Ben Bard(1893-1974)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Ben Bard entered theatrical life in his teens, touring under the name
"B.D. Bard" with the Jolly Della Pringle theatre company. He played the
Schubert Circuit in Vaudeville as the straight man to comic Jack "Baron
Munchausen" Pearl. He was brought to Hollywood in the silent movie era
to test as a leading man at Fox Pictures but was type cast as a "Suave
Heavy" (dresses well, talks smooth but is evil underneath). In the
1930s, he established Ben Bard Drama, one of the largest and most
respected acting schools in Hollywood. It had an attached theatre
company that produced stage classics and West Coast premieres of
contemporary American plays. Distinguished graduates of the school
included Alan Ladd, Jack Carson, Shirley Temple, Gower Champion, Angie
Dickinson, Cliff Robertson and Gig Young. In the 1950s, he was the head
of the New Talent Department at Twentieth Century Fox.
