John Emery (actor)

John Emery (May 20, 1905 – November 16, 1964) was an American actor.

Early years
Born in New York City, Emery was the son of stage actors Edward Emery (c. 1861 – 1938) and Isabel Waldron (1871–1950). He was educated at Long Island's La Salle Military Academy.

Film
Through the late 1930s to the early 1960s Emery appeared in supporting roles in many Hollywood films, beginning with James Whale's The Road Back (1937) and ranging from Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound to Rocketship X-M.

Stage
Emery appeared on Broadway in John Brown (1934), Romeo and Juliet (1934-1935), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1935), Flowers of the Forest (1935), Parnell (1935-1936), Alice Takat (1936), Sweet Aloes (1936), Hamlet (1936-1937), Antony and Cleopatra (1937), Save Me the Waltz (1938), The Unconquered (1940), Liliom (1940), Retreat to Pleasure (1940-1941), Angel Street (1941-1944), Peepshow (1944), The Relapse (1950), The Royal Family (1951), The Constant Wife (1951-1952), Anastasia (1954-1955), Hotel Paradiso (1957), and Rape of the Belt (1960).

Peepshow was the first production in which Emery and his third wife, Tamara Geva, appeared together.

Television and radio
Emery was also known for his television work, appearing on programs like I Love Lucy and Have Gun Will Travel. In 1946 he starred in a radio program as detective Philo Vance.

Personal life
Emery married Patricia Calvert in 1926, ending in divorce in 1929. He married Tallulah Bankhead on August 31, 1937, in Jasper, Alabama (her only marriage), divorcing on June 13, 1941, in Reno, Nevada. The two remained friendly after their marriage. In 1942, Emery married dancer Tamara Geva, divorcing in 1963. Emery had started a long-term relationship with actress Joan Bennett in 1961, who cared for him through his final illness and death in 1964.

Due to their resemblance, Emery often was rumoured to be the illegitimate child of John Barrymore. As a child, Emery roomed for a while with Barrymore and his first wife, Katherine Corri.

Death
Emery died on November 16, 1964, in New York City, aged 59.

Selected filmography

 * The Road Back (1937) - Captain Von Hagen
 * Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) - Tony Abbott
 * The Corsican Brothers (1941) - Tomasso
 * Two Yanks in Trinidad (1942) - Chicago Hagen
 * Ship Ahoy (1942) - Dr. Farno
 * Eyes in the Night (1942) - Paul Gerente
 * George Washington Slept Here (1942) - Clayton Evans
 * Assignment in Brittany (1943) - Captain Deichgraber
 * Mademoiselle Fifi (1944) - Jean Cornudet
 * Blood on the Sun (1945) - Premier Giichi Tanaka
 * The Spanish Main (1945) - Captain Mario Du Billar
 * Spellbound (1945) - Dr. Fleurot
 * The Voice of the Turtle (1947) - George Harrington
 * Let's Live Again (1948) - Larry Blake
 * The Woman in White (1948) - Sir Percival Glyde
 * The Gay Intruders (1948) - John Newberry
 * Joan of Arc (1948) - Jean, Duke d'Alençon, cousin of Charles VII
 * Dakota Lil (1950) - Vincent
 * Rocketship X-M (1950) - Dr. Karl Eckstrom
 * Frenchie (1950) - Clyde Gorman
 * Double Crossbones (1951) - Governor Elden
 * Joe Palooka in Triple Cross (1951) - 'Professor'
 * The Mad Magician (1954) - The Great Rinaldi
 * A Lawless Street (1955) - Cody Clark
 * Forever, Darling (1956) - Dr. Edward R. Winter
 * The Girl Can't Help It (1956) - Wheeler
 * Kronos (1957) - Dr. Hubbell Eliot
 * Ten North Frederick (1958) - Paul Donaldson
 * Youngblood Hawke (1964) - Georges Peydal (final film role)