George Montgomery

Known for ActingBorn 1916-08-29Died 2000-12-12Brady, Montana, USA

George Montgomery was boxing champion at the University of Montana, where he majored in architecture and interior design. Dropping out a year later, he decided to take up boxing more seriously, and moved to California, where he was coached by ex-heavyweight world champion James J. Jeffries. While in Hollywood, he came to the attention of the studios (not least, because he was an expert rider) and was hired as a stuntman in 1935. After doing this for four years, George was offered a contract at 20th Century Fox in 1939, but found himself largely confined to leads in B-westerns. He did not secure a part in anything even remotely like a prestige picture, until his co-starring role in Roxie Hart (1942), opposite Ginger Rogers. Next, in Orchestra Wives (1942), he played the perfunctory love interest for Ann Rutherford -- though both, inevitably, ended up playing second trombone to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In 1947, George got his first serious break, being cast as Raymond Chandler's private eye Philip Marlowe, in The Brasher Doubloon (1947). Reviewers, however, compared his performance unfavourably with that of Humphrey Bogart and found the film 'pallid' overall. So it was back to the saddle for George. Unable to shake his image as a cowboy actor, he starred in scores of films with titles like Belle Starr's Daughter (1948), Dakota Lil (1950), Jack McCall Desperado (1953) and Masterson of Kansas (1954) at Columbia, and for producer Edward Small at United Artists. When not cleaning up the Wild West with his six-shooter, he branched out into adventure films set in exotic locales (notably as Harry Quartermain in Watusi (1959)). During the 60's, he also wrote, directed and starred in several long-forgotten, low-budget wartime potboilers made in the Philippines. At the height of his popularity, George attracted as much publicity for his acting, as for his liaisons with glamorous stars, like Ginger Rogers, Hedy Lamarr (to whom he was briefly engaged) and singer Dinah Shore (whom he married in 1943). After his retirement from the film business, he devoted himself to his love of painting, furniture-making and sculpting bronze busts, including one of his close friend Ronald Reagan.Read more

Movies & web series

Jennie

Ride the Tiger

Warkill

The Odd Couple

Cadet Girl

Charter Pilot

Street of Sinners

The Six Million Dollar Man

Accent on Love

The Lone Ranger

The Singing Vagabond

Three Little Girls in Blue

Dinah!

Alias Smith and Jones

Samar

Battle of the Bulge

What's My Line?

Fort Ti

Roxie Hart

The Cowboy and the Blonde

Riders of the Purple Sage

Hi-Yo Silver

Hawk of the Wilderness

General Electric Theater

King of the Wild Stallions

Last of the Badmen

The Daredevil

S.O.S Tidal Wave

Army Girl

The Iroquois Trail

The Toughest Gun in Tombstone

Canyon River

Saga of Death Valley

This Is Your Life

Guerillas in Pink Lace

Indian Uprising

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show

Gun Belt

Bomber's Moon

Orchestra Wives

Last of the Duanes

Cimarron City

The Girl from Manhattan

Ten Gentlemen from West Point

Pawnee

Coney Island

The Steve Allen Show

Masterson of Kansas