Robert Paige

Acting

Robert Paige

Born 1911-12-02 · Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Robert Paige (born John Arthur Page December 2, 1911 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died Dec 21,1987) was a TV star and Universal Pictures leading man who made 65 films in his lifetime and was the only actor ever allowed to sing on film with Deanna Durbin (in 1944's Can't Help Singing). He was a graduate of West Point and was related to Admiral David Beatty, hero of the World War I Battle of Jutland. Paige began his screen career in 1934. His handsome features and assured speaking voice earned him prominent roles in motion pictures, such as Cain and Mabel with Clark Gable and Marion Davies. In 1936, to avoid confusion with another rising leading man, John Payne, Paige briefly adopted the screen name "David Carlyle." He worked primarily for Warner Brothers and Republic Pictures during this period. In 1938 he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, which changed his screen name to Robert Paige. Columbia cast him in "B" features and starred him in one serial, Flying G-Men. When the Columbia contract lapsed, Paige moved to Paramount Pictures and finally found a home in 1941 at Universal Pictures. Robert Paige quickly became one of Universal's reliable stars, playing romantic leads. He is prominent in many of Universal's comedies and musicals, including those of Abbott and Costello, Olsen and Johnson, Gloria Jean, and Hugh Herbert. He had a good singing voice and a flair for comedy, and the studio capitalized on these talents. Beginning in 1943 Universal gave Paige important roles in its biggest productions, but by then he was so established as a B-picture lead that he never quite graduated to mega-stardom. Paige, along with other contract players, left Universal after a corporate shakeup in 1946. He became an independent film producer in 1947 and entered the new field of television. He was the last permanent host of NBC's variety series The Colgate Comedy Hour, and won an Emmy in 1955 for "Best Male Personality" (a category that no longer exists). In the 1960s he became a TV newscaster in Los Angeles. Paige continued to work in occasional films through 1963; his last two films were The Marriage-Go-Round (1961) and Bye Bye Birdie (1963). From 1966 to 1970 Paige was a newscaster and political correspondent for ABC News in Los Angeles. He left the news desk to become Deputy Supervisor of Los Angeles under Baxter Ward, and then moved into the public relations field. He retired in the late 1970s. Robert Paige died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm in 1987.

Acting credits

Bye Bye Birdie poster
5.9

A singer goes to a small town for a performance before he is drafted.

Bye Bye Birdie

1963

Melody Lane poster
10.0

In this musical, four entertaining farmboys from Iowa head for the Big Apple to find fame and fortune but find themselves in trouble when a radio sponsor finds himself accused of kidnapping a girl. Songs include: "Septimus Winner," "Peaceful Ends the Day," "Cherokee Charlie," "Let's Go to Calicabu," "Swing-a-Bye My Baby," "Changeable Heart," "If It's a Dream Don't Wake Me," "Since the Farmer in the Dell," "Caliacau," and "Listen to the Mockingbird."

Melody Lane

1941

Death of a Champion poster
7.0

Oliver Quade is a pitchman who follows state fairs that feature dog shows---which limits his territory more than a little---at which he sells encyclopedias...and does it well as he possesses a photographic memory that amazes the rubes. The Champion, in the title, is a Great Dane who has won the title at the Rubeville State Fair, and it isn't long before the Champion turns up dead, which is because somebody---motive unknown at the moment---has killed the Champion. This is repeated at other shows along the way and Quade's bright young assistant, "Small Fry", fancies himself as an amateur detective, and starts nosing around into the mystery and drags Quade along with him.

Death of a Champion

1939

Blonde Ice poster
5.7

A golddigging femme fatale leaves a trail of men behind her, rich and poor, alive and dead.

Blonde Ice

1948

The Monster and the Girl poster
5.7

After a young woman is coerced into prostitution and her brother framed for murder by an organized crime syndicate, retribution in the form of an ape visits the mobsters.

The Monster and the Girl

1941

Opened by Mistake poster
7.0

A wise-guy reporter and a tippling sportswriter acquire an unclaimed trunk with a corpse inside.

Opened by Mistake

1940

Son of Dracula poster
5.8

Carpathian Count Alucard is invited to the U.S. by a young heiress. Her boyfriend and local officials are suspicious of the newcomer, who is interested in the "virile" soil of the new world.

Son of Dracula

1943

First Love poster
7.6

In this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She's hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin's boyfriend.

First Love

1939

The Flame poster
5.8

George McAllister, the black sheep of a wealthy family who has squandered his share of the family inheritance, lives in constant jealousy, hatred and resentment of his half-brother Barry, who has been supporting him. George gets his girlfriend, Carlotta Duval, a job as Barry's nurse, with the idea being to marry him, kill him, and inherit his money—and marrying George.

The Flame

1947

Split Second poster
6.4

Escaped convicts hold hostages in a ghost town targeted for a nuclear bomb test.

Split Second

1953

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

The Many Faces of Dracula poster
3.5

Hosted by Christopher Lee, this documentary examines the different actors who have portrayed Dracula over the years.

The Many Faces of Dracula

2000

Hi, Buddy poster
7.8

Dick Foran and Harriet Hilliard (aka Harriet Nelson) top the cast of the Universal musical quickie Hi, Buddy. Foran plays GI Dave O'Connor, who comes to the rescue when a boy's club is threatened with foreclosure. Upon learning that the money targetted for the club has been appropriated by a crooked manager, O'Connor calls upon his army buddies to stage a big, fundraising show.

Hi, Buddy

1943

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars poster
5.4

Lester and Orville accidentally launch a rocket which is supposed to fly to Mars. Instead it goes to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. They are then forced by bank robber Mugsy and his pal Harry to fly to Venus where they find a civilization made up entirely of women, men having been banished.

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars

1953

Her Primitive Man poster
7.5

An anthropologist unwittingly takes a man disguised as a "primitive man" back to New York as a specimen.

Her Primitive Man

1944

Hellzapoppin' poster
7.2

Olsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.

Hellzapoppin'

1941

Shady Lady poster
6.0

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

Shady Lady

1945

It Happened to Jane poster
6.2

Jane Osgood runs a lobster business, which supports her two young children. Railroad staff inattention ruins her shipment, so with her lawyer George, Jane sues Harry Foster Malone, director of the line and the "meanest man in the world".

It Happened to Jane

1959

Pardon My Sarong poster
6.5

A pair of bus drivers accidentally steal their own bus. With the company issuing a warrant for their arrest, they tag along with a playboy on a boat trip that finds them on a tropical island, where a jewel thief has sinister plans for them.

Pardon My Sarong

1942

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

Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook poster
9.5

A history of the famous vampire of books and movies, using film clips, previews and other methods.

Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook

1991

Dracula in the Movies poster
10.0

A retrospective of Dracula's appearances in film. It includes trailers and scenes from many Dracula-related films. There is an emphasis on films which feature the actors Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, as they portrayed the most popular versions of Dracula. Also covered are films depicting sons and daughters of Dracula, and Dracula-like vampires. Many of the trailers focus on the beauty of Dracula's victims, or the beauty of female vampires.

Dracula in the Movies

1992

Rhythm in the Clouds poster
7.5

Judy Walker is a poor songwriter who, through mistaken identity, gets her songs played on the radio.

Rhythm in the Clouds

1937

Cain and Mabel poster
6.4

A chorus girl and a heavyweight boxer are paired romantically as a publicity stunt.

Cain and Mabel

1936

Behind the camera