .

In 1930, one of his Webb theater sketches, played with his partner Fred Allen, was videotaped by Vitafon and released as a short film called Silent Alarm. In the mid-1930s, immediately after his success in the Broadway play “When Thousands Welcome” ^[8] Webba invited the Metro-Goldwin-Mayer company to Hollywood for a film project, which, however, encountered scenario problems. The actor spent 18 months in Hollywood, receiving the salary of $ 3,500 per week put to him under the contract and doing absolutely nothing, hating every minute of his stay there ... He returned to New York with the intention of never wasting so much time again ” ^{[1 ]} .

Webb again began to play on the Broadway stage , and several years later during a tour of the United States with the extremely successful performance of " Restless Spirit " (1941-1943), he received an offer that was a turning point in his career. Director Otto Preminger turned to him with a proposal to play the stinging newspaper columnist Valdo Lidecker in the film noir " Laura " (1944). Moreover, even before the filming began, Webb signed a five-year contract with the studio “ Twentieth Century Fox ” ^[8] .

Webb was already in his fifties when his film career really began. In 1943, the Twentieth Century Fox studio decided to deliver a film noir based on Vera Caspari’s novel Laura . The producer and director of the film, Otto Preminger, was absolutely convinced that Webb was ideally suited for the role of the elegant but vicious influential radio journalist Valdo Lidecker, who was manic for the heroine Gene Tierney . But the main producer of the studio, Darryl F. Zanuk, “could not tolerate Webb's eccentricity, effeminacy, mannerism and frankly gay nature, and did everything possible to prevent him from getting the role. Fortunately, Preminger's opinion prevailed, and Webb - in what is usually recognized as his true film debut - became one of the most important links in the success of this extremely popular film ^[1] . The film was a huge box office success and an enthusiastic response from critics, which was admired by this “smart and complex” film and the game of the magnificent cast, where Webb had the most praise. In particular, the critic Lowell E. Redelings in Hollywood Citizen-News expressed the view that “Webb’s excellent work becomes the finishing touch of this film play - he polished his work to satin smoothness and polished it to shine,” and Dorothy Manners in “Los Angeles Examiner” “Wrote that Laura is really a picture of Clifton Webb. Webb and Preminger. Gentlemen Preminger and Webb, apparently, joined forces and said: “Let's show what a sophisticated, cynical snob really looks like.” The result was Webb’s outstanding, absolutely brilliant game as a rapier-sharp columnist and art lover who becomes the ill-fated patron of Laura and Svengali ” ^[9] . The film won an Oscar for best cinematography, as well as four more Oscar nominations , among them Webb's nomination for Best Supporting Actor ^[10] . This success laid the foundation for a very productive twenty-year relationship between the actor and the studio ^[1] .

“After the triumph of Laura ” ^[11] , each of the next 15 films with Webb’s participation was successful, including almost everything from comedies to the most intense noir , such as Dark Corner (1946) ^[1] . The success of Laura prompted Fox to cast Webb in Henry Hathaway 's The Dark Corner (1946) as the wealthy art gallery owner Hardy Katcart, who idolizes his young wife, but treats her like the next expensive exhibit in his collection. His character, like Webb himself, had a haughty physiognomy and a sharp mind ^[11] , and in addition was distinguished by an obsession, refinement and treachery in many ways reminiscent of Valdo Lidecker from “Laura”, however “it was an emotionally less deep picture, and in it Webb followed the more traditional steps of the villain, killing two characters ... before being killed by the very object of his love ” ^[4] . After the release of the film, Webbu applauded for his game, in particular, James O'Hara in the Los Angeles Examiner wrote that “in his first appearance on the screen after“ Laura “Webb gives the same honed game as in that one film, which earned him the highest rating as a great character actor. ” However, the New York Times review drew attention to the fact that the actor “got another chance to enjoy playing the role of a stingy character,” further noting that “if Mr. Webb does not change his style in the near future, his fans may lose patience ” ^[11] . However, in his third film, Edmund Goulding ’s drama “ The Razor's Edge ” (1946) based on Somerset Maugham ’s self-titled novel, Webb again played a similar role to the classic snob, a regular at social events and trendsetter Elliott Templeton. This role brought the actor a second Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor ^[12] .

In 1948, Webb finally became a star, playing Mr. Lynn Aloysius Belvedere, the sarcastic and all-knowing nanny in the hit eccentric comedy “ Dexterously Settled ” (1948) ^[1] . “His pedantic Mr. Belvedere is not far from the fastidious, elegant, fussy and restless personality type that Webb was in real life” ^[5] . Although Webb’s name was only the third in the list of actors after Robert Young and Maureen O'Hara , it was his character who won the main sympathy of the audience ^[4] . “Webb became a sensation, creating such a convincing portrait of his hero that a stream of letters from parents from all over the country fell upon him, asking him for advice on how to raise his children” ^[12] . This work earned him an Oscar nomination as Best Actor in a Leading Role. “The role of Mr. Belvedere was so popular that it threatened to swallow it whole, and therefore Webb resolutely refused to participate in any sequel without his own consent” ^[1] . As a result, only two of them were filmed - “ Mr. Belvedere is going to college ” (1949) and “ Mr. Belvedere is ringing the bell ” (1951) - “but not one of them was as good as the first film” ^[13] .

The comedy “ Wholesale is cheaper ” (1950), was put on the autobiographical book of Frank Gilbert Jr. and Erenstine Gilbert Carey and talks about a family of performance experts (they were played by Webb and Mirna Loy ), who bring up 12 of their own in the 1910s and 20s children, trying to apply to them the scientific methods developed by them. The success of the film led to the continuation of “ Wholesale is cheaper than 2 ” (1952), in which Webb appeared only in a cameo recollection, as the film tells the story of family life after the death of his father. Webb again appeared in the image of the industrial-style designer and father-minded in the comedy of Henry Coster “The Secret Escape ” (1951). His hero tries to control the life of his daughter in everything ( Anne Francis ), which leads to her flight after the prom with a random lover and the pursuit of a father for a young couple around the country ^[4] . Then, contrary to his role, Webb played the role of an angel who, in the form of a Texas millionaire, descends to earth to help the girl be born into a family of parents forever busy with their theatrical life in George Seaton ’s fantasy comedy “ For God 's Sake ” (1950) ^[4] .

In the comedy The Dream Boat (1952), Webb played respectable college professor Thornton Sayre, who in his youth was known as the silent movie idol nicknamed The Dream Boat. Having become a recognized scientist to whom his past glory could ruin his scientific career, Saire wants to stop showing his old films on television. It all ends with the fact that Sayre, who is in many ways reminiscent of Webb himself, begins to act in films again and comes to the premiere of his new film “ Well-arranged ” (1948). The biographical film " Stars and Stripes Forever " (1952) was dedicated to the life and work of the popular composer and conductor of the late 19th century military marching band John Philip Souza . Performing the role of Souza in this film earned Webb a Golden Globe nomination for best leading role in the musical / comedy genre.

In the disaster film "The Titanic " (1953), Jean Negulesco Webb played the dramatic role of a secular snob and a powerful husband living in constant conflict with his feminist wife ( Barbara Stanwick ). However, at the climax, he forgets about all the family contradictions, “transports women and children from a doomed ship to boats and touchingly restores relations with his youngest son, who decided to die with him” ^[4] . Then, returning to much easier roles, Webb played in the comedy Mr. Scoutmaster (1953), an arrogant TV presenter who is trying to raise his declining ratings in the youth environment, becoming the leader of the Boy Scout group ^[4] . In the romantic comedy “ Three Coins in the Fountain ” (1954), a middle-aged American writer living in Rome, performed by Webb, finally finds his love in the person of his long-standing secretary ( Dorothy McGuire ) ^[4] .

The British military drama " A Man Who Never Was " (1956) by Ronald Nim was based on a real episode of World War II - a British intelligence operation to misinform Nazi troops regarding plans for an Allied landing in Sicily . In this picture, Webb played an atypical role for himself, the bearded captain-lieutenant of the British Navy, Ewan Mantegu, who was entrusted with the implementation of this secret operation. In the adventure romantic drama " The Boy on the Dolphin " (1957) with Alan Ladd and Sophia Loren , Webb played the role of a wealthy collector, illegally extracting ancient Greek artifacts. After that, Webb played the title role of a Pennsylvania sausage producer who, as a result of a comic turn of events, became a big-ass, in Henry Levin ’s film “The Magnificent Mr. Pennipecker ” (1959). The film attracted unexpected public attention after the Catholic Church said that such topics could not be the theme of a comedy ^[4] . Again working with director Levin , Webb played in the comedy " Vacations for Lovers " (1959) by a Boston psychologist who, along with his wife and daughter, goes on a spontaneous trip to Brazil to his second daughter, an architect who, in his opinion, had problems in personal life ^[4] . Webb’s latest film, Satan Never Sleeps (1962), tells about the events of the Civil War in China in 1949. In this film, Webb played an elderly priest who was surrendering in a remote Catholic mission, who sacrifices himself in the finale, saving dozens of people from destruction by the Chinese Communist Army.

Elegant and courteous, with a pungent sense of humor and arrogance, Webb possessed a wide range of talent that encompassed not only his successes in theater and on screen, but also as a dancer, artist and opera singer ^[3] . The personal traits of Webb and his characters corresponded well with each other, which gave him the opportunity to play "a whole gallery of arrogant heroes for his brilliant, but short film career" ^[4] . A tall, slender and impeccably groomed actor ^[3] , Webb, according to film historian Bruce Eder, “was one of the most incredible movie stars you could imagine - in an era when men in the lead roles were to be courageous and courageous, he was cutesy and frankly pampered ” ^[1] . According to film critic Richard Harland Smith, “with his signature thin mustache and barely concealed contempt, Clifton Webb was an explosion of asexual refinement in the post- testosterone -charged era” ^[4] . Eder adds: “Where the actors starred themselves in their fists, Webb used sharp tongue and a caustic manner of speech, ... and where male movie stars supported a screen image that made women feel melting in their arms ... Webb rarely ever came close to women, with the exception of the roles of fathers or uncles. Nevertheless, the public eagerly swallowed all this, delicately ignoring Webb's widely publicized status as a “bachelor” who lives with his mother ” ^[1] .

Webb was never married, had no children, and “was generally almost openly gay, as much as a Hollywood star could afford at that time. He lived with his mother, attended parties with her, and had the status of a “bachelor”, which at the time meant that he was gay ” ^[1] . When asked "about the appropriateness of a childless, unmarried man to play the role of a father of 12 people (in" Wholesale is cheaper "), he replied:" I did not have to become a murderer to play Valdo Lidecker - I am not a father, but I am an actor "" ^{[1 ]} .

“Webb always dressed very stylishly in public and owned dozens of expensive costumes - he was, in many ways, America's first metrosexual for decades.” ^[1] “Webb’s elegant taste allowed him to be on the list of Hollywood’s most well-dressed people for decades. And the perfect personal life of a gay allowed him to save his career from scandals ” ^[14] .

Throughout his life, Webb “was inseparable from his power-hungry mother, Mabell, with whom he lived until her death in 1960 at the age of 91. ^[5] Друг актёра, драматург Ноэл Кауард заметил по поводу реакции Уэбба на смерть матери: „Наверное, это ужасно стать сиротой в 71 год“» ^[15] . Без сомнения, Уэбб был потрясён потерей матери, проведя долгое время в трауре и одиночестве, за что Кауард стал называть его «самым старым сиротой в мире» ^[16] . После смерти матери Уэбб сыграл всего лишь в одном фильме — « Сатана никогда не спит » (1962). На протяжении последующих лет он много болел, в январе 1963 года ему провели операцию по коррекции аневризмы брюшной аорты , а в мае 1966 года ему вновь сделали операцию на кишечнике. Через несколько месяцев после второй операции, 13 октября 1966 года Уэбб умер от инфаркта в своём доме в Лос-Анджелесе, через шесть лет после смерти матери ^[16] .

• Alain Silver (Editor), Elizabeth Ward (Editor). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, Third Edition . — Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, 1992. — ISBN 978-0-87951-479-2 .
• Spencer Selby. Dark City: The Film Noir . — Jeffeson, NC and London: McFarland & Co Inc, 1997. — ISBN 978-0-7864-0478-0 .
• Geoff Mayer and Brian McDonnell. Encyclopedia of Film Noir . — Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2007. — ISBN 978-0-3133-3306-4 .
• Karen Burroughs Hannsberry. Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir . — Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2008. — ISBN 978-0-7864-3739-9 .
• Floyd Conner. Hollywood's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Lucky Breaks, Prima Donnas, Box Office Bombs, and Other Oddities . — Washington DC: Brassey's, 2002. — ISBN 978-1574884807 .

• Клифтон Уэбб на сайте Allmovie
• Клифтон Уэбб на сайте Американского института киноискусства
• Clifton Webb at Turner Classic Movies