John Wray
1887 - 1940John Wray (13 February 1887 - 5 April 1940) was an American character actor of stage and screen.
Wray was one of the many Broadway actors to descend on Hollywood in the aftermath of the sound revolution, and quickly made an indelible impression on the era in a variety of substantial character roles, such as the Arnold Rothstein-like gangster in The Czar of Broadway (1930); Himmelstoss, the sadistic drill instructor in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930); and as the contortionist the Frog in the remake of The Miracle Man (1932), in the role previously played by Lon Chaney in the 1919 original. During this period he was one of the many actors mentioned for the title role in Dracula (1931).
Wray's roles grew increasingly smaller as the decade progressed but he was very visible as the starving farmer threatening to kill Gary Cooper in Frank Capra's classic Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and as the warden in Fritz Lang's You Only Live Once (1937).
Other films include Doctor X (1932), I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Frisco Kid (1935), Poor Little Rich Girl (1936), Boys Town (1938), Each Dawn I Die (1939), The Cat and the Canary (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
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I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Mervyn LeRoy
Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell
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
All Quiet on the Western Front
Lewis Milestone
Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres
A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I. Together with several other young German soldiers, he experiences the horrors of war, such evil of which he had not conceived of when signing up to fight. They eventually become sad, tormented, and confused of their purpose.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Frank Capra
Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
You Only Live Once
Fritz Lang
Sylvia Sidney, Henry Fonda
Based partially on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, Eddie Taylor is an ex-convict who cannot get a break after being released from prison. When he is framed for murder, Taylor is forced to flee with his wife Joan Graham and baby. While escaping prison after being sentenced to death, Taylor becomes a real murderer, condemning himself and Joan to a life of crime and death on the road.
You Only Live Once
Boys Town
Norman Taurog
Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney
Devout but iron-willed Father Flanagan leads a community called Boys Town, a different sort of juvenile detention facility where, instead of being treated as underage criminals, the boys are shepherded into making themselves better people. But hard-nosed petty thief and pool shark Whitey Marsh, the impulsive and violent younger brother of an imprisoned murderer, might be too much for the good father's tough-love system.
Boys Town
The Cat and the Canary
Elliott Nugent
Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard
Ten years after the death of millionaire Cyrus Norman, his will is to be read out to his six relatives, including Joyce Norman and Wally Campbell. Organized by Norman's lawyer, Crosby, the six meet at Norman's eerie New Orleans Gothic mansion. During the reading, the superstitious housekeeper declares that someone will be dead by midnight. Wally fears for Joyce when she is declared the sole inheritor, but all are alarmed when Crosby turns up dead.
The Cat and the Canary
Poor Little Rich Girl
Irving Cummings
Shirley Temple, Alice Faye
Cossetted and bored, Barbara Barry is finally sent off to school by her busy if doting widowed soap manufacturer father. When her nurse is injured en route, Barbara finds herself alone in town, ending up as part of radio song-and-dance act Dolan and Dolan sponsored by a rival soap company.
Poor Little Rich Girl
Safe in Hell
William A. Wellman
Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook
To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.
Safe in Hell
The Czar of Broadway
William James Craft
John Wray, Betty Compson
Mort Bradley, New York political boss and underworld czar, controls not only the city's most popular nightclub but also much of the press; however, the managing editor of the Times is determined to expose him. Jay Grant, a San Francisco reporter, is assigned to investigate Mort, who believes Jay to be a country boy and is delighted to see him fall in love with Connie Colton, of whom Mort has tired. Dismayed to learn that Jay is a reporter, Mort plans to have his gunman, Francis, kill him, but both Mort and Francis are shot by rival gangsters. Jay, believing that Mort will recover, rushes to the newspaper with an exposé, but while writing it he learns of Mort's death and decides their friendship would not permit him to submit the story. He leaves his paper and embarks on a new life with Connie.
The Czar of Broadway
