Robert Middlemass

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American actor and playwright (1883–1949)

title: "Robert Middlemass" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1883-births", "1949-deaths", "american-male-film-actors", "writers-from-new-britain,-connecticut", "male-actors-from-connecticut", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "harvard-university-alumni"] description: "American actor and playwright (1883–1949)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Middlemass" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor and playwright (1883–1949) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameRobert Middlemass
imageRobert Middlemass in The Black Raven (1943).jpg
captionMiddlemass in The Black Raven (1943)
birth_date
birth_placeNew Britain, Connecticut. U.S.
death_date
death_placeHollywood, California, U.S.
occupation
years_active1910–1947
::

| name = Robert Middlemass | image = Robert Middlemass in The Black Raven (1943).jpg | image_size = | caption = Middlemass in The Black Raven (1943) | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = New Britain, Connecticut. U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S. | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = 1910–1947 | spouse =

Robert Middlemass (September 3, 1883 – September 10, 1949) was an American playwright and stage actor, and later character actor with over 100 film appearances, usually playing detectives or policemen.

Biography

Middlemass was born in New Britain, Connecticut. He graduated from Harvard University in 1909 and initially went into the insurance business, but soon went on the stage, joining the Castle Square Theatre stock company in Boston. He debuted on Broadway in September 1914 in The Bludgeon at the Maxine Elliott Theatre.

His best known play was a one-act melodrama written with Holworthy Hall (real name H.E. Porter, a college roommate) titled The Valiant, which was also made into a film of the same name in 1929, and as The Man Who Wouldn't Talk in 1940. The play became a favorite for amateur and local theater groups and is still performed today.

Middlemass moved to Los Angeles around 1935 and began appearing in films. He died there in 1949.

Select theatre credits

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Small-Miracle-Stage-4.jpg" caption="Robert Middlemass (center) as Captain Seaver of the New York police, grilling a suspect in ''[[Small Miracle]]'' (1934)"] ::

Selected filmography

References

References

  1. (13 Feb 1937). [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/02/13/94336619.pdf Mrs. Susan C. Middlemass], ''[[The New York Times]]''
  2. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QY3OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA201 Sexennial Report Class of 1909 Harvard College], pp. 201-02 (1915) (self report from Middlemass)
  3. Jones, Ken D., et al. [https://books.google.com/books?id=GuNkAAAAMAAJ&q=%22robert+middlemass%22 Character People], p. 146 (1976) (full text not available online) ("Robert Middlemass appeared as a character actor in many films in the 1930s and 1940s, but he is known best as the author of The Valiant, a famous one-act play")
  4. (23 Sept 2009). [https://kihm6.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/holworthy-hall/ Holworthy Hall], Skaneateles (blog)
  5. McCulloh, T.H. (8 Nov 1995). [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-11-08-ca-686-story.html THEATER REVIEWS : 'Valiant' Locked in Another Era; No Reprieve in Execution], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
  6. (28 Jan 2014). [http://www.sfasu.edu/7433.asp Student-directed "The Valiant" slated for SFA's Downstage Theatre], Stephen F. Austin University News (example of more recent performance)
  7. (13 April 1926). [http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/New%20York%20NY%20Sun/New%20York%20NY%20Sun%201926/New%20York%20NY%20Sun%201926%20-%202584.pdf How Sleight of Hand Helped Actor to Act], ''[[The Sun (New York)]]'', p. 28 col. 7
  8. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ko0vUVJhYSEC&pg=RA2-PA8 The Valiant], ''[[McClure's]]'' (March 1921)

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1883-births1949-deathsamerican-male-film-actorswriters-from-new-britain,-connecticutmale-actors-from-connecticut20th-century-american-male-actorsharvard-university-alumni