Richard Arlen was born in Charlottesville, Virginia on September 1, 1900(or 1899), but spent most of his formative years in St. Paul, Minnesota. Prior to heading out to Hollywood, he joined the Royal Canadian flying Corps becoming a pilot, although he never saw combat. After the war he worked in the oil fields of Texas and eventually made his way out to Hollywood where he worked as a film lab messenger. According to lore, Richard literally " crashed " into showbiz while making a studio delivery. He was injured in a motor vehicle accident while on the lot of Paramount and was rushed to the studio doctor for treatment. The studio executives were so impressed by his good looks, they offered him a contract as a bit player. Richard stepped out of bit parts after appearing in a scene with Gary Cooper in the Academy Award winning movie " Wings ".
Richard appeared or co-starred with Nancy Carroll in the following movies: "Manhattan Cocktail", " The Man I Love ", " Dangerous Paradise "," Paramount on Parade ", and " Wayward ". Although they had been a screen couple, there was a great amount of friction between the two off-camera. It has been said that their feud was as such that they did not even speak to one another unless it was part of the script. Yet years later when Arlen was being honored on a " This is Your Life " segment, Nancy appeared along with Buddy Rogers and others from their era to pay homage to him.
Having survived the talkies, by 1935, Richard's star, like Nancy's, had begun to wane. Fortunately, Richard had invested his earnings as an actor wisely, so he remained financially solvent as he slowly slipped into B movies. It wasn't until the early '40s when he started making " action/westerns ", that his star re-gained some of its brilliance. But in 1947 Richard Arlen played a very different type of role in Hollywood. He was one of the actors who testified before the House Committee of Un-American Activities, making some strong statements, statements people like McCarthy took very seriously. He testified, " there are certain groups of parlor pinks or influences that we would be better off without in Hollywood and we are all aware of it." He furthermore described these individuals as " people who are dissatisfied with their progress, are frustrated and are opportunists." They were, he added, mainly screen writers. I am certain that anyone reading this knows the effect testimony such as Richard Arlen's had on the careers of several screen writers, actors and actresses in Hollywood.
Richard had a long career spanning six decades. In the late forties he found his career threatened by rapid hearing loss, but an operation was able to restore his hearing and save his career. He appeared in more films in the '50s, '60s and '70s and also began appeared on television programs and in several commercials. He finished his career on the silver screen in much the same way he started -- in small roles. He died in March 1976 in North Hollywood, California at the age of 75.
For a complete listing of Richard Arlen's filmography, please visit IMDb and type in Richard Arlen under "name".