Robert Ames

Robert Downing Ames (March 23, 1889 – November 27, 1931) was an American actor.

Early life Ames was born in Hartford, Connecticut, where his father, Louis Mason Ames, was employed as an accountant for an insurance company and his mother, Mary Elma (née Downing) Ames, worked as a voice coach.

Career Non-acting Ames's first association with the theater came when he worked as a clerk in the box office of Parsons's Theater. In 1907, he left that job to become treasurer of the Academy of Music at Fall River He returned to Parsons's Theater in 1908, once more selling tickets. Ames played leading roles in The Hero (1921) by Gilbert Emery, Lights Out (1922) by Paul Dickey and Mann Page, Icebound (1923) by Owen Davis, We've Got to Have Money (1923) by Edward Laska, and The Desert Flower (1924) by Don Mullally.

Film career After a brief stint in vaudeville, Ames moved to Hollywood in the mid 1920s to concentrate on film work, though on occasion he would return to perform on the New York stage. He co-starred in several early talkies, including The Trespasser (1929) with Gloria Swanson, A Lady to Love (1930) with Vilma Bánky and Edward G. Robinson, and the 1930 version of Holiday, in the role later played by Cary Grant in the better-remembered 1938 remake.

Personal life Ames married Alice Gerry in May 1908. They had a daughter and son before their divorce nine years later. His second wife was actress/writer Frances Goodrich. This union ended in 1923 after six years of marriage. Later that same year Ames married actress/singer Vivienne Segal. She obtained a divorce from him on June 28, 1926. On February 10, 1927, he married socialite Muriel Oakes in Waukegan, Illinois. That marriage lasted three years before she filed for divorce in 1930. The day after his marriage to Oakes, Ames was slapped with a $200,000 breach-of-promise lawsuit by nightclub entertainer Helen Lambert, who claimed he had promised to marry her after his divorce from Segal. Over the last months of his life, Ames was linked romantically in the press with stage and film actress Ina Claire. He was interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut.

Partial filmography

What Women Want (1920) Without Mercy (1925) The Wedding Song (1925) Three Faces East (1926) The Crown of Lies (1926) Marianne (1929 silent version) Voice of the City (1929) The Trespasser (1929) Rich People (1929) Nix on Dames (1929) Confession (1929) A Lady to Love (1930) Holiday (1930) War Nurse (1930) Not Damaged (1930) Madonna of the Streets (1930) Millie (1931) Behind Office Doors (1931) The Stolen Jools (1931 short) Rebound (1931) Three Who Loved (1931) Smart Woman (1931) Rich Man's Folly (1931)