Guest blogger Allen Hefner presents this overview of the career of character actor great Neil Hamilton:
I happened to be watching a 1932 Constance Bennett movie the other day. You remember her…Joan’s sister? The movie was called What Price Hollywood? and she was the star. Not a bad flick for 1932; it showcased some of the excesses of the Hollywood life, with a love story and a “girl finds her dream” melodrama mixed in (its story was also the basis for A Star Is Born).
The male lead, a polo-playing millionaire, was played by Neil Hamilton (1899 – 1984), a handsome actor with 162 titles on IMDb from 1918 to 1971.
In his early, silent film days, he worked with many stars, including Mae Marsh, Lionel Barrymore and Bessie Love, and with such great directors as D. W. Griffith and William DeMille, Cecil’s brother. Perhaps his most famous silent roles were as Nick Carraway alongside Warner Baxter’s Jay Gatsby in a 1926 version of The Great Gatsby,and that same year as Digby Geste–brother of Michael (Ronald Colman) and John (Ralph Forbes)–in the oft-filmed adventure Beau Geste (both of these movies also featured a young William Powell).
While most of his roles in the early talkies were good ones, and sometimes starring roles, the films themselves were not always top-caliber releases. He was in three mysteries with Warner Oland: The Studio Murder Mystery in 1929, and as hero Dr. Jack Petrie opposing Asian villian Oland in The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (also 1929) and The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930). Also in 1930, Hamilton worked with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Richard Barthelmess in the WWI drama The Dawn Patrol.
Hamilton did manage to lead the cast in the first Tarzan film to star Johnny Weissmuller, 1932’s Tarzan, the Ape Man. Neil played hunter Harry Holt, who is sweet on Maureen O’Sullivan’s Jane Foster but loses her to the muscular Tarzan. He would reprise the role two years later in Tarzan and His Mate, but still had no luck wooing Jane away from her vine-swinging sweetheart.
The 1940s had more films, with only a few famous titles like Father Takes a Wife (1941) starring Adolphe Menjou and Gloria “I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille” Swanson, and Brewster’s Millions (1945), with Dennis O’Keefe and Helen Walker.
Then, in the 1950s, Hamilton moved into television. He started as a host on Hollywood Screen Test from 1948 to 1953, and later made the rounds on many teleplays and all the usual westerns, including Maverick, Colt .45, Tales of Wells Fargo, and more. He also worked in detective shows with spots on Mike Hammer, Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, Perry Mason, and 77 Sunset Strip. And let’s not leave out the comedies, such as The Real McCoys and Mister Ed. Oh, yes, and sci-fi fans saw him in two episodes of The Outer Limits.
Then, finally, in 1966 Neil landed the TV role that really made him famous, when he became the stern-faced and resolute Commissioner Gordon on ABC’s campy hit Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusaders.
Hmmm, Burt Ward…Now there’s a Bit Actor to write about! Anyone who would take a role as Mr. Bum in the R-rated Beach Babes from Beyond (1993) is worthy of a post!
Allen Hefner has been interested in movies since an early age, attending the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA for every Saturday Matinee during his youth, when 50 cents bought you a two-reeler (usually The Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy), a few cartoons, and a feature film. As a member of The Sons of the Desert,he was privileged to enjoy the company of many film buffs, and to meet many stars of the past. Write to him anytime at bitactors@gmail.com and visit Bit Part Actors.