Romaine Callender

Callender began his career as a stage actor in 1906 performing with Robert B. Mantell's Shakespeare company. He had a prolific career as an actor on Broadway from 1910 through 1935. He simultaneously worked periodically in film; making his screen debut in the silent film My Wife in 1918. While predominantly a stage actor during the silent film era, in 1935 he transitioned away from the theatre and became am actor in sound films under contract with Columbia Pictures; starring as a character actor in almost 50 feature films from 1935 to 1945. His father was known as Romaine Callender and E. Romaine Callendar on the stage. His uncle, the composer, conductor, and music educator William Romaine Callendar, was the director of the Metropolitan College of Music in Philadelphia and was also known publicly as Romaine Callendar. When his uncle died in 1930, it was initially incorrectly reported in the press that the actor Alfred Romaine Callender was the one who died because both men were known publicly as Romaine Callender. Other roles he portrayed with that company in the 1906–1907 season included Gratiano in Othello, Sir Robert Brackenbury in Richard III, Salanio in The Merchant of Venice, and Tillius Cimber in Julius Caesar.

When Callender made his Broadway debut at the Empire Theatre in 1910 as Rideout in Arthur Wing Pinero's Mid-Channel he was now billed as A. Romaine Callender. Following this production he joined William Gillette's theatre troupe; portraying the role of Gordon Hayne in a national tour of Gillette's five act war drama Held by the Enemy. He returned to Broadway as Don Mackenzie in Thompson Buchanan's The Rack (1911, Playhouse Theatre). Bonnaire in Pierre Wolff's Les Marionnettes (1911–1912, Lyceum Theatre), Ibrahim in J. B. Fagan's Bella Donna (1912, Empire Theatre; 1913, Wallack's Theatre) and Achille in Edward Sheldon's The Song of Songs (1914–1915, Eltinge 42nd Street Theatre).

In 1918 Callendar enlisted in the United States Navy and was in service during the latter part of World War I. After the war he returned to Broadway in Arnold Bennett's Sacred and Profane Love (1920, Morosco Theatre), as El Nacional in Tom Cushing's Blood and Sand (1921, Empire Theatre), and as J. Sloane Henshaw in George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly's Merton of the Movies (1922–1923, Cort Theatre).

Callender continued to appear on the stage as A. Romaine Callender until after the death of his father in 1922. Not long after this he took his father's stage name of Romaine Callender; first appearing on Broadway under that name as Snake in the 1925 revival of The School for Scandal at the Knickerbocker Theatre. In 1927 he portrayed Asst. State's Attorney Welch in the original production of Bartlett Cormack's The Racket at the Ambassador Theatre. His other later Broadway credits include the roles of Malacoda in Mima (1928), Dr. Otternschlag in Grand Hotel (1930), Fernand Demoncey in The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1932), Dr. Frederick Swan in Keeper of the Keys (1933), Cesar Poustiano in Another Love (1934), General Michael Rakovski in Judgment Day (1934), and Wesley Cartwright Post Road (1934–1935).

Film career In 1935, Callender left New York City for Hollywood and became a contract player with Columbia Pictures. Callender portrayed butlers, often with humorous impact, in several more Columbia pictures; including the films The Music Goes 'Round (1936), Pepper (1936), Life Begins with Love (1937), The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938), Wuthering Heights (1939), and It's a Date (1940). As a character actor, Callender starred in almost 50 feature films from 1935 to 1945; most of them for Columbia.

Partial filmography

Year Film Role Director Reference1918 My Wife Valstock Dell Henderson 1918 The Floor Below Ziegler Clarence G. Badger 1935 If You Could Only Cook Jennings William A. Seiter 1936 Adventure in Manhattan Old Taxi Driver Edward Ludwig Alibi for Murder E.J. Easton D. Ross Lederman The Music Goes 'Round Butler Victor Schertzinger 36 Hours to Kill Simpkins Eugene Forde High Tension F. Willoughby Tuttle Allan Dwan Pepper Butler James Tinling Life Begins with Love Winterbloom Ray McCarey 1938 Sharpshooters Consul's Assistant James Tinling One Wild Night Ogden Hepple Eugene Forde Passport Husband Judge James Tinling The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse Roberts Anatole Litvak 1940 Victory Missionary John Cromwell It's a Date Evans William A. Seiter Second Chorus Waiter H. C. Potter Captain Caution English Officer Richard Wallace Susan and God Oliver Leeds George Cukor I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby O'Toole Albert S. Rogell Flight from Destiny Psychiatrist Vincent Sherman 1942 Lucky Legs Crump Charles Barton You're Telling Me J.T. Dorsett Charles Lamont The Wife Takes a Flyer Zanten Richard Wallace The Lady Is Willing Bald-headed man Mitchell Leisen 1943 There's Something About a Soldier Chaplain Alfred E. Green My Kingdom for a Cook Clifton Richard Wallace Yanks Ahoy Col. Elliot Kurt Neumann Two Señoritas from Chicago Miffins Frank Woodruff 1944 Mademoiselle Fifi Manufacturer Robert Wise It Happened Tomorrow Andrew René Clair 1945 Road to Utopia Man in Top Hat Hal Walker