George Montgomery

Acting · 1.1 popularity

Age

109

Movies

Born: August 29, 1916 – December 12, 2000
From: Brady, Montana, USA

Biography

George Montgomery was boxing champion at the University of Montana, where he majored in architecture and interior design. Dropping out a year later, he decided to take up boxing more seriously, and moved to California, where he was coached by ex-heavyweight world champion James J. Jeffries. While in Hollywood, he came to the attention of the studios (not least, because he was an expert rider) and was hired as a stuntman in 1935. After doing this for four years, George was offered a contract at 20th Century Fox in 1939, but found himself largely confined to leads in B-westerns. He did not secure a part in anything even remotely like a prestige picture, until his co-starring role in Roxie Hart (1942), opposite Ginger Rogers. Next, in Orchestra Wives (1942), he played the perfunctory love interest for Ann Rutherford -- though both, inevitably, ended up playing second trombone to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In 1947, George got his first serious break, being cast as Raymond Chandler's private eye Philip Marlowe, in The Brasher Doubloon (1947). Reviewers, however, compared his performance unfavourably with that of Humphrey Bogart and found the film 'pallid' overall. So it was back to the saddle for George. Unable to shake his image as a cowboy actor, he starred in scores of films with titles like Belle Starr's Daughter (1948), Dakota Lil (1950), Jack McCall Desperado (1953) and Masterson of Kansas (1954) at Columbia, and for producer Edward Small at United Artists. When not cleaning up the Wild West with his six-shooter, he branched out into adventure films set in exotic locales (notably as Harry Quartermain in Watusi (1959)). During the 60's, he also wrote, directed and starred in several long-forgotten, low-budget wartime potboilers made in the Philippines. At the height of his popularity, George attracted as much publicity for his acting, as for his liaisons with glamorous stars, like Ginger Rogers, Hedy Lamarr (to whom he was briefly engaged) and singer Dinah Shore (whom he married in 1943). After his retirement from the film business, he devoted himself to his love of painting, furniture-making and sculpting bronze busts, including one of his close friend Ronald Reagan.

Works

86 films

Battle of the Bulge

19656.9

China Girl

19425.4

The Texas Rangers

19516.1

Young People

19405.3

When the West Was Fun: A Western Reunion

1979

Fort Ti

19537.0

Roxie Hart

19427.0

Man from God's Country

19585.0

Wall Street Cowboy

19395.8

Lulu Belle

19485.0

Davy Crockett, Indian Scout

19505.2

The Lone Gun

19545.6

Army Girl

19386.8

King of the Wild Stallions

19596.8

Huk!

19565.2

Ten Gentlemen from West Point

19426.4

Cripple Creek

19526.0

Gun Belt

19536.4

Coney Island

19436.3

The Night Riders

19395.8

Samar

19627.0

Belle Starr's Daughter

19485.1

Hi-Yo Silver

19407.0

The Toughest Gun in Tombstone

19586.5

Last of the Badmen

19576.8

Jennie

194010.0

Canyon River

19566.5

Frontier Pony Express

19395.0

Gun Duel in Durango

19575.6

Masterson of Kansas

19546.1

S.O.S Tidal Wave

19396.8

The Sword of Monte Cristo

19514.6

Saga of Death Valley

19396.7

Bomb at 10:10

19675.6

Seminole Uprising

19555.0

Robbers' Roost

19555.9

The Cisco Kid and the Lady

19395.4

Black Patch

19575.9

Southward Ho!

19395.5

Guerillas in Pink Lace

19646.3

Bomber's Moon

19436.5

The Brasher Doubloon

19476.0

Watusi

19595.8

South of the Border

19396.0

The Lone Ranger

19387.0

Jack McCall, Desperado

19536.0

Rough Riders' Round-up

19395.3

The Iroquois Trail

19506.6

Cadet Girl

19418.0

Dakota Lil

19505.4

Badman's Country

19585.6

Django the Condemned

19653.7

Pawnee

19576.2

The Cowboy and the Blonde

19417.0

The Pathfinder

19524.8

The Steel Claw

19615.4

Hostile Guns

19675.6

Riders of the Purple Sage

19417.0

Battle of Rogue River

19546.0

Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1

1941

Orchestra Wives

19426.5

Claire

19567.0

Charter Pilot

19408.0

Take It or Leave It

19446.0

Ride the Tiger

19708.0

Indian Uprising

19526.5

Three Little Girls in Blue

19467.3

In Old Monterey

19396.3

Satan's Harvest

19705.7

Wild Wind

19854.5

In Old Caliente

19396.0

The Arizona Kid

19396.1

The Mysterious Miss X

19395.4

The Daredevil

19726.5

Accent on Love

19417.5

Star Dust

19405.7

Springtime in the Rockies

19375.5

The Girl from Manhattan

19486.3

Warkill

19688.0

Last of the Duanes

19416.5

Troop Carrier Airplanes: Cockpit Procedure

1944

Hell of Borneo

19645.7

Ransom

19885.0

Street of Sinners

19577.7

Hallucination Generation

19664.0

Strangers at Sunrise

19694.5