Ralph Bellamy Net Worth + How Get Famous

Ralph Bellamy had a long career in movies, TV, and theater. He won a Tony Award for playing Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1958 play "Sunrise at Campobello" and was nominated for an Oscar for the 1937 film "The Awful Truth." On TV, he starred in shows like "Man Against Crime" and "The Eleventh Hour."

Ralph Bellamy was an experienced actor who was very popular and respected by his colleagues. In 1987, he was awarded an honorary Oscar for his work in acting.

Ralph Rexford Bellamy was born on June 17, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Lilla Louise (Smith), came from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and his father, Charles Rexford Bellamy, had strong ties to New England.

Bellamy started his career right after high school in 1922, by joining a traveling company that performed Shakespearean plays. Over the next five years, he acted with various theater groups linked to the Chautauqua Road Co., which aimed to bring culture to rural areas. By 1927, Bellamy not only honed his skills but also ended up owning his own theater group. In 1929, he debuted on Broadway in "Town Boy" – a performance that would eventually earn him a Tony Award 29 years later.

Early Life and Getting Started in Career

Ralph Bellamy was born in 1904 in Chicago, Illinois to Charles and Lilla. When he was 15, he left home and got a job with a traveling show. He later moved to New York City, where he began acting on stage. By 1927, he had his own theater company.

Bellamy started acting in movies in 1931. His first movie, "The Secret Six," had famous actors like Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Jean Harlow, and Clark Gable. After that, he appeared in three more movies: "The Magnificent Lie," "West of Broadway," and "Surrender." By the end of 1933, Bellamy had acted in a total of 22 movies, including "Disorderly Conduct," "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," "Wild Girl," "Second Hand Wife," "Below the Sea," "Flying Devils," "Aces of Aces," and "Picture Snatcher" alongside James Cagney.

Films from the 1930s and 1940s

Bellamy had another busy year in 1934 after his success in 1933. He appeared in seven films, including "Spitfire" with Katharine Hepburn and "This Man is Mine" with Irene Dunne. He also starred in two films with Fay Wray, "Once to Every Woman" and "Woman in the Dark," and played Inspector Steve Trent in three crime movies. Throughout the rest of the 1930s, Bellamy continued at this pace and featured in 29 more films. Some of these include "The Wedding Night," "Eight Bells," "Air Hawks," "Navy Wife," "Hands Across the Table," "Roaming Lady," "The Man Who Lived Twice," "Let's Get Married," "Fools for Scandal," "Carefree," "Trade Winds," and "Blind Alley." One of Bellamy's standout roles during this time was as Daniel Leeson in the comedy "The Awful Truth," alongside Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. This performance earned Bellamy his only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Kicking off his 40s, Bellamy starred in another funny movie, "His Girl Friday," directed by Howard Hawks. In the same year, he was in movies like "Brother Orchid," "Queen of the Mob," "Dance, Girl, Dance," "Meet the Wildcat," and "Ellery Queen, Master Detective," where he played the main character. Bellamy played Ellery Queen again in "Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery," "Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime," and "Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring." In the 1940s, he also acted in films like "Dive Bomber," "The Wolf Man," "Lady in a Jam," "Guest in the House," and "Lady on a Train." His movie career slowed down by 1945, so he decided to take a break from movies and focus on TV and theater for the rest of the decade.

Career

Bellamy started acting in movies in 1933. He was a gangster in The Secret 6 (1931). He didn't become a big star or play lead roles, but he often played important supporting roles in major movies. He was usually cast as a wealthy but boring character who is rejected by the main actress. He got his only Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for a similar role in the comedy The Awful Truth (1937). He also played detectives who always solve the case and stylish villains. One of his iconic roles was as a doctor in the horror classic Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Bellamy's best performance was playing Franklin D. Roosevelt in Dore Schary's play "Sunrise at Campobello." He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in 1958 for this role. Bellamy again played Roosevelt in the 1960 movie version of the play, also written by Schary. The film starred Greer Garson, who won a Golden Globe award for her role and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for playing Eleanor Roosevelt.

To play F.D.R. and show his struggle with the onset of polio, Bellamy studied up on Roosevelt as both man and politician, gaining an insight into the future president's psyche. Like Method actors Marlon Brando and Jon Voight, who prepared for their portrayals of paraplegic war veterans in the movies The Men (1950) and Coming Home (1978) by living in veterans hospitals with paraplegics, Bellamy tried to understand the trauma that F.D.R. underwent and the challenges he faced. Bellamy spent a considerable amount of time at a rehabilitation center learning how to master leg braces, crutches and a wheelchair to increase the verisimilitude of his portrayal of Roosevelt. So successful was his portrait of Roosevelt that he was called upon a generation later to recreate F.D.R. for the blockbuster TV miniseries War and Remembrance (1988) (ironically, Voight himself would later play F.D.R. in the movie Pearl Harbor (2001)).

TV Career

Bellamy also had a successful career on TV, starting with his first appearance in The Philco Television Playhouse in 1948. He was in one of the early police shows, Man Against Crime, that aired from 1949 to 1954. He also had parts in other TV series like The Eleventh Hour (1962), The Survivors (1969), and The Most Deadly Game (1970). Bellamy was in many TV movies and was nominated for an Emmy Award three times.

Known as a strong advocate for actors' rights, Bellamy co-founded the Screen Actors Guild and served as President of Actors' Equity for four terms from 1952 to 1964. During a time of McCarthyism, he resisted blacklisting and positioned Actors' Equity and Broadway theater in a more progressive stance compared to Hollywood. Actors Equity, under Bellamy, set standards to protect members from accusations of Communist ties or "left-wing sympathies". This helped many blacklisted Hollywood actors find opportunities in the theater. This move was crucial in protecting artists like Elia Kazan and Rod Steiger from the repercussions of the House Un-American Activities Committee, allowing them to continue working in theater despite facing blacklisting in Hollywood.

Actor's Equity was able to double its assets in the first six years under Bellamy's leadership. They also established the first pension fund for actors. Bellamy received an honorary Academy Award in 1987 for his contributions to the acting community.

Family

He was married to Alice Murphy until his death on November 29, 1991. Before that, he was married to Ethel Smith from August 21, 1945 to November 25, 1947, and to Catherine Willard from July 6, 1931 to August 6, 1945, with whom he had one child. His first marriage was to Alice Mary Delbridge from December 27, 1927 to February 4, 1931, and they also had one child.

Trivia

He often hung out with a close group of friends known as the Irish Mafia.

He helped start the Screen Actors Guild in 1933.

He was a very popular and long-lasting actor in Hollywood. He played a variety of roles, from charming heroes when he was young to shady older characters later in his career.

When he was young, he delivered newspapers and groceries, and also worked as a soda jerk at a drugstore.

In the movie His Girl Friday (1940) directed by Howard Hawks, Ralph Bellamy's character loses his girlfriend to Cary Grant, just like in many other movies. There is a scene where Grant, playing a sneaky newspaper editor, is guiding a henchman on how to recognize Bellamy's character, and Grant says, "He looks like Ralph Bellamy."

Ralph Bellamy had his own stock company from 1926 to 1930. It was called "The Ralph Bellamy Players" and traveled to cities like Nashville, Evanston, and Iowa (including Des Moines). During this time, he acted in various roles, totaling over 400, averaging two or three in each play.

Ran off from home at 17 to join a traveling group of Shakespearean actors. Also worked as an usher at Ravinia Park Open Air Pavilion.

He has starred in four movies that the Library of Congress chose as important for culture, history, or beauty: The Awful Truth (1937), His Girl Friday (1940), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), and Rosemary's Baby (1968).

He received a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on February 26, 1992, after his passing.

He went to New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. He was the Drama Club president. But he got kicked out for smoking on school property.

Received Broadway's 1958 Tony Award for Best Actor (Dramatic) for playing Franklin D. Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello". He later portrayed the same role in the movie version released in 1960. Additionally, he reprised the role in the miniseries The Winds of War (1983) and its sequel War and Remembrance (1988).

Actor Sam Huntington's great-uncle gave him his Lifetime Achievement Oscar. The actor's maternal grandmother's sister was the wife of the great-uncle.

He said no to playing Noah Cross in Chinatown (1974); John Huston played the role instead.

When he was working for Columbia Pictures, he made a video audition for a xylophone player in New York for Frank Capra's movie You Can't Take It with You (1938). However, the xylophone player did not get the part.

He was a liberal Democrat who backed Franklin D. Roosevelt while he was president.

He was the oldest of three siblings. His dad, Charles Rexford Bellamy, worked in an advertising agency, and his mom was Lilla Louise Smith. Sadly, one of his younger brothers passed away shortly after being born.

He was part of The Lambs, a club for actors founded in New York in 1874.

He had two kids: Lynn Bellamy and Willard Bellamy.

Went to the same high school as Rock Hudson, Hugh B. O'Brien, Ann-Margret, Bruce Dern, Penelope Milford, Virginia Madsen, and Liz Phair.

After he died, he was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.

He got a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6542 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pages 37-38. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 55-56. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.

How much money did Ralph Bellamy have?

Ralph Bellamy was an actor who had $10 million when he died in 1991.