Character actor Guy Kibbee became a professional performer at age 13 in his native El Paso, wracking up nearly 35 years of stage experience on showboats , and in stock companies and vaudeville before making his first film, a Vitaphone called For Sale directed by Bryan Foy , and starring Gregory Ratoff.
He appeared in two Broadway plays, Torch Song and Marseilles , in before definitely making the move to Hollywood just before reaching the age of Those Pre-Code years at Warner Brothers covered him in glory: he was much in demand in racy comedies and musicals and sometimes dramas , generally as a cheerfully lecherous moneybags, all leering eyes, flashing teeth, and shiny bald forehead.
His skin seemed so ruddy from boozing it up you could detect it in films that were in black and white. His raspy voice further cemented the idea that this guy had done some hard partying.
Once the Code was in force, he proved his versatility in all sorts of pictures, such as westerns, costume epics, and dramas as well as comedies and musicals, generally playing avuncular authority figures like judges, army generals, politicians and the like. Important later films included Captain Blood , Mr. He also supported Shirley Temple in Miss Annie Rooney , and even had his own starring series of comedies for RKO as Scattergood Baines , six films produced between and , a topic for its own blogpost someday no doubt.
His younger brother Milton Kibbee became a bit player in films, as well. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. You must be logged in to post a comment. March 6, April 17, travsd.
