Lionel Atwill
Born
February 27, 1885
Died
April 22, 1946 (61 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Croydon, London, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lionel Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England.
He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most famous for his U.S. horror roles in the 1930s. His two most memorable parts were as the crazed, disfigured sculptor in Mystery of the Wax Museum (Warner Brothers, 1933), and as Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939), memorably sent up by Kenneth Mars in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein (1974).
When he was not cast in macabre roles, Atwill often appeared in the 1930s as righteous-minded authority figures. For example, in 1937's less memorable The Wrong Road for RKO, investigator Atwill persuades a young, bank-robbing ingenue played by Helen Mack and her boyfriend Richard Cromwell to return their ill-gotten $100,000 and give up a life of crime. Two of Atwill's other notable non-horror roles were opposite his contemporary Basil Rathbone in films featuring Arthur Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, including a role as Dr. James Mortimer in 20th Century Fox's 1939 film rendition of the Conan Doyle novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, and the 1943 Universal Studios film Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, in which he played Holmes' archenemy and super-villain, Professor Moriarty.
Atwill remained a stalwart of the Universal horror films until his career flagged in the 1940s because of a widely publicized sex scandal in 1941, during the investigation of which he was charged in 1942 with perjury at a trial in which Atwill had been accused of staging a sex orgy at his home.
He died while working on the 1946 film serial Lost City of the Jungle. His ashes were once inurned in Chapel of the Pines Crematory.
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Known For
Terror in the Pharaoh's Tomb
Dr. Xavier (archive footage)
2007
The Wolfman's Cure
Inspector Holtz
1998
In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes
1996
Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Doctor Bohmer / Krogh (archive footage)
1991
The Horror of It All
Dr. Otto von Niemann (archive footage)
1983
The Horror Show
(archive footage)
1979
Doom of Dracula
Arntz, Police Officer (archive footage)
1966
Genius at Work
Latimer Marsh / The Cobra
1946
Lost City of the Jungle
Sir Eric Hazarias
1946
House of Dracula
Police Inspector Holtz
1945
Crime, Inc.
Pat Coyle
1945
Fog Island
Alec Ritchfield
1945
House of Frankenstein
Inspector Arnz
1944
Secrets of Scotland Yard
Waterlow
1944
Raiders of Ghost City
Erich von Rugen, alias Alex Morel
1944
Lady in the Death House
Charles Finch
1944
Captain America
Cyrus Maldor
1944
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
Mayor of Vasaria
1943
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Professor Moriarty
1942
Night Monster
Dr. King
1942
Dead End Kids Go To War
The Baron
1942
Cairo
Teutonic Gentleman
1942
Pardon My Sarong
Varnoff
1942
Junior G-Men of the Air
The Baron
1942
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx
Dr. Fish
1942
The Ghost of Frankenstein
Dr. Bohmer
1942
To Be or Not to Be
Rawitch
1942
The Mad Doctor of Market Street
Dr. Ralph Benson, posing as Graham
1942
Man-Made Monster
Dr. Paul Rigas
1941
Boom Town
Harry Compton
1940
The Great Profile
Dr. Bruce
1940
Girl in 313
Russell aka Henry Woodruff
1940
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise
Dr. Suderman
1940
Johnny Apollo
Jim McLaughlin
1940
Charlie Chan in Panama
Cliveden Compton
1940
The Mad Empress
General Bazaine
1939
Balalaika
Professor Marakov
1939
The Secret of Dr. Kildare
Paul Messenger
1939
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
Prof. Roger Chauncey Hildebrand
1939
The Sun Never Sets
Hugo Zurof
1939
The Gorilla
Walter Stevens
1939
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dr. James Mortimer
1939
The Three Musketeers
De Rochefort
1939
Son of Frankenstein
Inspector Krogh
1939
The Great Waltz
Count Anton 'Tony' Hohenfried
1938
Three Comrades
Breuer
1938
The Great Garrick
M. Beaumarchais
1937
The Wrong Road
Mike Roberts
1937
Lancer Spy
Col. Fenwick
1937
The High Command
Maj. Gen. Sir John Sangye
1937
The Last Train from Madrid
Col. Vigo
1937
The Road Back
Prosecutor
1937
Absolute Quiet
Gerald A. Axton
1936
Till We Meet Again
Ludwig
1936
Lady of Secrets
Mr. Stephen Whittaker
1936
Captain Blood
Colonel Bishop
1935
Rendezvous
Maj. William Brennan
1935
The Murder Man
Captain Cole
1935
The Devil Is a Woman
Capt. Don Pasqual 'Pasqualito' Costelar
1935
Mark of the Vampire
Inspector Neumann
1935
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head
Henry Dumont
1934
The Firebird
John Pointer
1934
The Age of Innocence
Julius Beaufort
1934
One More River
Brough
1934
Stamboul Quest
Herr Von Sturm
1934
Beggars in Ermine
John 'Flint' Dawson aka John Daniels
1934
Nana
Colonel André Muffat
1934
The Solitaire Man
Inspector Wallace
1933
Secret of the Blue Room
Robert von Helldorf
1933
The Song of Songs
Baron von Merzbach
1933
The Sphinx
Jerome Breen
1933
Murders in the Zoo
Eric Gorman
1933
Mystery of the Wax Museum
Ivan Eigor
1933
The Secret of Madame Blanche
Aubrey St. John
1933
The Vampire Bat
Dr. Otto von Niemann
1933
Doctor X
Dr. Jerry Xavier
1932
The Silent Witness
Sir Austin Howard
1932
The Knife
The Surgeon
1929
The Highest Bidder
Lester
1921
The Marriage Price
Kenneth Gordon
1919
Eve's Daughter
Courtenay Urquhart
1918