Ben Alexander

Acting

Ben Alexander

Born 1911-05-27 · Goldfield, Nevada, USA

Nicholas Benton "Ben" Alexander III (June 27, 1911 – July 5, 1969) was an American motion picture actor, who started out as a child actor in 1916. He is best remembered for his role as Officer Frank Smith in the Dragnet franchise.

Acting credits

All Quiet on the Western Front poster
7.8

When a group of idealistic young men join the German Army during the Great War, they are assigned to the Western Front, where their patriotism is destroyed by the harsh realities of combat.

All Quiet on the Western Front

1930

Most Precious Thing in Life poster
5.8

An unwed mother watches as her illegitimate son is raised by others. Director Lambert Hillyer's 1934 drama stars Jean Arthur, Richard Cromwell, Donald Cook, Anita Louise, Jane Darwell, Mary Forbes and Ward Bond.

Most Precious Thing in Life

1934

Big Tremaine poster
NR

John spies his girlfriend embracing his brother. Stunned, John deposits the family's money and leaves the country. Years later he returns to find his brother dead, the plantation in ruins, and that he is suspected of stealing the money.

Big Tremaine

1916

Shall We Dance poster
7.3

Ballet star Petrov arranges to cross the Atlantic aboard the same ship as the dancer and musical star he's fallen for but barely knows. By the time the ocean liner reaches New York, a little white lie has churned through the rumour mill and turned into a hot gossip item—that the two celebrities are secretly married.

Shall We Dance

1937

Man in the Shadow poster
6.7

In a modern cow town, the powerful ranch owner’s henchmen kill a ranch hand, prompting the sheriff to investigate despite facing strong opposition. He finds an unlikely ally in the rancher's overprotected daughter, but their quest for justice puts them both in danger.

Man in the Shadow

1957

The White Heather poster
7.0

Lord Angus Cameron's marriage to a woman of his titled Scottish class is thwarted by his secret marriage years before to Marion Hume, the housekeeper of the castle. Cameron attempts to repudiate the marriage, the only record of which is a certificate in the sunken wreck of a yacht, The White Heather. Marion goes to court to prove her claim and secure the rights of her son by Cameron, but is defeated. Alec McClintock, who is in love with Marion, and Cameron both want to recover the record, so they don diving suits and descend to the wreck. An underwater struggle ensues and Cameron severs his own air tube and drowns while attempting to cut off his rival's air supply. Alec then recovers the marriage record and wins Marion. —AFI

The White Heather

1919

The Mayor of Filbert poster
7.0

Corrupt saloonkeeper and mayor Johnson Schmidt hits his head during a reform conference, leading activists to mistakenly believe he is dead. Finding a down-and-out stranger named Charles Smith who looks identical to Schmidt, the group gets him to pose as the mayor. The real Schmidt survives with amnesia, while Smith falls in love and reforms after saving a woman from a brawl. Henchmen accidentally shoot the real Schmidt upon his return, revealing the two men are twin brothers; Smith wins the next election and marries.

The Mayor of Filbert

1919

The Life of the Party poster
6.2

A singer finds another heir (Gene Raymond) to marry, to avoid the one (Joe Penner) her mother found.

The Life of the Party

1937

Penrod and Sam poster
7.5

Penrod and his gang don't want to let neighborhood "goodie-goodie" Georgie Bassett into their club, but Penrod's father pressures him to allow the boy in because his parents are wealthy and prominent members of the town. Finally the boys agree to let Georgie join, but first they demand that he undergo an "initiation", and they're determined to make it one that Georgie won't soon forget.

Penrod and Sam

1923

The Spy Ring poster
5.6

Two American-army officers are working on a new type of machine-gun for anti-aircraft warfare, when one of them is murdered. The other vows to get the spies that are after the invention and avenge his friend's death.

The Spy Ring

1938

Reckless Roads poster
8.0

Edith Adams, burdened by her family’s financial struggles, faces pressure from her mother to marry well.

Reckless Roads

1935

Jealous Husbands poster
10.0

When a man's wife is accused of adultery, her insanely jealous husband gives her young son away to a traveling band of gypsies. Years later, when the son grows up, he sets out to prove that his mother wasn't guilty of adultery but was actually trying to help her sister-in-law escape the clutches of a blackmailer.

Jealous Husbands

1923

It's a Wise Child poster
6.2

In this comedy, a conservative family becomes alarmed when they begin believing their daughter is pregnant.

It's a Wise Child

1931

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

Dragnet poster
6.1

Two homicide detectives try to find just the facts behind a mobster's brutal murder.

Dragnet

1954

This Day and Age poster
5.0

A modern-day tale of gangsterism and revenge. After a notorious mobster murders a Jewish tailor and is let off for the crime, a band of outraged high-school students turns into vigilante crusaders hell-bent on punishing the wrongdoers. Memorable pre-Code moment: the students torturing a gangster by dangling him over a pit filled with rats.

This Day and Age

1933

Grand Old Girl poster
7.0

An elderly schoolteacher is determined to rid her town of the local gambling den.

Grand Old Girl

1935

Buried Alive poster
5.1

A prison trustee rescues a despondent executioner from a bar-room brawl, and is blamed for the fight by a tabloid reporter who actually started it, and loses parole, becomes embittered, and gets blamed for murder of guard.

Buried Alive

1939

Boy of Mine poster
9.0

A wealthy banker is a strict disciplinarian with his nine-year-old son Bill. Finally the day comes when neither Bill nor his mother can put up any more with the father's relentlessness and heavy-handed treatment; she leaves and takes Bill with her. The father must decide what's more important--maintaining his iron discipline over his family, or his family itself.

Boy of Mine

1923

The Wet Parade poster
6.2

The evils of alcohol before and during prohibition become evident as we see its effects on the rich Chilcote family and the hard working Tarleton family.

The Wet Parade

1932

The Leather Pushers poster
8.0

A shifty boxing promoter places an amateur in fixed fights, then hands his contract over to an suspicious female investigative reporter as a raffle prize. He later regrets his actions, however, when the boxer becomes an honest champion.

The Leather Pushers

1940

Once to Every Woman poster
6.1

An able nurse clashes with a new doctor at her hospital.

Once to Every Woman

1934

Suicide Fleet poster
5.0

Three US sailors aboard a decoy ship fight German U-boats in World War I and try to win Sally who works on the Coney Island midway.

Suicide Fleet

1931

The Little American poster
6.3

A young American has her ship torpedoed by a German U-boat but makes it back to her ancestral home in France, where she witnesses German brutality firsthand.

The Little American

1917