Lionel Atwill: Movies & Box Office

Lionel Atwill was a distinguished stage and screen actor whose career spanned the early twentieth‑century theatrical world and the golden age of Hollywood horror. Born on 1 March 1885 in Croydon, London, he initially studied architecture before making his professional debut at the Garrick Theatre in 1904, quickly establishing himself as a versatile performer. By 1918 he had become a star on Broadway, where his repertoire included classics such as Hedda Gabler, The Wild Duck and Caesar and Cleopatra, and his flamboyant stage presence earned him leading roles in both dramas and comedies. After emigrating to the United States he transitioned to film, appearing in his first screen picture in 1919 and soon becoming a familiar face in the horror canon, notably as the one‑armed Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and as Professor Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943). His filmography also features memorable performances opposite Marlene Dietrich in The Devil Is a Woman (1935) and a rare comedic turn in Ernst Lubitsch’s classic To Be or Not to Be (1942). Atwill’s personal life was marked by four marriages—first to Phyllis Relph (1913‑1919), then to actress Elsie Mackay (1920‑1928), followed by Louise Cromwell Brooks (1930‑1943) and finally Mary Paula Pruter (1944‑his death)—and two sons, John Arthur and Lionel Anthony. His later years were clouded by a high‑profile scandal when he was indicted for perjury after admitting to showing lewd films at his beach house; although the conviction was later vacated, the incident effectively ended his Hollywood career under the Hays Code. Lionel Atwill died on 22 April 1946 in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, from lung cancer and pneumonia, leaving behind a legacy as one of the era’s most reliably intimidating character actors whose contributions to genre cinema continue to be celebrated.