Alan Curtis

Acting

Alan Curtis

Born 1909-07-24 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Alan Curtis (July 24, 1909 - February 2, 1953) was an American film actor appearing in over 50 films. Born Harry Ueberroth in Chicago, Illinois, he began his career as a model before becoming an actor, appearing in local newspaper ads. His looks did not go unnoticed in Hollywood. He began appearing in films in the late 1930s (including a Technicolor appearance in the Alice Faye-Don Ameche film Hollywood Cavalcade and a memorable role in High Sierra (1941). He is probably best known as one of the romantic leads in Abbott and Costello's first hit movie Buck Privates. His chance for leading-man stardom came when he replaced the unwilling John Garfield in the 1943 production Flesh and Fantasy. Curtis played a ruthless killer opposite Gloria Jean. Unfortunately for both actors, the studio removed their performances from the final film. The footage was later expanded into a B-picture melodrama Destiny. The film failed to establish Curtis as a major-name star, but it did typecast him in hardbitten roles, like the man framed for murder in Phantom Lady (1944) and the detective Philo Vance. He starred in over two dozen movies and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Alan Curtis was married three times; his wives included actresses Priscilla Lawson and Ilona Massey. He died from complications during an operation in New York City, New York, he was 43. He is buried in the Ueberroth family plot in Evanston, Illinois. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alan Curtis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Breakdowns of 1942 poster
6.0

Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1942.

Breakdowns of 1942

1942

Hitler's Madman poster
5.5

In 1942, a young paratrooper in the RAF returns to Czechoslovakia to encourage his fellow countrymen to sabotage the German war effort.

Hitler's Madman

1943

High Sierra poster
7.1

Given a pardon from jail, Roy Earle gets back into the swing of things as he robs a swanky resort.

High Sierra

1941

The Naughty Nineties poster
6.7

In the gay '90s, cardsharps take over a Mississippi riverboat from a kindly captain. Their first act is to change the showboat into a floating gambling house. A ham actor and his bumbling sidekick try to devise a way to help the captain regain ownership of the vessel.

The Naughty Nineties

1945

Buck Privates poster
6.8

Petty con artists Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown mistakenly join the Army evading the cops. The cop chasing them winds up as their drill instructor. A rich young man and his former working class chauffeur are not only in the same unit, they're vying for a pretty girl who seems attracted to both.

Buck Privates

1941

The Invisible Man's Revenge poster
5.6

A fugitive, dangerous madman reaches an English village where he confronts his former partner who left him for dead in the jungle after their discovery of a diamond mine. When the former partner also claims to have since lost the mine and all its wealth, which he took all for himself, and though the partner is still living in a state of luxury , the madman takes up an offer from a crazed scientist to make him invisible, something the scientist has already done with experimental animals, so that he can take revenge.

The Invisible Man's Revenge

1944

Gung Ho! poster
5.4

A true-life epic that revolves around an exclusive bataillon of the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, "Carlson's Raiders," whose assignment is to take control of a South Pacific island once possessed by the United States but now under Japanese command.

Gung Ho!

1943

Phantom Lady poster
7.0

A devoted secretary embarks on a dangerous mission to try to find the elusive woman who may prove her boss didn't murder his wife.

Phantom Lady

1944

Destiny poster
5.2

Framed for two crimes he didn't commit, and betrayed by his girl, Cliff Banks finds himself on the run from the police. Now distrustful of everyone, he finds a safe haven hiding out at a quaint country cottage under the care of a kindly old farmer and his daughter, a Cinderella-like blind woman who seems to be able to communicate with nature. There he is forced by their love to question his misanthropy.

Destiny

1944

Sergeant Madden poster
7.5

A dedicated police officer is torn between family and duty when his son turns to a life of crime.

Sergeant Madden

1939

Renegade Girl poster
4.2

A special agent hunts a female outlaw out West.

Renegade Girl

1946

Follow the Boys poster
5.7

During World War II, all the studios put out "all-star" vehicles which featured virtually every star on the lot--often playing themselves--in musical numbers and comedy skits, and were meant as morale-boosters to both the troops overseas and the civilians at home. This was Universal Pictures' effort. It features everyone from Donald O'Connor to the Andrews Sisters to Orson Welles to W.C. Fields to George Raft to Marlene Dietrich, and dozens of other Universal players.

Follow the Boys

1944

Shady Lady poster
6.0

A crook becomes the victim of a crafty card player who works for the District Attorney.

Shady Lady

1945

Mannequin poster
6.0

Jessie, a young working class woman, seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind.

Mannequin

1938

The Witness Chair poster
6.6

Late one night, secretary Paula Young (Ann Harding) leaves the office of her boss, Stanley Whittaker (Douglas Dumbrille, locking the door and taking the stairs to avoid being seen by the elevator operator (Frank Jenks). The next morning, the cleaning lady finds Whittaker's dead body, an apparent suicide. Police Lieutenant Poole (Moroni Olsen) finds a letter signed by Whittaker in which the deceased states he embezzled $75,000. Soon, however, he suspects otherwise and, after investigating, arrests widower James "Jim" Trent (Walter Abel), the vice president of Whittaker.

The Witness Chair

1936

The Shopworn Angel poster
6.8

During WWI Bill Pettigrew, a naive young Texan soldier is sent to New York for basic training. He meets worldly wise actress Daisy Heath when her car nearly runs him over.

The Shopworn Angel

1938

Crazy House poster
6.0

Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson are Broadway stars who return to Universal Studios to make another movie. The mere mention of Olsen and Johnson's names evacuates the studio and terrorizes the management and personnel. Undaunted, the comedians hire an assistant director and unknown talent, and set out to make their own movie.

Crazy House

1943

Hollywood Cavalcade poster
6.2

Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.

Hollywood Cavalcade

1939

Inside Job poster
5.9

A pair of married ex-convicts trying to go straight get jobs at a department store. A gangster who knows about their past threatens to expose it unless they agree to help him rob the department store.

Inside Job

1946

Flight to Nowhere poster
5.1

A couple on board a plane find themselves mixed up in a plot to steal atomic secrets.

Flight to Nowhere

1946

Good Girls Go to Paris poster
7.1

Jenny Swanson, a waitress on a college campus, is dying to visit Paris. Thanks to English professor Ronald Brooke, she manages to make her dream come true. Besides seeing the sights in the French capital she makes friends with a wealthy family there, the Brands.

Good Girls Go to Paris

1939

Remember Pearl Harbor poster
7.0

A man tries to redeem himself after ducking out on his comrades before the fatal attack.

Remember Pearl Harbor

1942

Without Orders poster
7.3

At Portland, Oregon, playboy pilot Len Kendrick lands at the end of a cross-country record flight, met by his father J.P. Kendrick who owns Amalgamated Air Lines. Len is a media darling, adored by fans for his daring flights. He is in love with Amalgamated stewardess Kay Armstrong who is dating veteran pilot "Wad" Madison. Len dates her sister Penny who learns that his hard-drinking and recklessness has caused the death of his co-pilot. Penny knows that he was drinking before the fateful flight and only escaped prosecution by bribing a bartender. She leaves Len who ends up at Amalgamated as a line pilot, being tutored by Wad.

Without Orders

1936

Don't Turn 'em Loose poster
5.0

A conscientious attorney who is a member of the State Parole Board, finds his own son, using an alias, up for parole and makes the decision to cast the approving vote.

Don't Turn 'em Loose

1936