20 years ago this week, on November 29, 1991, the acting world lost one of its most underrated character actors in Ralph Bellamy. His career lasted around 60 years, going through the worlds of film, theater and television, and creating different memorable roles throughout. He was an Academy Award nominee, and a Honorary Oscar recipient in 1987.
Bellamy's first film was the 1931 gangster thriller The Secret Six opposite Oscar winner Wallace Beery & Jean Harlow. Some of his earlier film work included co-starring with James Cagney in 1933's Picture Snatcher, fighting Robert Young for the affection of Katharine Hepburn in 1934's Spitfire, and a wheelchair-bound wealthy man trying to woo Carole Lombard in 1935's Hands Across the Table.
The role of the hapless "other man" fighting the leading man for a woman's love turned out to be a good type for Bellamy in the beginning of his career. In 1937, he starred opposite Cary Grant and Irene Dunne in Leo McCarey's comedy The Awful Truth - as a neighbor who is engaged to the ex-wife (Dunne) of Grant's character. Bellamy would win an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and McCarey won the Best Director statue for his work.
Bellamy would re-team with Grant in Howard Hawks' brilliant 1940 comedy His Girl Friday (based on the play The Front Page). Bellamy once again played Grant's romantic enemy, as the boyfriend of Grant's ex-wife, journalist Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell). One clever insult from Grant on Bellamy's character referred to Bellamy himself, when he described the boyfriend's looks in a not-so-kind way.
The 1940s had Bellamy pulling down steady film work, mostly in horror films (such as The Wolf Man and The Ghost of Frankenstein) and in five movies playing master detective Ellery Queen. Yet after the 1945 comic film noir Lady on a Train (co-starring singing actress Deanna Durbin), he would not make another film for ten years. Theater and television would occupy his time during that period.
In 1960, five years after returning to the silver screen in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, Bellamy starred as President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film adaptation of the Broadway play Sunrise at Campobello (about FDR's struggle with polio). His co-star Greer Garson (as Eleanor) received the lion's share of award attention, while Bellamy was largely ignored. He would later reprise the role of FDR for the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War and its 1988 sequel War and Remembrance.
From that film on, Bellamy's film appearances continued to be spotty yet crucial - with roles in Roman Polanski's classic Rosemary's Baby, working opposite George Burns in the comedy Oh, God! and as scheming commodities trader Randolph Duke in the 1983 Eddie Murphy-Dan Aykroyd classic Trading Places. His last film role would come opposite Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in the 1990 blockbuster Pretty Woman. On November 29, 1991, more than a year after that last film, Bellamy passed away at age 87.
Ralph Bellamy appeared in nearly 100 films throughout his long career, which also included multiple stints on the theater stage and the small screen. He went from being the hapless boyfriend fighting the romantic leading man for a woman's affections to being one of the most highly-respected character actors of his time. Whether it was facing off with Cary Grant, walking in the presence of FDR, and giving credibility to a movie starring hip-hop group The Fat Boys (1987's Disorderlies...true), Bellamy proved he could take on anyone and any genre to leave a lasting mark as an actor.
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