Picture-Play Magazine (1933)

12 i.i by Melbourne Remarking that Miss Chatterton is one of the greatest living actresses, George says she has helped him. Hollywood says her established stardom has smothered his talent. e STRANGE Less than two years ago the sensation of the hour, to-day just another leading man— did marriage to Ruth Chatterton nip the Brent career? By Eric L Ergenbright HAS marriage wrecked George Brent's career? Hollywood wonders and. being Hollywood, argues the question with considerable heat. Is there truth in the screen adage that stardom and wedding rings do not consort harmoniously together? Xo matter what the answer may be, Brent's case is undoubtedly one of the most puzzling in Hollywood. Less than two years ago, Brent was the sensation of the hour. He shot up like a rocket from comparative obscurity, and promised, for a few months, to light up the entire cinematic sky. Hollywood had known him vaguely as a former stage player and as an unimportant contract actor with Universal. And Hollywood was astounded and dazzled by his sudden rise to fame. His name was on every one's lips. Critics hailed him as a sensational find. Screen magazines devoted pages to him, recounting his adventures as an Irish rebel, dwelling glowingly on his magnetic personality, comparing him to Clark Gable — with Gable frequently getting the worst of the comparison — and enthusiastically predicting that he would take his place as one of the screen's great lovers. Warner Brothers, who owned his contract, were elated. The other producers, convinced that they had overlooked a bet, were envious. George Brent apparently was destined to scale the pinnacle of stardom in seven-league strides. And, since all the world loves a lover, his progress was not in the least hindered by the romantic gossip which linked his name with several popular screen beauties. In the midst of all that furor and flattering prophecy, George fell in love with Ruth Chatterton, who then was Mrs. Ralph Forbes, and who was — and is — one of the most dominating personalities in Hollywood. A whirlwind romance — a Paris divorce — elopement. The "great lover" forthwith was converted into a prosaic benedict and retired from circulation. And unquestionably, all the world draws a sharp line between its admiration for lovers and its sober respect for husbands. Nothing in the fact of his marriage to retard his screen career, you say? Perhaps not, yet George Brent has slipped steadily since the very moment of his marriage. lie himself is the first to admit it. Mis position now is that of a dependable, capable, but strangely lackluster leading man. No one speaks of him as a rising star. In fact, few people speak of him at all. Those few speak with indignation, for they are still convinced that potential!}' he was a great box-oflice star, Has marriage wrecked his screen career? If not marriage, then what? Bluntly faced with the question, Brent answers: "Assuming that I have sufficient ability and personality to live up to those first overenthusiastic stories written about me, I blame two things for the fact that I've lost ground. I had the wrong kind of publicity — a disastrous amount of it. And I've had a murderous, killing series of poor roles. "My marriage, under other circumstances, would have had nothing to do with the case. Coming as it did. however, right on the heels of an ill-advised publicitycampaign which attempted to paint me as a new screen sheik, it — well, I suppose my marriage did me no particular good professionally. "I most emphatically did not want the deluge of publicity that I received two years ago. I was convinced at the time that it would prove to be a deadly boomerang, and in my opinion it has. I objected, but once the ball started rolling, no one could stop it. For several months I submitted to as many as fifteen interviews a week. "One writer after another compared me to Clark Gable, just as since then they have compared George Raft to Gable and to Valentino. Such comparisons are not only ridiculous, but very unfair to all concerned. After reading some of those stories, Gable's fans undoubtedly resented me, and why shouldn't they? No one likes a carbon copy. "One asinine story after another called me an 'irresistible lover.' Lord, what muck! Not more than two or three screen actors have been able to live down that kind of publicity. "I had never done anything to earn as much attention as F received. I had never played a really outstanding role and I haven't since. I was oversold to the point of being ridiculous, and I knew at the time that I was being oversold. Writers called me a coming star, the public read their raves, and naturally expected me to live up to my advance notices. Then what? I appeared in fifteen consecutive roles which any half-witted ham could have played. "The producers themselves are even quicker than the theatergoers to condemn an actor who has appeared in a few inane roles. I'd been built up to the sky, and the effect of so much publicity was to make my work look considerably worse than it really was — if such a thing is possible.