George Brent

Brent most often appeared as romantic lead in deferential support to three of Warners' classiest star actresses: Kay Francis ("Living on Velvet," 1935, "Give Me Your Heart," 1936, "Secrets of an Actress," 1938); Ruth Chatterton ("The Crash," 1932, "Female," 1933), to whom he was married from 1932 to 1934; and, particularly, Bette Davis ("Front Page Woman," 1935, "Jezebel," 1938, "Dark Victory," 1939, "The Great Lie," 1941). He also occasionally enjoyed a role off the beaten path, as in Robert Siodmak's memorable Gothic melodrama, "The Spiral Staircase" (1946). Brent sustained his prolific output after he and Warners parted company, but his films gradually diminished in importance in the later 40s. Very much a leading man type, he never made the transition to character roles, and so left the cinema in 1953 after appearing in a series of minor efforts. Two of his other four wives were actresses Constance Worth and Ann Sheridan (opposite whom he made "Honeymoon for Three," 1941). Brent came out of retirement for 1978's "Born Again."