Douglass Montgomery

**Robert Douglass Montgomery** (born October 29, 1909 – died July 23, 1966) was an *American* film and television actor whose career spanned the golden age of Hollywood and the early days of post‑war British cinema. The son of jeweler Chester Montgomery and Leona Smith, he grew up in **Los Angeles**, graduating from Los Angeles High School before discovering a passion for the stage at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. Using the stage name *Douglass Montgomery* when he first appeared in New York, he soon attracted the attention of Metro‑Goldwyn‑Mayer, where he was temporarily billed as **Kent Douglass** to avoid confusion with the studio’s leading man Robert Montgomery. After a brief stint at MGM, during which he appeared in supporting roles such as the second male lead in *Paid* (1930) and *Five and Ten* (1931), he reclaimed his own name and went on to deliver one of his most celebrated performances as Laurie in the 1933 adaptation of *Little Women*, acting opposite Katharine Hepburn’s Jo March.

Throughout the 1930s Montgomer​y built a solid filmography that included *Waterloo Bridge*, *The Cat and the Canary*, and *Harmony Lane*, where he portrayed the famed songwriter Stephen Foster. His career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, an experience that later led him to relocate to Great Britain and appear in post‑war UK productions such as *The Way to the Stars* (1945) and *Woman to Woman* (1947). Returning to the United States in the early 1950s, he transitioned to television, guest‑starring on series like *Hallmark Hall of Fame*, *Robert Montgomery Presents*, and *Kraft Television Theater*. Montgomery married British actress Kay Young on March 14 1952; the couple remained together until his death from spinal cancer in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1966. He was cremated and his ashes were given to his widow.