Phillips Holmes

Acting

Phillips Holmes

Born — Died

1907-07-22 — 1942-08-12

Place of birth

Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

48 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Phillips Raymond Holmes (July 22, 1907 – August 12, 1942) was an American actor. In 1928 Holmes was spotted in the undergraduate crowd at Princeton University during the filming of Frank Tuttle's Varsity and offered a screen test. In the early 1930s he became a popular leading man, playing leads in a few important productions, notably in Josef von Sternberg's An American Tragedy. At Paramount, Holmes starred in melodrama and comedy. In 1933 his Paramount contract ran out and he moved to MGM for one year. As the decade progressed, his career declined, and he appeared in a few box-office failures, including Sam Goldwyn's poorly received Nana (1934). His …

Known for

Dinner at Eight poster
6.8

An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.

Dinner at Eight

1933

Broken Lullaby poster
7.4

A young French soldier in World War I is overcome with guilt when he kills a German soldier who, like himself, is a musically gifted conscript, each having attended the same musical conservatory in France. The fact that the incident occurred in war does not assuage his guilt. He travels to Germany to meet the man's family.

Broken Lullaby

1932

Her Man poster
5.2

A prostitute sees a friendly sailor as a way out of Havana's grimy underworld.

Her Man

1930

Penthouse poster
6.9

Gertie Waxted knows how notorious gangster Jim Crelliman runs his rackets, because she's long been under the hoodlum's thumb. She's secretly helping lawyer Jackson Durant in a snoop job aimed at pinning a murder on the thug. Her life will be in peril when that secret gets out.

Penthouse

1933

Stage Mother poster
6.3

Kitty Lorraine has one purpose in life: turning her daughter Shirley into a star. Kitty controls every aspect of the girl's nascent career -- even blackmailing a stage manager so that Shirley can take a more prestigious gig. But Kitty goes too far when she breaks up her daughter's budding relationship with sweet artist Warren Foster. Heartbroken, Shirley sets off on a series of disastrous but profitable relationships.

Stage Mother

1933

Make Me a Star poster
6.4

A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.

Make Me a Star

1932

Film credits

1930s · 38 titles

Dinner at Eight poster
6.8

An ambitious New York socialite plans an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver, contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard and his sultry spouse, Kitty, contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner.

Dinner at Eight

1933

Broken Lullaby poster
7.4

A young French soldier in World War I is overcome with guilt when he kills a German soldier who, like himself, is a musically gifted conscript, each having attended the same musical conservatory in France. The fact that the incident occurred in war does not assuage his guilt. He travels to Germany to meet the man's family.

Broken Lullaby

1932

Her Man poster
5.2

A prostitute sees a friendly sailor as a way out of Havana's grimy underworld.

Her Man

1930

Penthouse poster
6.9

Gertie Waxted knows how notorious gangster Jim Crelliman runs his rackets, because she's long been under the hoodlum's thumb. She's secretly helping lawyer Jackson Durant in a snoop job aimed at pinning a murder on the thug. Her life will be in peril when that secret gets out.

Penthouse

1933

Stage Mother poster
6.3

Kitty Lorraine has one purpose in life: turning her daughter Shirley into a star. Kitty controls every aspect of the girl's nascent career -- even blackmailing a stage manager so that Shirley can take a more prestigious gig. But Kitty goes too far when she breaks up her daughter's budding relationship with sweet artist Warren Foster. Heartbroken, Shirley sets off on a series of disastrous but profitable relationships.

Stage Mother

1933

Make Me a Star poster
6.4

A grocery clerk, longing to become a cowboy actor, goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. Unfortunately, his acting ability is non-existent.

Make Me a Star

1932

An American Tragedy poster
6.3

A social climber charms a debutante, seduces a factory worker and commits murder.

An American Tragedy

1931

The Devil's Holiday poster
6.2

Beautiful manicurist Hallie Hobart sets her sights on handsome David Stone, the son of wealthy wheat farmer Ezra Stone. Professing to hate men, Hallie is only interested in luring David in for a lucrative business deal. David easily falls in love, but older brother Mark brands Hallie a gold-digger. To get even with the straight-laced Stone family, Hallie accepts David's marriage proposal.

The Devil's Holiday

1930

Housemaster poster
7.5

Three girls arrive at a stuffy English public school and cause all sorts of problems with both the staff and pupils.

Housemaster

1938

Storm at Daybreak poster
6.6

Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Dushan, the Serbian mayor of a Hungarian town, has come to see the parade of Archduke Ferdinand. While there he runs into Geza, an old friend in the Hungarian Army and invites him to come to his house and visit him and his new wife.

Storm at Daybreak

1933

The House That Shadows Built poster
8.5

The House That Shadows Built (1931) is a short feature, roughly 48 minutes long, from Paramount Pictures made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio's founding in 1912. It was a promotional film for exhibitors and never had a regular theatrical release and includes a brief history of Paramount, interviews with various actors, and clips from upcoming projects (some of which never came to fruition). The title comes from a biography of Paramount founder Adolph Zukor, The House That Shadows Built (1928), by William Henry Irwin.

The House That Shadows Built

1931

The Secret of Madame Blanche poster
4.2

A murder trial reunites a former chorus girl and her son, a grandson of an English aristocrat.

The Secret of Madame Blanche

1933

Grumpy poster
5.2

A crotchety, old ex-attorney solves the violent theft of a priceless diamond from his nephew.

Grumpy

1930

Confessions of a Co-Ed poster
6.0

A young college student gets pregnant by the man she loves, but circumstances prevent their marrying, so she marries a classmate she doesn't love. Soon, however, her lover returns, and she finds herself in a dilemma as to who to choose.

Confessions of a Co-Ed

1931

Nana poster
6.0

Young Parisian Nana wards off of a boozed-up military officer at a local restaurant, and fellow diner Gaston Greiner is so impressed with her pluck that he decides to make her a performer at his musical theater. Soon, Nana is a star, and the girlfriend of Greiner and two other men. But when he learns that she's been getting around, Greiner fires her. As she tries to reclaim her singing job while dodging yet another suitor, her treachery might get the better of her.

Nana

1934

The House of a Thousand Candles poster
10.0

The story of diplomatic courier Tony Carleton, who's been entrusted with a secret message vital to the cause of International peace. En route to Geneva by train, Tony is drugged by sexy cabaret dancer Raquel, who promptly steals the message -- only to be murdered by sinister master spy Sebastian, owner of a posh gambling casino known as The House of a Thousand Candles.

The House of a Thousand Candles

1936

Two Kinds of Women poster
6.3

The daughter of a senator from South Dakota visits Manhattan for the first time, eager to see the sights of the big city. While there, she finds herself caught up in an affair with a married man, whose wife soon commits suicide. Complications ensue.

Two Kinds of Women

1932

Chatterbox poster
7.0

Teenage orphan Jenny Yates becomes starstruck when a revival of an old Victorian melodrama passes through her small New England town, to the disapproval of her stern grandfather, Uriah. Stowing away in the car of Philip Greene, a wealthy young man working with the theater troupe, Jenny talks her way into the play's lead role. But director Archie Fisher doesn't tell her that the new version of the play is meant as a spoof.

Chatterbox

1936

Man to Man poster
6.2

A young man attempts to overcome the memory of his father, who was sent to jail for committing a murder.

Man to Man

1930

Beauty for Sale poster
7.2

A beautiful woman lands a job at an exclusive salon that deals with the wives of wealthy businessmen. Her contact with these men leads to a series of affairs.

Beauty for Sale

1933

General Spanky poster
5.8

Orphaned shoeshine boy Spanky is working on a Mississippi riverboat during the Civil War. There he befriends young runaway slave Buckwheat. After wronging a vicious gambler, Spanky and Buckwheat are forced to jump ship. Finding solace at a nearby house, the two are picked by Marshall Valiant for an important mission. This inspires Spanky to organize the local kids to form a small army of their own.

General Spanky

1936

No artwork available
7.0

After moving from England to Canada, Tony becomes the owner of a dance hall and meets dancer, Maxine. Soon after falling in love, Tony learns he has become heir to his family’s fortune and duty compels him to return home to England. Back in England Tony meets Diana and is forced to choose between love and family duty.

The Dancers

1930

70,000 Witnesses poster
5.7

College football player is asked to dope a star teammate by his crooked gambler brother. He refuses, but they player is doped anyway and collapses and dies. A detective has the whole game re-enacted to find important clues.

70,000 Witnesses

1932

The Dominant Sex poster
8.0

A mature comedy based on the hit stage play in which a loving but strained marriage is put to the test!

The Dominant Sex

1937

Great Expectations poster
7.0

Orphan Pip discovers through lawyer Mr. Jaggers that a mysterious benefactor wishes to ensure that he becomes a gentleman. Reunited with his childhood patron, Miss Havisham, and his first love, the beautiful but emotionally cold Estella, he discovers that the elderly spinster has gone mad from having been left at the altar as a young woman, and has made her charge into a warped, unfeeling heartbreaker.

Great Expectations

1934

The Criminal Code poster
6.1

After young Robert Graham commits a murder while drunk and defending his girlfriend, he is prosecuted by ambitious Mark Brady and sentenced to 10 years. Six years later, Brady becomes the prison warden and offers the beleaguered Robert a job as his chauffeur. Robert cleans up his act, but, on the eve of his pardon, his cellmate drags him back into the world of violence, and he faces a difficult choice that could return him to prison.

The Criminal Code

1931

The Big Brain poster
8.0

A small-town barber finds himself short of stature but a giant in the world of stock promotion. As his bank account grows, Stone's ethics diminish, and soon he's playing fast and loose with other people's money. Disgruntled investor Fay Wray is the one who finally blows the whistle on the prevaricating hair-snipper.

The Big Brain

1933

Paramount on Parade poster
5.9

This 1930 film, a collection of songs and sketches showcasing Paramount Studios' contract stars, credits 11 directors

Paramount on Parade

1930

Men Must Fight poster
6.2

Prophetic tale of a mother in 1940 trying to keep her son out of war.

Men Must Fight

1933

Night Court poster
6.5

A corrupt night court judge tears an innocent young family apart in his efforts to elude a special prosecutor.

Night Court

1932

Caravan poster
6.5

A countess marries a Gypsy fiddler instead of a baron's son at harvest time in Tokay wine country, Hungary.

Caravan

1934

No artwork available
7.0

Derwent dreams up an unbreakable alibi for a murder. Once the crime is attempted, it then falls to Pember and Brace of Scotland Yard to sort things out.

Ten Minute Alibi

1935

Million Dollar Ransom poster
5.0

To stop his mother from marrying a man he doesn't like, a young millionaire hires an ex-con in helping him fake his own kidnaping.

Million Dollar Ransom

1934

Stolen Heaven poster
7.0

A hooker gets followed home by a man she thinks is drunk, but it turns out he's been wounded in a robbery of a radio factory where he used to work. As the police swarm into the seedy tenement, she decides to help him, and the two form an uneasy alliance culminating in a suicide pact.

Stolen Heaven

1931

Only the Brave poster
7.0

Cooper is a Union Army officer who after being jilted by girlfriend, Virginia Bruce, volunteers on what could be a suicide mission. He volunteers to go behind enemy lines disguised in Confederate gray as a staff officer to Robert E. Lee. He's to ride to a certain plantation which is a local brigade headquarters and deliberately let himself be caught with maps showing false Union troop positions. Of course, the penalty, then as now, is execution.

Only the Brave

1930

No artwork available
8.0

Recounting the life and romantic struggles of the celebrated Italian opera composer Vincenzo Bellini. Set in 19th-century Naples, the story follows the young and ambitious Bellini as he struggles to establish himself in the world of classical music. Bellini falls deeply in love with Maddalena Fumaroli, the daughter of a high-ranking official. Her devotion and faith in his talent serve as the "divine spark" that drives him to compose his most famous works, including the opera Norma. Their romance faces stiff opposition from Maddalena’s father, who views a struggling musician as an unsuitable match for his daughter. To ensure Bellini’s success, Maddalena makes significant personal sacrifices, eventually leading to a poignant and tragic conclusion.

The Divine Spark

1935

Looking Forward poster
6.6

Depression Era story set in London about a wealthy shop owner who goes bankrupt and is forced to fire his faithful staff.

Looking Forward

1933

No artwork available
8.0

In this family comedy, the wealthy executive of a steel company must endure life with a strict, teetotaling wife, a wild daughter, and a deadbeat son. To gain some much needed attention, the lonesome fellow hires a hitman to kill him. Instead, the gunman kidnaps him to frighten the family into appreciating their devoted father.

No Ransom

1934

1920s · 6 titles