Alan Mowbray

Alan Mowbray MM, (18 August 1896 - 25 March 1969), was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood.

Born Alfred Ernest Allen in London, England, he served with distinction the British Army in World War I, being awarded the Military Medal for bravery. He began as a stage actor, making his way to the United States where he appeared in Broadway plays and toured the country as part of a theater troupe.

As Alan Mowbray, he made his film debut in 1931, going on to a career primarily as a character actor in more than 140 films including the sterling butler role in the comedy Merrily We Live, and playing the title role in the TV series The Adventures of Colonel Flack. During World War II, he made a memorable appearance as the Devil in the Hal Roach propaganda comedy The Devil with Hitler. He appeared in some two dozen guest roles on various television series.

Mowbray was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild, with outside interests that led to membership in Britain's Royal Geographic Society.

He played the title role in the DuMont TV series Colonel Humphrey Flack, which first appeared in 1953-1954 and then was revived in 1958-1959. In the 1954-1955 television season Mowbray played Mr. Swift, the drama coach of the character Mickey Mulligan, in NBC's short-lived situation comedy The Mickey Rooney Show: Hey, Mulligan.

Mowbray died of a heart attack in 1969 in Hollywood and was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Partial filmography

 * God's Gift to Women (1931)
 * Guilty Hands (1931)
 * Alexander Hamilton (1931)
 * Honor of the Family (1931)
 * The Man from Yesterday (1932)
 * Winner Take All (1932)
 * Jewel Robbery (1932)
 * The Man Called Back (1932)
 * Sherlock Holmes (1932)
 * Two Against the World (1932)
 * Our Betters (1933)
 * A Study in Scarlet (1933)
 * Peg o' My Heart (1933)
 * The Midnight Club (1933)
 * Voltaire (1933)
 * Berkeley Square (1933)
 * Roman Scandals (1933)
 * The House of Rothschild (1934)
 * The Girl from Missouri (1934)
 * Charlie Chan in London (1934)
 * Becky Sharp (1935)
 * The Gay Deception (1935)
 * She Couldn't Take It (1935)
 * Rose-Marie (1936)
 * Desire (1936)
 * Mary of Scotland (1936)
 * My Man Godfrey (1936)
 * Ladies in Love (1936)
 * On the Avenue (1937)
 * Marry the Girl (1937)
 * The King and the Chorus Girl (1937)
 * Topper (1937)
 * Stand-In (1937)
 * Merrily We Live (1938)
 * There Goes My Heart (1938)
 * Topper Takes a Trip (1939)
 * Music in My Heart (1940)
 * Curtain Call (1940)
 * The Boys from Syracuse (1940)
 * The Villain Still Pursued Her (1940)
 * That Hamilton Woman (1941)
 * That Uncertain Feeling (1941)
 * I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
 * The Devil with Hitler (1942)
 * His Butler's Sister (1943)
 * Slightly Dangerous (1943)
 * Holy Matrimony (1943)
 * The Doughgirls (1944)
 * Terror by Night (1946)
 * My Darling Clementine (1946)
 * Lured (1947)
 * Captain from Castile (1947)
 * Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)
 * Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
 * The Lovable Cheat (1949)
 * Wagon Master (1950)
 * The Jackpot (1950)
 * Blackbeard the Pirate (1952)
 * Androcles and the Lion (1952)
 * Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954)
 * Once Upon a Honeymoon (1956) (short)
 * The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
 * The King and I (1956)
 * Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
 * A Majority of One (1962)

TV appearances

 * The Patty Duke Show, as director of the high school play in which both Patty and Cathy appeared
 * Maverick, in "The Misfortune Teller" episode as Luke Abigor.


 * Four-Star Playhouse in Dick Powell's episode "The House Always Wins" 1955