Ridges, Stanley

Stanley Regis was born on July 17, 1890 in Southampton , United Kingdom . Regis began his theater career on the London stage, where the star of musical comedies Beatrice Lilly drew his attention to him ^[1] .

In 1917, Regis moved to New York , where he began a Broadway career as a singing and dancing actor in musical comedies such as Chinese Rose (1919–20), Sally (1920–22), Elsie (1923) , "Mary Jane McCain" (1923-24), "Bai, Bai, Barbara" (1924), "The Bride Leaves" (1925), "Boom Boom" (1929) and the comedy "Made in France" (1930). Later, Regis turned to romantic roles, playing in such historical dramas as “Mary of Scotland” (1933-34) based on a play by Maxwell Anderson as Lord Morton and “Valley Forge” (1933-34) as Lieutenant Colonel Lucifer Tench. Riges played his last role on Broadway in the comedy The First Lady (1935–36) ^{[2] [1]} .

In 1923, Regis made his debut in the silent film "Success" (1923), followed by roles in three sound short films of the years 1930-31. In 1934, having excellent diction and a rich voice, 43-year-old Ridges easily switched to sound film, where his first big job was the criminal melodrama Crime Without Passion (1934) with Claude Raines in the lead role of a narcissist lawyer ^[1] . In this picture, Regis played the role of a handsome, dubious and former lover of a dancer from a nightclub, whom the lawyer tried to first substitute, and then in a fit of unjustified jealousy killed during a fight in a restaurant ^[3] .

As Hal Ericson wrote, “when the grizzled hair of Regis put an end to his career as a romantic protagonist, he began to play characteristic roles, specializing in noble, restrained and completely non-UK characters” ^[1] . In 1939, in the criminal melodrama " Dust will be my destiny " (1939), Ridges played a rough and constantly drunk chief warder at the farm for prisoners. Criticizing the film for the stereotype of the plot, the cinematographer of the New York Times Frank Nugent nevertheless noted the “fairly good game” of a number of actors, including Regis as an overseer " ^[4] .

One of the best film works of Regis, according to film historian Hal Erikson, was the double role of a good schizophrenic professor, who turned into a killer, in the horror thriller of Universal Studio " Black Friday " (1940) ^[1] . Despite the presence in the film of such actors as Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi , film critic Hans Wollstein believes that “the real star of this film was experienced actor Stanley Regis, who received the role of his life, playing both good and educated Professor Kingsley and gangster- Red Cannon's killer. Regis becomes a revelation, and, like Spencer Tracy (in the film " Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde " (1941)), he tackles the difficult task of creating two completely different characters, making it almost without make-up. " At the same time, according to Wollstejn, “Regions in their role succeeds,” and “Tracy in hers fails” ^[5] .

Later on, Regions often played supporting roles in many classic films, playing the main role only once more in the Republic Pictures studio in the B film category “ False faces ” (1943). As Erickson wrote, the film became “a typical example of the selection of wartime actors, when all male actors were taken from the ranks of those who had not been drafted into the army.” The film tells about the murder of the singer, in which the son of district attorney Stanley Harding is suspected (Regis plays the role of prosecutor). The prosecutor is faced with a difficult choice — based on circumstantial evidence, he may need to demand life imprisonment for his own son ^[6] .

Among other notable roles of Ridges is Inspector Scotland Yard , who catches the killer ( Charles Lawton ) in the film Noir “The Suspect ” (1944), Major Buxton, the commander of the main character (played by Gary Cooper ), in the military drama “ Sergeant York ” (1942) ), “The traitorous professor of Seletsky in the incomparable black comedy” Ernst Lubich “ To be or not to be ” (1942) and the official doctor of the White House Cary Traverse Grayson in the biographical film “ Wilson ” (1944). He also played the role of the doctor in the noir film “ Obsessed ” (1947) with Joan Crawford in the lead role, the attorney in the film Noir “ The Case of Telma Jordon ” (1950) with Barbara Stenvik . In the film Noir, No Exit (1950), Regis was the head physician of a hospital who was trying to lower a racial conflict between a doctor and a patient on brakes ^{[1] [7]} . Regis's latest film was a comedy with Ginger Rogers " The Bridegroom Wore Spurs " (1951), where he played the mob. The picture was released a month before the death of the actor ^[8] .

At the end of his career, Ridges managed to play on television in several TV shows, among them “The Television from Chevrolet” (1949), “The Television from Filko” (1950), “First Studio” (1950-51) and “Suspense” ( 1950-51) ^[9]

Regis was married twice. In 1918, he married Ann McGoren, this marriage ended in divorce. From 1930 until his death in 1951, he was married to Dorothea S. Crawford, and the actor had one child in this marriage ^[10] .

Stanley Regis died on April 22, 1951 in Westbrook , Connecticut , at the age of 60 ^[11] .

• Stanley Regis on IMDb
• Stanley Regions on AllMovie
• Stanley Regions on Turner Classic Movies
• Stanley Regis at the British Film Institute website