Robert Middlemass
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Middlemass (3 September 1883, New Britain, Connecticut – 10 September 1949, Los Angeles, California) was an American playwright and stage actor, and later character actor with over 100 film appearances. usually playing detectives or policemen.
Middlemass graduated from Harvard University in 1909 and initially went into the insurance business, but soon went on the stage, joining the Castle Square Theatre stock company in Boston. He debuted on Broadway in September 1914 in The Bludgeon at the Maxine Elliott Theatre.
His best known play was a one-act melodrama written with Holworthy Hall (real name H. E. Porter, a college roommate) titled The Valiant, which was also made into a film of the same name in 1929, and as The Man Who Wouldn't Talk in 1940. The play became a favorite for amateur and local theater groups, and is still performed today.
Middlemass moved to Los Angeles around 1935, and began appearing in films. He died there in 1949.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 4.3 |
Birthday | 1883-09-03 |
Place of Birth | New Britain, Connecticut, USA |
Also Known As | Robert Middlemas, Bob Middlemass, Robert M. Middlemass, |
1939
Blondie Brings Up Baby
6.5/6
Baby Dumpling, the six-year-old son of Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead disappears from sight during his first day at school. While Dagwood frantically co...
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Blondie Brings Up Baby
1937
A Day at the Races
7.067/193
Doctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's farm by winning a big race with her horse. There are a few problems. Hackenbush runs a hi...
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A Day at the Races
1944
Lady in the Death House
5.4/12
As a woman walks the "last mile" to her execution she remembers back to the incidents that got her framed for murder.
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Lady in the Death House
1935
Grand Exit
6/4
A Stumped insurance company is forced to re-hire the most expensive, most big-headed, but best arson investigator to solve a string of major losses.
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Grand Exit
1940
The Saint Takes Over
6.3/11
The Saint Takes Over, released in 1940 by RKO Pictures, was the fifth motion picture featuring the adventures of Simon Templar, a.k.a. "The Saint" the...
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The Saint Takes Over
1943
The Black Raven
5.4/15
One dark and stormy night, an escaped convict, an embezzler, a runaway daughter, her intended and her father, and a gangster take refuge in a remote...
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The Black Raven
1938
While New York Sleeps
0/0
Newspaperman (Whalen) looks into the deaths of bond-carriers while romancing a show girl (Rogers).
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While New York Sleeps
1938
I Am the Law
6.6/8
With the aid of his former law students, a professor-turned-prosecutor battles corruption and organized crime.
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I Am the Law
1941
No Hands on the Clock
4.9/7
A wise-cracking private detective's honeymoon is interrupted by a kidnapping case.
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No Hands on the Clock
1938
Miracle Money
4/3
In this MGM Crime Does Not Pay series short, doctors scam patients with a fake cure for cancer.
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Miracle Money
1936
The Case of the Velvet Claws
6.8/4
Perry and Della are finally married by his old friend, Judge Mary. They plan to go on a honeymoon, but before it can start, Perry is retained by a wom...
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The Case of the Velvet Claws
1936
Cain and Mabel
6.2/10
A chorus girl and a heavyweight boxer are paired romantically as a publicity stunt.
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Cain and Mabel
1936
You May Be Next!
2.5/1
Gangster tries to censor a crusading radio station by jamming its signal.
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You May Be Next!
1935
Air Hawks
6/2
A small, independent air delivery service is menaced by a mad scientist with a death ray machine that blows up planes in mid-flight.
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Air Hawks
1936
Hats Off
5/2
The first musical comedy from the Grand National assembly line, Hats Off stars John Payne and Mae Clarke as rival press agents Jimmy Maxwell and Jo Al...
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Hats Off
1940
Little Old New York
4/5
Inventor Robert Fulton receives support from a tavern owner and a shipyard worker to help realize his dream of a high-powered steamboat.
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Little Old New York
1935
Atlantic Adventure
5.5/2
When reporter Dan Miller is once again late to meet his girl friend, Helen Murdock, because he is working on a story, Helen breaks up with him. Later,...
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Atlantic Adventure
1937
Meet the Boy Friend
6/5
A heartthrob singer, Tony Paige, also known as "America's Boyfriend" decides to wed a Swedish actress. His manager doesn't want this because he is afr...
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Meet the Boy Friend
1939
Indianapolis Speedway
5/7
A champion auto racer who unhappily learns his kid brother wants to enter the same profession rather than finish school.
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Indianapolis Speedway
1939
Hotel Imperial
6/2
It is the fate of a small frontier town, adjoining the no-man's-land where the Russians and Austrians are fighting out one of the final campaigns of W...
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Hotel Imperial
1932
The Studio Murder Mystery
0/0
When the leading lady of a motion picture is murdered in the middle of a scene, Inspector Carr and Dr. Crabtree are called in to investigate.
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The Studio Murder Mystery
1935
The Lone Wolf Returns
6/6
Once a jewel thief always a jewel thief? Yes and no. Yes if you consider the fact that Michael Lanyard also known as the Lone Wolf once retired from t...
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The Lone Wolf Returns
1935
Party Wire
8/2
When a small-town girl's boyfriend leaves in disgrace, gossips spread false reports of her pregnancy.
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Party Wire
1935
After the Dance
6/1
Though he was protecting her when he accidentally killed a man, Mabel Kane (Thelma Todd) refuses to testify on behalf of her dance partner Jerry Davis...
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After the Dance
1937
Madame X
6.2/5
An alcoholic woman was charged and tried for murder and a young defense attorney, unaware that she is his mother, takes the assignment to defend her i...
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Madame X
1938
Tarnished Angel
5.3/3
A showgirl with a dubious reputation flees the cops and transforms herself into a phony evangelist offering "cures" to the sick and disabled.
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Tarnished Angel
1936
Guns of the Pecos
6.2/3
A singing cowboy (Dick Foran) thwarts a thieving judge and courts a woman (Anne Nagel) in Texas.
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Guns of the Pecos
1939
The Amazing Mr. Williams
5.8/10
Kenny Williams, a lieutenant on the homicide squad, is engaged to Maxine Carroll, the Mayor's secretary. Or isn't he rather married with his job? For...
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The Amazing Mr. Williams
1939
Maisie
4.7/7
Wisecracking showgirl Maisie Ravier finds herself trapped in a Wyoming town when her new employer closes the show prematurely. She meets ranch foreman...
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Maisie
1936
Frankie and Johnnie
5/1
The story of a woman, Frankie, and the man who has done her wrong, Johnnie.
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Frankie and Johnnie
1939
Stand Up and Fight
5.8/4
A southern aristocrat clashes with a driver transporting stolen slaves to freedom.
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Stand Up and Fight
1939
Idiot's Delight
5.7/11
A group of disparate travelers are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.
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Idiot's Delight
1937
Navy Blue and Gold
5.9/7
Three Navy Cadets become friends, support each other and struggle to survive the rigorous training.
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Navy Blue and Gold
1939
Stanley and Livingstone
6.3/20
When American newspaperman and adventurer Henry M. Stanley comes back from the western Indian wars, his editor James Gordon Bennett sends him to Afric...
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Stanley and Livingstone
1939
Coast Guard
5/3
Steady, dependable Coast Guard Lieutenant Raymond "Ray" Dower and reckless aviator Thomas "Speed" Bradshaw are the closest of friends. Ray saves the l...
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Coast Guard
1939
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
7.888/1020
Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state. He soon...
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939
Blackmail
6.4/7
A fugitive from a chain gang becomes an oil-well firefighter and meets the man who framed him.
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Blackmail
1939
Espionage Agent
5.9/9
When Barry Corvall discovers that his new bride is a possible enemy agent, he resigns from the diplomatic service to go undercover to route out an esp...
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Espionage Agent
1939
The Arizona Kid
5.8/5
Roy is a Confederate officer stationed in Missouri during the Civil War. He must put an end to outlaw gangs working under the pretense of service to t...
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The Arizona Kid
1939
Slightly Honorable
5.7/7
A lawyer is framed for the murder of a young party girl and tries to clear his name.
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Slightly Honorable
1938
Arsène Lupin Returns
5.8/7
A woman and a man vying for a woman's affection: the usual love trio? Not quite so since the belle in question is Lorraine de Grissac, a very wealthy...
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Arsène Lupin Returns
1938
Kentucky
5.6/10
Young lovers Jack and Sally are from families that compete to send horses to the 1938 Kentucky Derby, but during the Civil War, her family sided with...
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Kentucky
1940
Abe Lincoln in Illinois
6.8/20
Abe Lincoln in Illinois is a 1940 biographical film which tells the story of the life of Abraham Lincoln from his departure from Kentucky until his el...
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Abe Lincoln in Illinois
1942
Klondike Fury
3.9/5
In this Alaskan adventure, a surgeon becomes a pilot after he messes up an operation. Unfortunately, he crashes during a storm and finds himself cared...
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Klondike Fury
1936
Two Against the World
5.8/8
Searching for ratings at any cost, an unscrupulous radio-network owner forces his program manager to air a serial based on a past murder, tormenting a...
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Two Against the World
1936
General Spanky
5/4
Orphaned shoeshine boy Spanky is working on a Mississippi riverboat during the Civil War. There he befriends young runaway slave Buckwheat. After wron...
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General Spanky
1938
Love Is a Headache
5.7/3
A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill, attempts to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans, without her k...
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Love Is a Headache
1940
Pop Always Pays
0/0
A businessman boasts he'll give his daughter a large amount of cash for her wedding, and then frantically tries to raise the money. This 1940 comedy s...
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Pop Always Pays
1942
Johnny Doughboy
5.5/6
As sixteen year old Ann Winters begins a relationship with an older actor to further her career, lookalike fan Penelope Ryan is recruited by a group o...
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Johnny Doughboy
1936
Muss 'em Up
5.5/4
Famous private detective Tip O'Neil is summoned by telegram to the estate of old friend Paul Harding, but finds the telegram was sent by Paul's attrac...
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Muss 'em Up
1935
The Awakening of Jim Burke
0/0
After his divorced wife dies, Jim Burke takes their son who she had been raising and he hasn't seen in many years. Jim Burke is a tough, hard-nosed co...
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The Awakening of Jim Burke
1939
The Magnificent Fraud
0/0
A Chicago con man pays an actor to pose as a slain South American dictator.
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The Magnificent Fraud
1938
Blondes at Work
6.1/8
When a rival newspaper publisher complains to his captain about possible collusion between himself and reporter Torchy Blane on scooping her rivals in...
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Blondes at Work
1943
Bombardier
5.4/18
A documentary/drama about the training of bombardiers during WWII. Major Chick Davis proves to the U.S. Army the superiority of high altitude precisio...
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Bombardier
1941
Lady Scarface
5.1/11
A Chicago gang led by Slade carries out an audacious brokerage robbery. Lieutenant Bill Mason takes the case, continuing his friendly-enemy relationsh...
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Lady Scarface
1935
She Couldn't Take It
7/1
The wealthy Van Dyke family are constantly in the media for outrageous behavior, much to the frustration of the patriarch, Dan Van Dyke. His self-cent...
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She Couldn't Take It
1935
If You Could Only Cook
7.4/18
An auto engineer and a professor's daughter pose as married servants in a mobster's mansion.
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If You Could Only Cook
1940
Gold Rush Maisie
6.5/5
Maisie becomes attached to a dirt-poor farmer and his family as they try to make ends meet joining hundreds of others digging for gold in a previously...
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Gold Rush Maisie
1941
Road to Zanzibar
6.31/29
Stranded in Africa, Chuck and his pal Fearless have comic versions of jungle adventures, featuring two attractive con-women.
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Road to Zanzibar
1939
Drunk Driving
5.2/6
In this Crime Does Not Pay series entry, John Jones is an up and coming businessman who drinks too much but denies he has a problem. One day he mixes...
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Drunk Driving
1935
Too Tough to Kill
0/0
A no-nonsense engineer is hired to oversee construction of the Whitney Tunnel, a project that has been plagued by a series of mysterious--and often fa...
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Too Tough to Kill
1938
The Mad Miss Manton
6.5/36
When the murdered body discovered by beautiful, vivacious socialite Melsa Manton disappears, police and press label her a prankster until she proves t...
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The Mad Miss Manton
1935
The Public Menace
5/1
1935 comedy in which an immigrant (Jean Arthur), a reporter (George Murphy) and a gangster (Douglass Dumbrille) cross paths.
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The Public Menace
1942
Torpedo Boat
6/1
Richard Arlen and Phil Terry star as Skimmer and Tommy, two lifelong buddies who've invented a lightweight, high-speed torpedo boat (hence the title)....
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Torpedo Boat
1935
The Black Room
6.42/56
In a 16th-century European town, the ruling family has been given a prophecy that, should there ever be twin boys born, the younger will murder the ol...
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The Black Room
1936
Hideaway Girl
0/0
An unfortunate marriage and a bogus Count are the ingredients for this musical.
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Hideaway Girl
1935
One Way Ticket
5/1
A convict marries the warder's daughter after his escape and she eventually persuades him to finish his sentence.
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One Way Ticket
1945
A Sporting Chance
0/0
After the death of shipping magnate William Reardon, his young partner, Steve Walker, becomes executor and manager of his shipyards, in accordance wit...
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A Sporting Chance
1936
F-Man
0/0
Johnny Dime has aspiration of becoming a "G-Man" , gums up the work of Rogan, an actual government agent is his pursuit of Public Enemy No. 1. Dimes a...
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F-Man
1938
I Stand Accused
0/0
Fred, a young lawyer fresh out of school, climbs quickly to success as the mouthpiece for a gangland mob. His friend Paul, however, reaches equally qu...
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I Stand Accused
1930
Excuse the Pardon
0/0
A convict is released, then lured back to prison, because he was pardoned by mistake.
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Excuse the Pardon
1938
The Cowboy and the Lady
6.13/23
Mary Smith decides after a lifetime of being a shut-in to do something wild while her father is out campaigning for the presidency, so she takes off f...
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The Cowboy and the Lady
1934
Good Luck - Best Wishes
0/0
Solly is in love with Jane but Jane's father can't afford a big wedding. So he schemes with Solly's father, his business partner, to stage a big quarr...
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Good Luck - Best Wishes
1945
Main Street After Dark
4.8/4
A police detective (Edward Arnold) uses fluorescent powder to catch a pickpocket (Selena Royle) and her gang.
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Main Street After Dark
1936
A Son Comes Home
1/1
A mother experiences the torment of discovering that her own son is a killer.
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A Son Comes Home
1942
The Payoff
5.7/7
The city's District Attorney is murdered, and a newspaper reporter investigates. He starts finding out that everything wasn't quite as cut and dried a...
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The Payoff
1938
Highway Patrol
0/0
Arrested for speeding by highway patrolman Bill Rolph (Robert Paige), J.W. Brady (Robert Middlemass), the president of an oil refinery, offers him the...
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