(The beautiful actress Barbara Lawry finds the lifeless bo...)
The beautiful actress Barbara Lawry finds the lifeless body of her lover sprawled on the floor of his apartment and her stepmother hiding in the shadows. Pleading her innocence, the stepmother turns to an old friend to clear her name - blind detective Duncan Maclain. The astute gumshoe is aided by his canine sidekick Friday, a dog able to open windows, uncover evidence and defend his master. The two follow a twisted trail of malice and deceit leading to ruthless conspirators perfectly willing to commit murder to achieve their ends. Eyes in the Night was the first of two films featuring the sightless detective, Maclain, and his German shepherd Friday, whose intelligence and resourcefulness provided a model for countless heroic canines to come.
Edward Arnold was born on February 18, 1890 in New York City, New York, United States to Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse, Lutheran immigrants from Germany.
At the age of eleven Arnold left school to help support his family. His father, a former U. S. Navy seaman and fur-cutter, died later that same year and within two years his mother died, leaving five children to fend for themselves.
Arnold went to live with his Uncle "Hilmer, " who played bass viol at Tony Pastor's Variety Hall on Fourteenth Street. Uncle "Hilmer" was Arnold's first professional contact with the world of show business.
Education
His schooling came at the East Side Settlement House.
Career
Arnold was fifteen when he joined the Ben Greet Players. Before this he worked at a series of odd occupations such as handy man to a jewelry manufacturer, newsboy, bellhop, grocery clerk, and janitor's helper.
At the age of seventeen Arnold was engaged as company juvenile and assistant stage manager for Maxine Elliott's touring company. This was followed by three seasons as juvenile with Ethel Barrymore's company, where he played in such vehicles as Mid-Channel and Trelawney of the Wells. He went on to appear with the Frohman Company, Maude Adams, Otis Skinner, and William Gillette, and with each successive venture his reputation grew as a reliable juvenile and second lead.
In 1918 Arnold's career began to blossom, and in 1919 he made his first film appearance in Essanay's feature Is Marriage Sacred? He made several silent films, maintaining his stage career at the same time. It is believed that he appeared in over forty films for Essanay in Chicago, but there is no existing record of which films.
In 1920 Arnold appeared in Eugene O'Neill's first full-length drama, Beyond the Horizon, and continued his healthy stage career in such plays as The Mad Honeymoon (1922), The Nervous Wreck (1923), Easy Come, Easy Go (1924), The Jazz Singer (1928), The Conflict (1929), and The Inkwell (1929-1930), with Viola Dana. The previous season he also appeared in vaudeville with Dana.
During the 1930's there were major changes in Arnold's career. He worked for the Theatre Guild, supporting Alla Nazimova in A Month in the Country (1930) and was in Miracle at Verdun (1931). He then made his first appearance in a musical revue, receiving third billing in The Third Little Show (1932) opposite Beatrice Lillie. He left this to play Jacob Dillon in the melodrama Whistling in the Dark, which played on Broadway and then toured to the West Coast, where Arnold became, once and for all, a movie actor.
In 1932 he made an auspicious double debut in Okay America at Universal and supporting all three Barrymores in Rasputin and the Empress at MGM, which became his home studio. In 1933 he repeated his stage role in Whistling in the Dark. During the next twenty-three years Arnold played in ninety-three films, often portraying villains. As a screen "heavy" he weighed in at about 200 pounds. Weight did not prevent him playing heroes, however.
Throughout his career he fluctuated between leading roles and cameo appearances. Among his most memorable characterizations are "Diamond Jim" Brady (essayed twice, first in the 1935 Diamond Jim and again, in 1940, in Lillian Russell), Barney Glasgow in Edna Ferber's Come and Get It (1936), Nero Wolfe (1936), Achille Weber in Idiot's Delight (1939), and the confused and beleaguered Judge Harry Wilkins in 1947's Dear Ruth. Other important films include The White Sister, Sadie McKee, You Can't Take It With You, Meet John Doe, The Hucksters, Command Decision, and All That Money Can Buy (also known as The Devil and Daniel Webster).
In 1947 he began an ABC radio series, "Mr. President, " in which he portrayed a different first executive in each episode.
In 1953 and 1954 he toured with a stage-lecture version of this series. He also made several television appearances.
Arnold was the originator of the "I Am an American" movement during the war and also campaigned against professional beggars in the United States.
His charity work and personal involvement with various organizations, both professional and charitable, was well enough known for columnist Hedda Hopper to label him--along with James Cagney and Henry Fonda-one of the "three nicest men in Hollywood. "
He died in 1956 in Encino, California.
Achievements
Edward Arnold has been listed as a notable actor by Marquis Who's Who.
Arnold was a man known for his good and freely given advice.
Connections
In 1915, while on tour, Arnold met and married Harriet Marshall in Richmond. They had three children. They divorced in 1927, and two years later Arnold married Olive Emerson, a noted concert singer from Minneapolis, remembered for her performances on the Westinghouse Program on NBC radio. This marriage ended in divorce in 1948. Arnold married Cleo Patricia McClain in 1951.
