
Edward Ellis
Acting
Biography
Character actor in films, often portraying strident types, he is best remembered cast as "The Thin Man" (actually, "Wynant") of the hit 1934 MGM film. He Ellis was active on Broadway as an actor, producer and playwright from 1905-32 (see "Other Works"). He died in Beverly Hills, CA at age 81 in 1952.
Known For

A husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get killed for their efforts.
The Thin Man

Joe, who owns a gas station along with his brothers and is about to marry Katherine, travels to the small town where she lives to visit her, but is wrongly mistaken for a wanted kidnapper and arrested.
Fury

A World War I veteran’s dreams of becoming a master architect evaporate in the cold light of economic realities. Things get even worse when he’s falsely convicted of a crime and sent to work on a chain gang.
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

A man is determined to find the real culprit behind the crime for which his father was wrongly executed.
Winterset

A senator's brother turns up murdered, and the senator tries to pin the blame on a man he knows is innocent.
Transient Lady

Managing Editor Brad Bradshaw refuses to run a story linking the disappearance of Frank Canfield with embezzlement of the bank. He considers Frank a straight shooter and he goes easy on the story. Every other paper goes with the story that Frank took the money and Brad is demoted, by the publisher, to the Heartthrob column - writing advice to the lovelorn. After feeling sorry for himself for two months, he takes the column seriously and makes it the talk of the town. But Brad still wants his old job back so he will have to find Canfield and the missing money.
Hi, Nellie!

A bucolic lawyer takes on big-city corruption, setting out to prove that an above-suspicion politician is actually a crook - all while falling in love with the politician's daughter.
A Man Betrayed

Showgirls Kay and June are stranded on Palm Beach when they become involved in the case of a fellow chorine who has gone missing on her wedding night.
Girl Missing

An orphan is provisionally adopted by the manager of a hotel populated by show business people. The hotel's owner doesn't like the entertainers and wants the girl returned to the orphanage.
Little Miss Broadway

Steel-worker brothers compete for the same woman.
Steel Against the Sky

Soapy Gibson (Edward Ellis) and his wife Annie (Marjorie Rambeau) run a lonely hearts club in a small town. Even during the Depression years these were often "clip joints" - places where people with money but no mate got taken by someone offering the promise of companionship. However, Soapy and Annie are strictly on the level - and they have more than one reason to want to stay on the level. You see Soapy escaped from the law years ago, had some plastic surgery and changed his name, and has been living on the lam with his wife ever since.
Strictly Personal

Civilized wife doesn't protest when husband runs off with uncivilized professional golfer pretending to be civilized.
The Lady Consents

Set in a tiny midwestern town, this sentimental drama centers on the rivalry between two life-long acquaintances whose early friendship falls apart when they woo the same woman.
Career

A young man goes up against a crooked town boss.
Let Them Live

When a young woman named Barbara Clarke has an affair with adventurer Roger Coverman, it causes a scandal in the Puritanical town of Salem, Massachusetts. After a meddling girl arouses their suspicions, the town's elders accuse Barbara of being a witch. She is tried, convicted of sorcery and sentenced to death. As the townspeople prepare to burn Barbara at the stake, Roger tries desperately to save the woman he loves.
Maid of Salem

The President Vanishes, released in the United Kingdom as Strange Conspiracy, is a 1934 American political drama film directed by William A. Wellman and produced by Walter Wanger. Starring Edward Arnold and Arthur Byron, the film is an adaptation of Rex Stout's political novel of the same name.
The President Vanishes

The insidious typical talk of a small town makes a young man and the married woman he is in love very unhappy.
Village Tale

In New England circa 1933, a niece is reported missing and presumed dead and Cabot Barr (George Arliss) summons his relatives to the family estate for a memorial service. Once there, Barr taunts each one, claiming their only interest in him is his money, and sends them away when the report about the niece proves to be false. Only niece Marjorie, who has ridiculed one of his pet eccentricities, seems to be the object of any sentimental affection.
The Last Gentleman

Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.
The Texas Rangers

On the day of his funeral, a dedicated smalltown doctor is remembered by his neighbors and patients.