Douglass Montgomery

American actor (1909–1966)

Kay Young

(m. 1952)

Robert Douglass Montgomery (also credited as Kent Douglass; October 29, 1909^[1] – July 23, 1966) was an American film actor.

Early years

The son of Chester Montgomery, a jeweler, Montgomery graduated from Los Angeles High School.^[1]

Career

Montgomery used the stage name Douglass Montgomery when he began acting in New York. He gained early acting experience at the Pasadena Community Playhouse.^[1]

The film phase of his career began at M-G-M in 1930, playing the second male lead in films such as Paid and Five and Ten. When he signed his contract at the studio his name was changed to Kent Douglass, to avoid confusion with that studio's star Robert Montgomery.^[2] Upon leaving MGM in 1932, he changed it back to Douglass Montgomery.

Among his most celebrated roles was Laurie in Little Women (1933), opposite Katharine Hepburn's Jo March. He also played Johnny Hollis ("Johnny-in-the-Clouds") in The Way to the Stars (1945).

After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II, Montgomery moved to Great Britain and made films there. He later returned to the U.S. and appeared in a number of television shows.

Marriage

Montgomery married British actress Kay Young (born Kathleen Tamar Young) on March 14, 1952, at Bethlehem Federated Church.^[3] He was her second husband. Young had divorced film actor Michael Wilding the year before she wed Montgomery.^[4] (Wilding remarried in 1952, to Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor.)^[5] Young and Montgomery remained married until his death.

Death

Douglass Montgomery died of spinal cancer in Norwalk, Connecticut, at age 56, on July 23, 1966. He was cremated, with his ashes given to his widow.^[6]

Filmography

Mae Clarke and Montgomery in Waterloo Bridge (1931)

Montgomery, Claude Rains and David Manners in The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)

Montgomery, Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard and John Beal in The Cat and the Canary (1939)

Paid (1930) UK title: Within the Law as Bob (credited as Kent Douglass)
Daybreak (1931) as Von Lear
Five and Ten (1931) as Avery Rarick (credited as Kent Douglass)
Waterloo Bridge (1931) as Roy Cronin (credited as Kent Douglass)
A House Divided (1931) as Matt Law
Little Women (1933) as Theodore "Laurie" Laurence
Eight Girls in a Boat (1934) as David Perrin
Little Man, What Now? (1934) as Hans Pinneberg
Music in the Air (1934) as Karl Roder
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) as Neville Landless
Lady Tubbs (1935) as Phil Ash-Orcutt
Harmony Lane (1935) as Stephen Foster
Everything Is Thunder (1936) as Hugh McGrath
Tropical Trouble (1936) as George Masterman
Life Begins With Love (1937) as William Addington Drake IV
Counsel for Crime (1937) as Paul Maddox
The Cat and the Canary (1939) as Charlie Wilder
The Way to the Stars UK (1945) (US title Johnny in the Clouds)
Woman to Woman UK (1947) as David Anson
Fatal Symphony Italy (1947) (When in Rome) as John Savage
Forbidden UK (1949) as Jim Harding

Television appearances

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "He Refused to Eat from a Golden Spoon". Detroit Free Press. August 19, 1934. p. 68. Retrieved June 22, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Notes of the Stage and Screen". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 24, 1930. p. 8. Retrieved July 1, 2020 – via Google News Archive.
^ Wildings & Thurleys, Cantophers & McConnells, "Hatches, Matches & Dispatches only" (page 28) Archived July 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, lineone.net; accessed January 18, 2010.
^ Wildings & Thurleys, Cantophers & McConnells, "Hatches, Matches & Dispatches only" (page 46), lineone.net; accessed January 18, 2010.
^ Wildings & Thurleys, Cantophers & McConnells, "Hatches, Matches & Dispatches only" (page 44) Archived July 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, lineone.net; accessed January 18, 2010.
^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3d ed.). McFarland. p. 525. ISBN 978-0786479924. Retrieved April 8, 2017.