home/movie/1937/big business

Big Business

Not Rated

Comedy

5/10(1 ratings)

A small town drugstore owner (Jed Prouty) hopes to strike it rich by investing his savings in an oil well. Comedy.

06-18-1937

1h 0m

Big Business

Backdrop for Big Business

Main Cast

Movie Details

Production Info

Director:: Frank R. Strayer

Writers:: Robert Ellis, Helen Logan

Production:: 20th Century Fox

Locations and Languages

Country:: US

Filming:: US

Languages:: en

Main Cast

Jed Prouty

Jed Prouty

From Wikipedia Jed Prouty (April 6, 1879 – May 10, 1956) was an American film actor. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Prouty was a vaudeville performer before becoming a film actor. Mostly appearing in comedies, he occasionally performed a serious character role, for instance a small part as an oily publicist in A Star is Born (1937).

Known For

A Star Is Born

A Star Is Born

1937

Libeled Lady

Libeled Lady

1936

The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody

1929

Spring Byington

Spring Byington

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Spring Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player, appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.

Known For

You Can't Take It with You

You Can't Take It with You

1938

Dragonwyck

Dragonwyck

1946

Jezebel

Jezebel

1938

Unknown Actor

Unknown Actor

Known For

Girls Dormitory

Girls Dormitory

1936

Fritzi

Charlie Chan at the Circus

Charlie Chan at the Circus

1936

Louise Norman

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe

1940

Princess Aura

Russell Gleason

Russell Gleason

Russell Gleason (February 6, 1908 – December 25, 1945) was an American actor who began his career at the very beginning of the talking film era. Born into an acting family, one of his earliest roles was in the 1930 classic film, All Quiet on the Western Front. While still in the middle of a successful acting career, Gleason joined the U.S. Army in late 1943, during World War II. While awaiting deployment to Europe in December 1945 in New York City, Gleason fell to his death from a hotel window. He was the son of actors Lucille and James Gleason.

Known For

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

1930

Condemned to Live

Condemned to Live

1935

Swing Fever

Swing Fever

1943

Florence Roberts

Florence Roberts

Known For

The Life of Emile Zola

The Life of Emile Zola

1937

Les Misérables

Les Misérables

1935

Cleopatra

Cleopatra

1934

Allan Lane

Allan Lane

Allan Lane (born Harry Leonard Albershardt or Albershart) was an American stage, screen, and television actor who was billed as Allan "Rocky" Lane following his Red Ryder starring roles in a series of mid-1940s Western films. Lane from 1961 to 1966 provided the voice of talking horse Mr. Ed in the 1958-1966 Mr. Ed comedic television series.

Known For

Air Force

Air Force

1943

Stowaway

Stowaway

1936

Night Nurse

Night Nurse

1931

Frank Conroy

Frank Conroy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Frank Parish Conroy (14 October 1890 – 24 February 1964) was a British film and stage actor who appeared in many films, notably Grand Hotel (1932), The Little Minister (1934) and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). He appeared on the Broadway stage and won a Tony Award for his performance in Graham Greene's The Potting Shed (1957).

Known For

Crash Dive

Crash Dive

1943

Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel

1932

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still

1951

Unknown Actor

Unknown Actor

Known For

Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire

1941

College Boy

The Eagle and the Hawk

The Eagle and the Hawk

1933

Lt. John Stevens

Too Busy to Work

Too Busy to Work

1939

Jack Jones

Unknown Actor

Unknown Actor

Known For

The Plainsman

The Plainsman

1936

A Boy

The Glass Key

The Glass Key

1935

Boy (uncredited)

Too Busy to Work

Too Busy to Work

1939

Roger Jones

Unknown Actor

Unknown Actor

Known For

Too Busy to Work

Too Busy to Work

1939

Lucy Jones

Come Out Fighting

Come Out Fighting

1945

Jane Riley

Checkers

Checkers

1937

Sarah Williams

Unknown Actor

Unknown Actor

Known For

East of Eden

East of Eden

1955

Townsman at Carnival (uncredited)

Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride

1950

Usher (uncredited)

Too Busy to Work

Too Busy to Work

1939

Bobby Jones

Unknown Actor

Unknown Actor

Known For

The Man Who Wouldn't Die

The Man Who Wouldn't Die

1942

Catherine Wolff

Young Mr. Lincoln

Young Mr. Lincoln

1939

Mary Todd

We're Not Married!

We're Not Married!

1952

Ruthie, the Co-respondent (uncredited)

Wallis Clark

Wallis Clark

Known For

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind

1939

Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce

1945

It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night

1934

Irving Bacon

Irving Bacon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Irving Bacon (September 6, 1893 – February 5, 1965) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 500 films. Bacon played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1920. He was sometimes cast in films directed by Lloyd Bacon (incorrectly named as his brother in some sources) such as The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938). He often played comical "average guys". In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played the weary postman Mr. Crumb in Columbia Pictures' Blondie film series. One of his bigger roles was as a similarly flustered postman in the thriller Cause for Alarm! in 1952. During the 1950s, Bacon worked steadily in a number of television sitcoms, most notably I Love Lucy, where he appeared in two episodes, one which cast him as Ethel Mertz's father.

Known For

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind

1939

They Died with Their Boots On

They Died with Their Boots On

1941

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt

1943

Maurice Cass

Maurice Cass

From Wikipedia Maurice Cass was a character actor in numerous films and television shows. Born in Lithuania, he came to the US to pursue an acting career. His slight build, frizzy hair and pince-nez glasses cast him as the "absent minded professor" or eccentric scientist type in many of his films, such as the character who discovers the element kryptonite in Adventures of Superman. He is best remembered for his role as Professor Newton in the 1954 TV science fiction series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.

Known For

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

Two Sisters from Boston

Two Sisters from Boston

1946

Mission to Moscow

Mission to Moscow

1943

Lester Dorr

Lester Dorr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lester Dorr (born Harry Lester Dorr; May 8, 1893 - August 25, 1980) was an American actor who between 1917 and 1975 appeared in well over 500 productions on stage, in feature films and shorts, and in televised plays and weekly series. His extensive filmography attests to his versatility as a supporting actor and reliability as a bit player. Although Dorr's screen roles are at times credited, the great majority of his work is uncredited. Dorr was cast in more than 250 films in just the 1930s alone. Dorr continued to appear regularly in studio productions throughout the 1940s, but with reduced frequency when compared to the preceding decade; nevertheless, he still added more than 140 Hollywood films to his résumé in that decade. His work on the big screen decreased even further in the 1950s as acting opportunities increased on television. He was, though, cast in at least 45 feature films and shorts during the 1950s. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, programming in the rapidly expanding medium of television attracted the talents of many experienced personnel in the film industry, including Dorr. As with his film career, Dorr’s 15 years of being cast in television series consisted predominantly of brief appearances on screen and portraying characters who had relatively few lines. Yet, his characterizations on television, like in films, were highly diverse and can be seen in at least 84 episodes of Westerns, crime and detective series, courtroom and hospital dramas, adventure programs, and sitcoms of the period.

Known For

Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind

1939

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

East of Eden

East of Eden

1955

Sarah Edwards

Sarah Edwards

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Sarah Edwards (October 11, 1881 – January 7, 1965) was a Welsh-born American film and stage actress. She often played dowagers or spinsters in numerous Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly in minor roles. Edwards started her acting career as a stage actress, she was described in 1916 by a newspaper article as a leading actress "very popular with West End theatre-goers".[1] She eventually settled in the United States and appeared in six Broadway plays between 1919 and 1931, primarily in comedies like The Merry Malones by George M. Cohan. Among her first movies was the New York-filmed 1929 musical Glorifying the American Girl (1929), where she portrayed the mercenary mother of leading actress Mary Eaton. She came to Hollywood in the mid-1930s where she appeared in about 190 films until her retirement 1951, mostly in uncredited, small character roles. Sarah Edwards died in Hollywood in 1965, aged 83. Edwards seemed older than she was and often portrayed a "kindly grandmother, imperious dowager, hardy pioneer wife, ill-tempered teacher and strict governess". She remains perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the imperious mother of Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) in Frank Capra's film classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) who tries to keep her daughter away from George Bailey. Edwards also played a customer in Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (1940) with James Stewart. She also appeared in another Christmas classic, The Bishop's Wife (1947) with Cary Grant, and as the wife of a doctor on the train in Hitchcock's thriller Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Edwards sometimes also portrayed more substantial roles, for instance in the Charlie Chan movie Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944).

Known For

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life

1946

The Shop Around the Corner

The Shop Around the Corner

1940

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt

1943

Sydney Jarvis

Sydney Jarvis

Known For

Scarface

Scarface

1932

The Thin Man

The Thin Man

1934

Fury

Fury

1936

Fred Kelsey

Fred Kelsey

Frederick Alvin Kelsey (August 20, 1884 – September 2, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Kelsey directed one- and two-reel films for Universal Film Manufacturing Company. He appeared in more than 400 films between 1911 and 1958, often playing policemen or detectives. He also directed 37 films between 1914 and 1920. Kelsey was caricatured as the detective in the 1943 MGM cartoon Who Killed Who? directed by Tex Avery. He was born in Sandusky, Ohio and died at the Motion Picture Country Home in Hollywood, California, aged 77.

Known For

Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce

1945

They Died with Their Boots On

They Died with Their Boots On

1941

To Catch a Thief

To Catch a Thief

1955

Charles Lane

Charles Lane

Charles Lane (born Charles Gerstle Levison; January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007) was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 77 years. Lane gave his last performance at the age of 101 as a narrator in 2006. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Riding High (1950). He was a favored supporting actor of Lucille Ball, who often used him as a no-nonsense authority figure and comedic foe of her scatterbrained TV character on her TV series I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour and The Lucy Show. His first film of more than 250 was as a hotel clerk in Smart Money (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Known For

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life

1946

The Aristocats

The Aristocats

1970

Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace

1944

Pat West

Pat West

Pat West (born Arthur Pat West; April 19, 1888 - April 10, 1944) was an American actor.

Known For

Invisible Agent

Invisible Agent

1942

The Bank Dick

The Bank Dick

1940

Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire

1941

Charles Williams

Charles Williams

Charles Williams was born on September 27, 1898 in Albany, New York. He was an actor and writer, known for It's a Wonderful Life (1946), Hollywood and Vine (1945) and Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938). He was married to Isabel and Virginia Josephine Evans. He died on January 3, 1958 in Hollywood, California.

Known For

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life

1946

The Pride of the Yankees

The Pride of the Yankees

1942

The Thin Man

The Thin Man

1934