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Richard Greene

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For other uses, see Richard Greene (disambiguation).
Richard Greene
OccupationActor
Spouse(s)Beatriz Summers (1960-1980)
Patricia Medina (1941-1951)


Richard Marius Joseph Greene (25 August, 1918 in Plymouth, Devon, England - 1 June, 1985 in Norfolk, England) - some sources list his birthdate as 1914 - was a noted English movie and television actor. His aunt was the musical theatre actress Evie Greene. His father, Richard Abraham Greene and his mother, Kathleen Gerrard, were both actors with the Plymouth Repertory Theatre.[1] A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.

He was of Irish and Scottish Catholic extraction, being born in Plymouth, Devon, England. Son of four generations of actors, Greene was educated at Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in Kensington, London and left at age 18. He started off his stage career as the proverbial spear carrier in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in 1933. A good looking young man, Greene helped his income by modeling shirts and hats.

Greene joined the Jevan Brandon Repertory Company in 1936 where he won accolades in the same year for his part in Terence Rattigan's French Without Tears which bought him to the attention of Alexander Korda and Darryl F. Zanuck. Aged 20, he joined 20th Century Fox as a rival to MGM's Robert Taylor. His first film for Fox was John Ford's Four Men and a Prayer. Greene was a huge success, especially with female film goers who sent him mountains of fan mail which at its peak rivaled that of Fox star Tyrone Power.

Greene interrupted his acting life to serve in World War II in the Royal Armoured Corps of the Twenty Seventh Lancers where he distinguished himself and after three months went to Sandhurst and was commissioned in the 27th Lancers in May 1944 with the rank of Captain. He was relieved from duty to appear in the British propaganda films "Flying Fortress" and "Unpublished Story," in 1942, and appeared in "The Yellow Canary" while on furlough in 1943. [2] He later toured in Shaw's "Arms and the Man" entertaining the forces. Greene was discharged in December 1944 and appeared in the stage plays "Desert Rats" and "I Capture the Castle".

The war however effectively ruined Greene's rising career and though he did well in the popular Forever Amber (1947), Greene then found himself cast in a series of swashbuckling roles. Having turned away from films in favor of stage and screen and having been through a divorce from Patricia Medina, who he was married to from 1941 to 1951, Greene was cash strapped when Yeoman Films of Great Britain approached him for the lead role in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Greene took the role, and was an immediate success. It also solved all his money problems and made him into a star. Greene married Brazilian heiress Mrs.Beatriz Robledo Summers (1960 - 1980, when they separated) and together they purchased a stud farm in County Wexford, Ireland. Within five years he was listed among the top breeders of thoroughbred horses in England and Ireland. [3] He also pursued his interest in sailing, successfully competing in yacht racing. He rarely accepted roles from then onwards, seeming to lose interest in the whole industry. His unfulfilled ambition had been to ride in the (British) Grand National. Greene underwent surgery in 1982 for a brain tumor and never fully recovered. He died of cardiac arrest three years later in Norfolk.

Notes

  1. ^ Charles Kidd, Debrett Goes to Hollyhood, (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986), 129.
  2. ^ James Parish and William Leonard, Hollywood Players,{New York: Arlington House Publishers, 1976}, 270.
  3. ^ Charles Kidd, Debrett Goes to Hollyhood," (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1986), 132.

TV Work

Among other programmes, Richard Greene was in A Man For Loving, The Doctors, The Morecombe and Wise Show, Dixon of Dock Green, Mrs Bixby and Colonel's Daughter.

Filmography

References

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