Trivia

He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933.

He was regularly seen socially with a select circle of friends known as the Irish Mafia.

Was one of the most popular and durable actors in Hollywood, playing everything from handsome heroes in his youth to nefarious old men later in his career.

InHoward Hawks'His Girl Friday (1940),Bellamy's character, as happened in several movies, loses his girl toCary Grant.At one point in the movie, as the conniving newspaper editor, Grant is giving a henchman directions to help him identify Bellamy's character, and Grant says, "He looks like Ralph Bellamy.".

As a boy, he delivered newspapers and groceries, and worked as a soda jerk at a drugstore.

Ran away from home at age 17 to join a traveling band of Shakespearean players. He also worked as an usher at Ravinia Park Open Air Pavilion.

Ralph owned his own stock company for four seasons (1926-1930). It was called "The Ralph Bellamy Players" and it toured Nashville, Evanston, and Iowa (including Des Moines). Overall, he spent nine years in repertory and touring companies, playing over 400 roles, including an average of two or three in each play.

He has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant:The Awful Truth (1937),His Girl Friday (1940),Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)andRosemary's Baby (1968).

He was posthumously awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on February 26, 1992.

Attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. He was president of the Drama Club there. However, he was expelled for smoking on school grounds,.

Honored with Broadway's 1958 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for his portrayal ofFranklin D. Rooseveltin "Sunrise at Campobello", a role that he recreated in its movie versionSunrise at Campobello (1960).Next he also played the role in two miniseries:The Winds of War (1983)and its sequelWar and Remembrance (1988).

Great-uncle of actorSam Huntington,to whom he bequeathed his Lifetime Achievement Oscar. Ralph's wife Alice Murphy was the sister of Sam's maternal grandmother Clara Murphy.

Turned down the role of Noah Cross inChinatown (1974);the role was played byJohn Hustoninstead.

While he was under contract for Columbia Pictures, he directed a screen test for a xylophone player in New York inFrank Capra'sYou Can't Take It with You (1938).The xylophone did not get the role.

He was a liberal Democrat who supportedFranklin D. Rooseveltduring his time in office.

Was the eldest of three children born to Charles Rexford Bellamy, who was employed with an advertising agency, and Lilla Louise Smith. One of his younger siblings, a boy, died a couple of days after birth.

He was a member of The Lambs, an actor's club first established in New York in 1874.

Had two children: Lynn Bellamy and Willard Bellamy.

Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.

Attended New Trier High School, as didRock Hudson,Hugh B. O'Brien,Ann-Margret,Bruce Dern,Penelope Milford,Virginia MadsenandLiz Phair.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6542 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.

Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 37-38. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 55-56. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.