As promised, this week's blog post focuses on the male stars of the 1930's. It was a decade where actors like Humphrey Bogart began to break through, and accomplished actors like Jean Hersholt, Conrad Veidt, James Cagney and more really proved their mettle.
In my next blog post which will be about the movies of the 1930's, there will be a section on what many would say was the golden year of the decade, 1939 and this was a great year for actors. Clark Gable's iconic performance as Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind, Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights and a whole lot more besides.
There were some exceptionally talented actors in the 1930's, for example, Bela Lugosi excelled as Dracula in the 1931 film of the same name, William Powell as Nick Charles in the Thin Man series (which carried on into the 1940's), Joel McCrea proved himself to be a brooding, handsome actor, alongside the likes of Gary Cooper, Cary Grant and James Stewart, the latter three all shining in both comedy and drama. James Cagney's performances in films such as Each Dawn I Die and Angels With Dirty Faces showed how fantastic he was in gangster roles, but he would really show his versatility as an actor in the next decade.
Fred Astaire was the epitome of 1930's musicals, thanks in part to his partnership with Ginger Rogers, their films are absolutely iconic, which include Top Hat, Swing Time, Roberta and many more. Talking of musicals, I would like to give a mention to the terrific Paul Robeson whose performance in Show Boat is moving, especially his performance of Ol' Man River which gives me goosebumps each time I hear it.
Other actors I'd like to give special recognition to are Leslie Howard, Henry Fonda, Willie Best, George Sanders, David Niven, Allen Jenkins, George Raft, John and Lionel Barrymore (both exceptional actors), Robert Montgomery, Stepin Fetchit and I could go on with this list but we would be here for a lifetime.
The 1930's was a decade in which films brought out the best in actors in the different genres such as horror and comedy, and it was also a time when actors who excelled in the silent era sadly could not transition into the talkies, an example being the Danish actor Karl Dane who fell into relative obscurity in the 1930's.
Next week's blog post should be an exciting one as it's all about the movies of the 1930's. It will feature my favourite films of that decade, and a focus on 1939 too.
See you next week!
Header photo of Laurence Olivier, credit to National Portrait Gallery and Pinterest.
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