George Bancroft (September 30, 1882 – October 2, 1956) was an American film actor, whose career spanned seventeen years from 1925 to 1942. A star of pre-Code Hollywood, he is best known as the tough guy lead in four Josef von Sternberg films, the last of which, Thunderbolt, earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He was later a supporting player in a number of notable movies, including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Stagecoach (1939).

Early years

Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. He attended Tomes Institute in Port Deposit, Maryland.

Maritime work After working on merchant marine vessels at age 14, Bancroft was an apprentice on and later served on and West Indies. Additionally, during the Battle of Manila Bay (1898), he was a gunner on . During his days in the Navy, he staged plays aboard ship.

In 1900, he swam underneath the hull of the battleship to check the extent of the damage after it struck a rock off the coast of China. For this, he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy, but found it too restrictive for his tastes and left to pursue a theatrical career.The reference work American Classic Screen Profiles says of Bancroft, "He left the Academy after one year for a theatrical career."

Acting career In 1901, Bancroft began acting in earnest, as he toured in plays and had juvenile leads in musical comedies. In vaudeville, he did blackface routines and impersonated celebrities. His Broadway credits include the musical comedies Cinders (1923, as Great Scott) and The Rise of Rosie O'Reilly (1923).

One of his early films was The Journey's End (1921). Bancroft's first starring role was in The Pony Express (1925), and the next year he played an important supporting role in a cast including Wallace Beery, Charles Farrell and Esther Ralston in the period naval widescreen epic Old Ironsides (1926). He then had his finest period as a lead actor, starring in four Paramount productions directed by Josef von Sternberg: Underworld (1927), The Drag Net (1928), The Docks of New York (1928) and Thunderbolt (1929); the latter earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.The Academy Awards Database provides this comment: "[NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL NOMINATION. There were no announcements of nominations, no certificates of nomination or honorable mention, and only the winners (*) were revealed during the awards banquet on April 3, 1930. Though not official nominations, the additional names in each category, according to in-house records, were under consideration by the various boards of judges.]" He played the title role in The Wolf of Wall Street (1929, released just prior to the Wall Street Crash), appeared in Paramount's all-star revue Paramount on Parade (1930) and starred in Rowland Brown's Blood Money (1933), condemned by the censors because they feared the film would "incite law-abiding citizens to crime."

Reportedly, he refused to fall down on set after a prop revolver was fired at him, saying "Just one bullet can't stop Bancroft!".

Bancroft enjoyed his career height in the late 1920s, his thirties' films where he was the leading man, didn't quite have the same impact and by 1936 he had slipped to being a supporting actor; although he still appeared in such classics as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) with Gary Cooper, Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) with James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, Each Dawn I Die (1939) with Cagney and George Raft, and Stagecoach (1939) with John Wayne and Thomas Mitchell. In 1942, he left Hollywood to be a full-time rancher.

Personal life Bancroft first married actress Edna Brothers in 1913. Three years later, he married musical comedy star Octavia Broske. In 1934, Brothers sued him, claiming they had never divorced. Two years later, the case was settled, and Brothers obtained a divorce.

Death On October 2, 1956, Bancroft died in Santa Monica, California, at age 74. He was interred there in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.

Complete filmography +YearTitleRoleNotes1921The Journey's End The Ironworker1922The Prodigal JudgeCavendish1923Driven Lem Tolliver1924Teeth Dan AngusThe Deadwood Coach Tex Wilson – in play1925Code of the WestEnoch ThurmanThe Rainbow Trail Jake WilletsThe Pony ExpressJack SladeThe Splendid RoadBuck Lockwell1926The Enchanted Hill Ira ToddSea Horses CochranThe Runaway Lesher SkidmoreOld Ironsides Gunner1927White GoldSam RandallToo Many Crooks Bert the BoxmanUnderworld"Bull" WeedTell It to SweeneyCannonball CaseyThe Rough RidersHappy Joe1928The Showdown CardanThe Drag Net Two-Gun NolanThe Docks of New York Bill Roberts1929The Wolf of Wall Street The WolfThunderbolt Thunderbolt Jim LangThe Mighty Blake Greeson1930Paramount on ParadeMug (Impulses)Ladies Love Brutes Joe ForziatiDerelictBill Rafferty1931Scandal Sheet Mark FlintRich Man's Folly Brock Trumbull1932The World and the Flesh KylenkoLady and Gent Stag Bailey1933Blood Money Bill Bailey1934Elmer and Elsie Elmer Beebe1936Hell-Ship Morgan Captain Ira 'Hell-Ship' MorganMr. Deeds Goes to Town MacWadeWedding Present Pete Wagg1937A Doctor's DiaryDr. Clem DriscollJohn Meade's Woman Tim MathewsRacketeers in Exile William Waldo1938Submarine Patrol Capt. LeedsAngels with Dirty Faces Mac Keefer1939Stagecoach Marshal Curley WilcoxEach Dawn I Die John ArmstrongEspionage AgentDudley GarrettRulers of the SeaCaptain Oliver1940Green Hell "Tex" MorganYoung Tom Edison Samuel 'Sam' EdisonWhen the Daltons RodeCaleb WintersNorthwest Mounted Police Jacques CorbeauLittle Men Major Burdle1941Texas Windy Miller1942The Bugle Sounds'Russ' RussellSyncopation Steve PorterWhistling in DixieSheriff Claude Stagg

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