Murray Kinnell

{{short description|British-American actor}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Murray Kinnell

| nationality = British (1889)
American (1933)

| birth_date = {{birth date|1889|7|24|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Sydenham, London, U.K.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1954|8|11|1889|7|24|df=yes}}

| death_place = Santa Barbara, California, U.S.

| occupation = Actor, Trade Union officer

| yearsactive = 1907-1937 Actor
1936-1952 SAG Officer

| spouse = Henrietta Goodwin

| children = 1

}}

Murray Kinnell (24 July 1889 – 11 August 1954) was a British-born American actor, recognized for playing smooth, gentlemanly, although rather shady characters. He began acting on the English stage in 1907,{{cite news |title=Murray Kinnell Supports Arliss at the Dominion |work=The Victoria Daily Times |date=October 16, 1930 |location=Victoria, British Columbia |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}} toured in the United States from 1912 through 1914, then returned to England where he served in the British Army during World War I.UK, British Army World War I Service Records, 1914-1920 for Murray Kinnell, retrieved from Ancestry.com After the war, he emigrated to the US. He appeared in 71 films between the pre-code era of 1930 and 1937. He later served the Screen Actors Guild in several positions for 16 years.{{cite news |title=Screen Actors Guild Pledges Campaign Aid |work=Daily News |date=August 11, 1938 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=19 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Murray Kinnell Leaves Actors Guild Office |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 8, 1952 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=26 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Early years

Kinnell was born in Sydenham, London when it was still part of Kent.1891 England Census for Murray Kinnell, London > Lewisham > Sydenham > District 6, retrieved from Ancestry.com He was the second of three sons to John Kinnell, a Scottish-born engineer, and Rose Taylor from Surrey. He was educated first at Seaford College in Sussex,1901 England Census for Murray Kinnell, Sussex > Seaford > All > District 1, retrieved from Ancestry.com then at Mill Hill School in London.{{cite news |title=Murray Kinnell, Stage Star, Dead |work=Coventry Evening Telegraph |date=August 14, 1954 |location=Coventry, England |page=15 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Early stage career

According to a later interview, Kinnell began his stage career in the troupe of Florence Glossop-Harris in 1907. His first known stage credits are from 1909 with the company of Allan Wilkie.{{cite news |title=Bath Theatre Royal |work=The Somerset Guardian |date=August 6, 1909 |location=Radstock, England |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} By 1911 he had joined the company of Frank Cellier, the husband of Florence Glossop-Harris.{{cite news |title=Plymouth Theatre Royal |work=Western Morning News |date=March 21, 1911 |location=Plymouth, Devon, UK |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell played in both Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice on English stages, and undoubtedly many other plays as well for which verification is lacking.{{cite news |title=Shakespeare Festival at Kingston |work=The Surrey Advertiser |date=February 15, 1911 |location=Kingston, Surrey, UK |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Kinnell next appears in 1912 with a touring company playing Pomander Walk in the US and Canada.{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Julian |title=In the Big Play-World |work=Los Angeles Times |date=September 5, 1912 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=34 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Music and Drama |work=The Winnipeg Tribune |date=November 5, 1912 |location=Winnipeg, Manitoba |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} The following year he joined the Annie Russell Old English Comedy Company, playing throughout the eastern US in She Stoops to Conquer, The Rivals, and The School for Scandal.{{cite news |title=Goldsmith Play Is Well Given |work=Star-Gazette |date=February 24, 1913 |location=Elmira, New York |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Old English Comedy Company |work=The Noblesville Ledger |date=April 12, 1913 |location=Noblesville, Indiana |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Wins As Lady Teazle |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=December 26, 1913 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}} The tour wound up its run in Philadelphia during April 1914. Kinnell used the time off to marry the tour's ingenue, Henrietta Goodwin.Murray Kinnell in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. Marriage Index, 1885-1951, retrieved from Ancestry.com

Edward Sheldon's The Garden of Paradise, produced by Liebler & Company, opened in late November 1914 at the Park Theatre in Manhattan.{{cite news |title=The Garden of Paradise |work=New York Tribune |date=November 15, 1914 |location=New York, New York |page=22 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell played two roles in this visual extravaganza based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. However the production bankrupted Liebler & Company, and the receiver shut the play down on December 8, 1914, after a little more than two weeks.{{cite news |title='Garden of Paradise' Ends |work=The New York Times |date=December 9, 1914 |location=New York, New York |page=13 |via = NYTimes.com}}

Kinnell then returned to England, where he performed Shakespeare with the F. R. Benson company from late 1915 thru early April 1916.{{cite news |title=A Shakespeare Week |work=Birmingham Gazette |date=December 7, 1915 |location=Birmingham, England |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=The Theatre Royal |work=Newcastle Daily Journal and Courant |date=April 3, 1916 |location=Newcastle, England |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Military service and post-war stage

Kinnell had enlisted in the London Scottish during January 1916, but wasn't taken up for training until April of that year. He was a lieutenant{{cite news |last=Babcock |first=Muriel |title=Whispers in the Wings |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 18, 1930 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=30 |via = Newspapers.com}} with the 2/14th Battalion that saw action in France, Salonika, and Palestine as part of the 60th Division.{{cite news |title=At The Theaters: Embassy Theater |work=New Britain Herald |date=October 9, 1930 |location=New Britain, Connecticut |page=17 |via = Newspapers.com}} He served for three years, until 1919, when he resumed his acting career upon discharge at the war's end.{{cite news |title=Mr. Cyril Maude's Late Leading Lady for Orpheum Stock |work=The Montreal Star |date=February 25, 1925 |location=Montreal, Canada |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Following military service, Kinnell next appeared in a production of The Merchant of Venice at the Court Theatre in London that ran from October 1919 through February 1920.{{cite news |title=Court Theatre (ad) |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=October 27, 1919 |location=London, England |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Court Theatre (ad) |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=February 17, 1920 |location=London, England |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}} Beginning in January 1920 he also did single performances in other plays for the experimental Stage Society{{cite news |title=Stage Society |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=January 20, 1920 |location=London, England |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} and the revivalist Phoenix Society.{{cite news |title='Marriage A La Mode' |work=Evening Standard |date=February 10, 1920 |location=London, England |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=The Phoenix Society |work=The Guardian |date=April 13, 1920 |location=Manchester, England |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Later that year Kinnell joined the St. James Theater company in the English debut of The Jest, a three-month tour that also included his wife in the cast.{{cite news |title=Mr. Ainley in 'The Jest' |work=The Times |date=August 5, 1920 |location=London, England |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title="The Jest" At The Opera House, Middlesbrough |work=The North Star |date=October 23, 1920 |location= |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}} However, by January 1921, Kinnell was "at liberty", according to his theatrical card in The Daily Telegraph.{{cite news |title=Theatrical Cards - Gentlemen |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=January 13, 1921 |location=London, England |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} While his wife returned to America for a role in a Broadway production, Kinnell joined the Henry Baynton company and performed a large reperatoire of drastically pruned Shakespeare from June 1921 thru November 1922.{{cite news |title=Prince's Theatre |work=The Guardian |date=June 1, 1921 |location=Manchester, England |page=14 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Shakespeare Theatre |work=Liverpool Post and Mercury |date=November 29, 1922 |location=Liverpool, England |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} It played well in the more provincial towns but London critics were quite severe over the cuts.{{cite news |title=Hamlet Indeed Undone |work=Daily Herald |date=January 11, 1922 |location=London, England |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell then did an original play Oliver Cromwell, written and produced by John Drinkwater and starring Henry Ainley.{{cite news |title=Before the Footlights |work=The Daily Mail |date=May 1, 1923 |location=Hull, England |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Transatlantic commuter

E. H. Sothern and his wife Julia Marlowe brought four English actors to the US in September 1923 for their final Shakespeare tour, one of whom was Kinnell.{{cite news |title=The Theater |work=The Indianapolis Star |date=September 19, 1923 |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}} The tour opened with Cymbeline on October 2, 1923, at the Jolson Theatre.{{cite news |last=Corbin |first=John |title=The Play |work=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=12 |via = NYTimes.com}} Unfortunately, Marlowe was both past her prime and wedded to an outdated style of acting that drew harsh criticism. It cannot have been an easy experience for Kinnell, but he persevered with the company's repertoire of Shakespeare playsCymbeline was dropped from the tour's repertoire after Marlowe's drubbing in it. both in New York and on tour.{{cite news |title=Southern-Marlowe Tour |work=Evening Star |date=November 18, 1923 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=57 |via = Newspapers.com}} In March 1924 Kinnell left the still-going tour for a debut drama based on the book Simon Called Peter.{{cite news |title="Simon Called Peter" |work=Brooklyn Life |date=March 29, 1924 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=21 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Kinnell returned to England where he next performed during July 1924 in an original work by Joshua Jordan called The Dream Kiss, described as "a farce of somnambulism".{{cite news |title=Wimbledon Theatre |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=July 29, 1924 |location=London, England |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} It hardly seemed worth the trip, for he was next cast during September 1924 in the Broadway production of Hassan, based on the verses of James Elroy Flecker.{{cite news |title="Hassan" Has Premiere Soon |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=September 7, 1924 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=65 |via = Newspapers.com}} This spectacle dispensed with tryouts due to its massive scale (some 200 performers including 60 principals and 70 dancers), perhaps relying on the success the production had in London the previous year. Despite incidental music by Frederick Delius the show closed after just 16 performances, with only Kinnell drawing praise among the cast.{{cite news |last=Broun |first=Heywood |title='Hassan' Not Good Enough to Last Long |work=Dayton Daily News |date=September 28, 1924 |location=Dayton, Ohio |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}} February 1925 saw him in a revival of William Congreve's The Way of the World.{{cite news |last=Carey |first=Ralph W. |title=Among the New York Theaters |work=Hartford Courant |date=February 15, 1925 |location=Hartford, Connecticut |page=26 |via = Newspapers.com}}

''Old English''

For the first time Kinnell became the leading man of an acting troupe in March 1925, with the All-English stock company at the Orpheum in Montreal. This was under the direction of Leo G. Carroll, with Betty Murray as the female lead. His tenure with the company lasted thru May 1925.{{cite news |title=At Orpheum Theatre |work=The Gazette |date=May 16, 1925 |location=Montreal, Canada |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} While Kinnell was in Canada, his wife Henrietta Goodwin had a small part in Old English on Broadway, a play by John Galsworthy that starred George Arliss. When it went on tour in the fall of 1925, Kinnell joined his wife in the road company, albeit as a leading actor.{{cite news |title=Arliss Returns in Galsworthy Role |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=September 29, 1925 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} This was Kinnell's first role as an outright villain, a "blackmailing solicitor" who hounds the eponymous character (himself a scoundrel) played by Arliss.{{cite news |title=This Week at the Theatres |work=Buffalo Morning Express |date=January 5, 1926 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} The part gained him his first published interview,{{cite news |last=Creelman |first=Eileen |title=Eastern Movie News |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |date=January 17, 1926 |location=Cincinnati, Ohio |page=98 |via = Newspapers.com}} and several years later his first film role.

The Old English tour took a four-month hiatus in late May 1926,{{cite news |title="One Man's Woman" Has Its Premiere at Werba's Tomorrow; Arliss in "Old English" - Majestic |work=Brooklyn Citizen |date=May 16, 1926 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}} while Arliss vacationed in England.{{cite news |title=Arliss Arrives From England |work=Tulsa World |date=September 26, 1926 |location=Tulsa, Oklahoma |page=38 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell's time off was spent performing in The Lovers with the Phoenix PlayersThis actors' society did tryouts of new plays at a small converted theater in Woodstock, New York. The rural area had no electricity at the time, so the troupe used kerosene footlights. in summer 1926.{{cite news |title=Broadway Actors Trying Out Plays Up In Woodstock |work=Daily News |date=August 1, 1926 |location=New York, New York |page=174 |via = Newspapers.com}} Arliss returned from England in September 1926, and the Old English tour resumed playing, reaching Los Angeles in December 1926,{{cite news |last=Lathrop |first=Monroe |title=Arliss Holds His Audience In Rapt Spell |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |date=December 28, 1926 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=21 |via = Newspapers.com}} then winding up the long tour at Philadelphia during May 1927.{{cite news |title=George Arliss Is Seen Again In "Old English" |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=May 3, 1927 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Arliss again

A touring production of The Constant Wife was Kinnell's next performance.{{cite news |title=Plays In Brooklyn |work=Times Union |date=September 20, 1927 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} It starred Ethel Barrymore and C. Aubrey Smith, with Kinnell in a supporting role. It opened in late September 1927 and finished up six weeks later.{{cite news |title="Constant Wife" At The Wilbur |work=The Boston Globe |date=November 1, 1927 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Arliss kept Kinnell with him on his next major engagement, playing Bassiano to Arliss' Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, with Peggy Wood as Portia. The Winthrop Ames production had a week-long tryout at New Haven, Connecticut,{{cite news |title=Shubert Theatre New Haven (ad) |work=Meriden Record |date=January 7, 1928 |location=Meriden, Connecticut |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} before premiering on Broadway.{{cite news |last=Atkinson |first=J. Brooks |title=The Play |work=The New York Times |date=January 17, 1928 |location=New York, New York |page=22 |via = NYTimes.com}} Brooks Atkinson pronounced it as workmanlike but without spirit,Atkinson misspelled Kinnell's surname twice in the review. and thought Arliss had turned Shylock into a gentleman. The production closed on Broadway after eight weeks, and immediately began touring the East Coast.{{cite news |last=McKay |first=Cele M. |title=The New York Theatres |work=The Yonkers Herald |date=March 9, 1928 |location=Yonkers, New York |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} The tour closed in May 1928 and Kinnell joined the Scarborough Stock Company for a six-week season starting in late June.{{cite news |title=Tarrytown |work=The Yonkers Herald |date=June 28, 1928 |location=Yonkers, New York |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The first Edgar Wallace play produced in the US was The Sign of the Leopard, which had been called The Squeaker in the UK.{{cite news |title="Sign of the Leopard" |work=Times Union |date=November 20, 1928 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=64 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell had a leading role in this, starting with tryouts in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, before going to Broadway in December 1928. Described as a crime play or a melodrama, it failed to impress New York critics.{{cite news |last=Mantle |first=Burns |title='Sign of the Leopard' a Bit Spotty |work=Daily News |date=December 12, 1928 |location=New York, New York |page=486 |via = Newspapers.com}} After it closed, Kinnell took over the male lead in the touring company for the Broadway production of Young Love that starred Dorothy Gish.{{cite news |last=Longacre |first=Betty |title=Gossip of the Theatre |work=The Standard Union |date=March 4, 1929 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Kinnell's first-known radio performance came in July 1929 with an NBC broadcast of The Importance of Being Earnest.{{cite news |title=Please Stand By |work=The Tribune |date=July 13, 1929 |location=Scranton, Pennsylvania |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}} His next known acting credit did not occur until late February 1930, when he appeared in a tryout for Elizabeth and Essex by Harry Wagstaff Gribble.{{cite news |title='Elizabeth and Essex' Charms |work=The Evening Journal |date=February 22, 1930 |location=Wilmington, Delaware |page=22 |via = Newspapers.com}} This compilation of incidents from three centuries-old plays starred Thais Lawton and Hugh Buckler in the title roles. Renamed to The Royal Virgin on Broadway, The New York Times found it competent but dull, saying: "...the best performing of the play was Murray Kinnell's crafty, serpentine portrayal of Cecil".{{cite news |title="The Royal Virgin" Is Stately Drama |work=The New York Times |date=March 18, 1930 |location=New York, New York |page=4 |via = NYTimes.com}}

Screen career

=First films: 1930-31=

Warner Brothers (WB) had signed George Arliss to make films of his most famous stage performances; Old English would be the third movie.{{cite news |last=Stein |first=Edwin C. |title=Arliss Scores Again |work=The Standard Union |date=August 22, 1930 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=39 |via = Newspapers.com}} Both Kinnell and his wife Henrietta Goodwin reprised their stage roles for the cameras in Old English, the first film for each, though only Kinnell was credited.{{cite news |title=Arliss and Barrymore Films in Warner Jubilee |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |date=August 5, 1930 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Kinnell told an interviewer after completing his first film that he much preferred it to stage acting. However, he went on the stage in Los Angeles, playing the lead in The Infinite Shoeblack during November 1930 to acclaim from local reviewers.{{cite news |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |title=Theme Unusual At Repertory |work=Los Angeles Times |date=November 26, 1930 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=22 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Eleanor |title=Poignant Drama New Offering at Civic Repertory |work=Daily News |date=November 25, 1930 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=19 |via = Newspapers.com}} The following month, his second film, The Princess and the Plumber, opened in Los Angeles.{{cite news |title=Holiday Week To Open At Loew's With Novelties |work=Daily News |date=December 18, 1930 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=23 |via = Newspapers.com}}

By February 1931 he was mentioned as cast as Metz for The Secret Six.{{cite news |title=Johnny Burke, Film Comedian, On Stage |work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=February 9, 1931 |location=San Francisco, California |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}} April 1931 saw the release of both that film and The Public Enemy, in which Kinnell played the two-timing petty-larceny hood Putty Nose.{{cite news |last=Thirer |first=Irene |title='Born To Love' Bennett Hit |work=Daily News |date=April 24, 1931 |location=New York, New York |page=741 |via = Newspapers.com}} The latter earned Kinnell praise from the drama critic of The Los Angeles Times: "Murray Kinnell, in his few appearances on the screen, gains a place for himself among the best character actors in Hollywood".{{cite news |last=Lusk |first=Norbert |title=New Gangster Film Clicks |work=Los Angeles Times |date=May 3, 1931 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=48 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The following month he left Los Angeles for Honolulu for filming The Black Camel.{{cite news |title=Black Camel Company En Route To Hawaii |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=May 3, 1931 |location=Baltimore, Maryland |page=42 |via = Newspapers.com}} His derelict artist turned beachcomber, shown openly living with a Hawaiian woman, was the most interesting character in that early Charlie Chan film, released in July 1931.{{cite news |last=Aydelotte |first=Winifred |title=Chan Mystery Is Exciting |work=The Los Angeles Record |date=July 16, 1931 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}

After playing three well-received and memorable roles in the first six months of 1931, the remaining movies Kinnel did that year provided him far less attention and enthusiasm from reviewers.{{cite news |last=Barnes |first=Eleanor |title=Novel Film At Warner's |work=Daily News |date=October 30, 1931 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Mines |first=Harry |title='Reckless Living' Is 'Mello' |work=Daily News |date=November 27, 1931 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=The Deceiver |work=Daily News |date=November 22, 1931 |location=New York, New York |page=202 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Babcock |first=Muriel |title=Bullets Fly In Film At Hillstreet |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 19, 1932 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=23 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Thirer |first=Irene |title='Under Eighteen' Is Charming Picture |work=Daily News |date=December 26, 1931 |location=New York, New York |page=23 |via = Newspapers.com}}

=Prolific years: 1932-34=

During the next three years Kinnell would average a dozen films annually, though some had him in small uncredited parts. His first film released in 1932 was The Menace.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=The Menace |work=Daily News |date=January 30, 1932 |location=New York, New York |page=173 |via = Newspapers.com}} As an actor, he was most impressed with the potential of a young unknown actress in that film. Knowing that George Arliss was looking for a leading woman in his next picture, Kinnell suggested to Arliss that Bette Davis be cast in The Man Who Played God.{{cite news |last=Davis |first=Bette |title=Goodbye Forever Missed Bette By Mere Whisker |work=The Spokesman Review |date=August 21, 1938 |location=Spokane, Washington |page=33 |via = Newspapers.com}} Davis, who at the time was getting discouraged with her career, never forgot Kinnell's help: "If it hadn't been for Murray Kinnell's belief in me, I probably would have bade goodbye to Hollywood forever".

April 1932 saw the release of Grand Hotel, an instant success with the critics.{{cite news |last=Thirer |first=Irene |title='Suberb' Is Verdict for 'Grand Hotel' |work=Daily News |date=April 14, 1932 |location=New York, New York |page=357 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |last=Hall |first=Mordaunt |title=The Screen |work=The New York Times |date=April 13, 1932 |location=New York, New York |page=23 |via = NYTimes.com}} Kinnell's small feature bit didn't even merit a mention by reviewers in this ensemble effort with seven major stars. That same month The Mouthpiece was released, another film in which Kinnell had a bit part as a butler.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=Warner's "The Mouthpiece" Full Of Color And Drama |work=Daily News |date=April 22, 1932 |location=New York, New York |page=532 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Kinnell did another George Arliss film called A Successful Calamity in September 1932.{{cite news |last=Dickstein |first=Martin |title=The Screen |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=September 23, 1932 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}}

A film that Kinnell made in 1933 would take years before being allowed in some theaters. Damaged Lives was a docudrama about venereal disease; Kinnell and Jason Robards played doctors that help afflicted patients.{{cite news |last=Hale |first=Wanda |title="Damaged Lives" Courageous Film |work=Daily News |date=June 13, 1937 |location=New York, New York |page=167 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Arliss, who had left Warners for the new 20th Century Fox studio, cast Kinnell as one of the brothers in The House of Rothschild, released in March 1934.{{cite news |last=Dickstein |first=Martin |title=The Screen |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=March 15, 1934 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=27 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell also did two more Charlie Chan films that year: Charlie Chan's Courage, in which he was the first victim,{{cite news |title=Charlie Chan Film On West Coast Screen |work=Santa Ana Register |date=July 21, 1934 |location=Santa Ana, California |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} and Charlie Chan in London, where he played a seemingly sinister butler with an unexpected secret.{{cite news |last=Hale |first=Wanda |title=Charlie Chan's Fans Have Treat at Mayfair |work=Daily News |date=September 12, 1934 |location=New York, New York |page=503 |via = Newspapers.com}}

He finished 1934 with the December release of Anne of Green Gables.{{cite news |last=Knox |first=Charles Victor |title=Hipp Shows Anne Of Green Gables |work=The Buffalo News |date=December 3, 1934 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}}

=Later films: 1935-37=

Kinnell's film year of 1935 began with a role as a "dasteredly plotter" in Charlie Chan in Paris.{{cite news |last=Churchill |first=Douglas W. |title=Previews of the New Films |work=Oakland Tribune |date=January 13, 1935 |location=Oakland, California |page=59 |via = Newspapers.com}} He then began filming another historical picture starring George Arliss, Cardinal Richelieu.{{cite news |title="Richelieu" Cast Ready for Cameras |work=Times Union |date=January 26, 1935 |location=Brooklyn, New York |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Hoping to repeat the success of The House of Rothschild, 20th Century Fox mounted another historical tale around an English company in Lloyd's of London, released in November 1936.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=Historical Pageant Filmed At The Astor |work=Daily News |date=November 27, 1936 |location=New York, New York |page=405 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell played Rev. Nelson, the father of Lord Nelson, in a film that one reviewer said "lacks the powerful punch which the first conveyed".

Kinnell's last two films were an uncredited bit in Parnell,{{cite news |title=Myrna Loy And Clark Gable In "Parnell" At Banning Theatre |work=The Desert Sun |date=July 2, 1937 |location=Palm Springs, California |page=2 |via = Newspapers.com}} and a major part in the Grade B mystery, Think Fast, Mr. Moto, both released in summer 1937.{{cite news |title=Century Offers Wild and Woolly |work=The Buffalo News |date=September 13, 1937 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Screen Actors Guild

Though he wasn't a pioneering member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Kinnell joined that trade union within a few years of its founding. By August 1936 he had been elected assistant treasurer.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=Screen Actors' Guild Active |work=Daily News |date=August 2, 1936 |location=New York, New York |page=30 |via = Newspapers.com}} He was business chairman for the annual SAG fundraising society ball,{{cite news |last=Kester |first=Marshall |title=Screen Actors' Guild Appoints Committees |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 3, 1937 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=58 |via = Newspapers.com}} and he handled issuing temporary credentials for journalists visiting movie lots.{{cite news |last=Gammock |first=Gordon |title=Week In Movies A Crazy Dream |work=The Des Moines Register |date=January 19, 1938 |location=Des Moines, Iowa |pages=1, 13 |via = Newspapers.com}}

SAG officials appointed him in 1939 to be the Guild's representative for arbitration hearings with the Motion Picture Producers (MPP) over contract disputes.{{cite news |title=Arbitration Group Ready |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 25, 1939 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}} Besides arbitration, he also worked with the producers on limiting the numbers of screen extras handled by Central Casting to favor those with most experience.{{cite news |title=Experienced Extras Favored |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 8, 1940 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=21 |via = Newspapers.com}}

During 1943 Kinnell was again appointed as arbitrator in a dispute involving a pay hike demanded by SAG for over 5000 extras, stand-ins, stuntmen, body doubles, and singers.{{cite news |title=Film guild files demand for pay hikes |work=Daily News |date=October 13, 1943 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} During April 1944 he testified in a National Labor Relations Board hearing that for screen extras there were "too many people competing for too little work and all could not hope to make a living at that type of work".{{cite news |title=Some Extras Get High Pay |work=Los Angeles Times |date=April 11, 1944 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=13 |via = Newspapers.com}}

By 1949 Kinnell was the agency administrator for SAG, responsible for relations between independent screen actors outside the studio system and the talent agencies that represented them.{{cite news |title=SAG Approves New Contract |work=Los Angeles Evening Citizen News |date=November 4, 1949 |location=Hollywood, California |page=13 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell oversaw the negotiations for a ten-year agreement between SAG and talent management that would control the terms under which actors could be signed.

Later years

Kinnell retired from SAG on February 28, 1952. He told SAG officials he was going to take his wife on a long trip abroad, but would be available to the organization on an advisory basis when he returned.

On 11 August 1954, Kinnell died at his home in Santa Barbara, California.{{cite news |title=Actor Murray Kinnell Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26183090/murray_kinnell/ |work=The Courier-Journal |agency=Associated Press |date=August 13, 1954 |location=Kentucky, Louisville |page=8|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = December 12, 2018}} {{Open access}}

Personal life

Kinnell's 1928 Petition for Naturalization listed his description at age 39 as {{convert|5|ft|9+1/2|in|cm|abbr=on}} tall, weighing {{convert|145|lb|kg}}, with gray eyes and brown hair.California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999 for Murray Kinnell, retrieved from Ancestry.com After completing the five-year mandatory residency, Kinnell's US citizenship was approved in 1933.

Kinnell married Henrietta Goodwin in Philadelphia on April 14, 1914. She was a stage actress, born in Tacoma, Washington,{{cite news |title=Tacoma Actress Is Wife of English Star |work=The Tacoma Daily Ledger |date=January 6, 1926 |location=Tacoma, Washington |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}} but raised in the Washington, D.C. area. They had one son, Peter Kinnell, who was born in June 1916 while they resided in the UK. He did not join his parents in America until August 1925.{{cite news |title=Boy, 9, Crosses Ocean |work=Daily News |date=August 12, 1925 |location=New York, New York |page=110 |via = Newspapers.com}}

According to newspaper accounts, Kinnell habitually wore a monocle in private life,{{cite news |last=Harrison |first=R. M. |title=The Theatre and Its People |work=The Windsor Star |date=March 5, 1928 |location=Windsor, Ontario |page=23 |via = Newspapers.com}} and once told an interviewer "I became an actor because I didn't know any better".{{cite news |title=One Second Interviews with the Arliss Actors |work=Goodwin's Weekly |date=January 22, 1927 |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}} He was an excellent amateur fencer,{{cite news |title=Warner's Offers Murray Kinnell |work=The Pasadena Post |date=March 6, 1931 |location=Pasadena, California |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}} and an active member of the Hollywood Cricket Club.{{cite news |title=Favorite Stars Seen At Games |work=Detroit Free Press |date=May 22, 1938 |location=Detroit, Michigan |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}} Kinnell and his son Peter were part of the traveling Hollywood team that took on and beat a Vancouver eleven at a Cricket Jubilee in British Columbia.{{cite news |last=Foster |first=C. R. |title=Four Thousand Turn Out for Gala Opening of Jubilee Cricket Week |work=The Province |date=July 2, 1938 |location=Vancouver, British Columbia |page=20 |via = Newspapers.com}}

He was also a chess player; in the aftermath of World War II he and other British ex-pat veterans in Hollywood would visit Birmingham Hospital regularly to play disabled US veterans.{{cite news |last=Holliger |first=Martha |title=Birmingham Vets |work=The Valley Times |date=December 10, 1946 |location=North Hollywood, California |page=13 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Stage performances

The table is by year of first performance. His performances from 1907, 1908, and 1910 lack documentation as yet, and other early years are incomplete.

class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed sortable plainrowheaders" style="font-size: 90%"
scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Play

! scope="col" | Role

! scope="col" | Venue

! scope="col" | Notes

rowspan=2|1909

|The Sleigh Bells

| Christian

| Bath Theatre Royal

| His first known credit, with the Allan Wilkie repertory company.

The Two Orphans of Paris

| Marquis de Presles

| Hanley Theatre Royal

| {{cite news |title=Local Amusements |work=The Staffordshire Sentinel |date=August 10, 1909 |location=Stoke-on-Trent, England |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}}

rowspan=2|1911

|Hamlet

| Laertes

| Royal County TheatreThis was at Kingston upon Thames in the UK.

| This was a company headed by Frank Cellier.

The Merchant of Venice

| Bassanio

| Theatre Royal

| Cellier's touring company had female leads played by his wife, Florence Glossop-Harris.

1912

|Pomander Walk

| Basil Pringle

| Touring Company

| Kinnell played a violinist at No 3 Pomander Walk.{{cite news |title=At The Playhouses |work=The Minneapolis Morning Tribune |date=November 18, 1912 |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title="Pomander Walk" Truly Is a Comedy of Happiness |work=The St. Louis Star and Times |date=December 9, 1912 |location=St. Louis, Missouri |page=11 |via = Newspapers.com}}

rowspan=3|1913

|She Stoops to Conquer

| George Hastings

| Touring Company

| This was with the Annie Russell Old English Comedy Company.

The Rivals

| Faulkland

| Touring Company

| This was still with the Annie Russell company.

The School for Scandal

| Joseph Surface

| Touring Company

| This was still with the Annie Russell company.

1914

|The Garden of Paradise

| Jasper/Captain of Guard

| Park Theatre

| The costly production had mermaids "swimming" thru the air over the stage.

rowspan=2|1915

|The Merchant of Venice

| Lorenzo

| Prince of Wales TheatreThis was in Birmingham, England.

| This was with the F. R. Benson Shakespeare company.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

| Oberon

| Court Theatre

| Another F. R. Benson performance.{{cite news |title=At the Play |work=The Observer |date=December 26, 1915 |location=London, England |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}}

rowspan=5|1916

|MacBeth

| Malcolm

| King's Theatre

| Also in this week-long run was Basil Rathbone as MacDuff.{{cite news |title=Mr. F. R. Benson's Visit |work=The Daily Record |date=March 23, 1916 |location=Glasgow, Scotland |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Henry V

|

| Theatre Royal

| {{cite news |title=The Theatre Royal |work=Newcastle Daily Journal and Courant |date=March 30, 1916 |location=Newcastle, England |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Hamlet

| Horatio

| Touring Company

| This was performed in alteration with other F. R. Benson Shakespeare plays.

The Taming of the Shrew

| Lucentio

| Theatre Royal

| {{cite news |title=The Theatre Royal |work=Newcastle Daily Journal and Courant |date=March 31, 1916 |location=Newcastle, England |page=7 |via = Newspapers.com}}

As You Like It

| Orlando de Boys

| Theatre Royal

| This was Kinnell's last performance with the F. R. Benson troupe.

1919

|The Merchant of Venice

|

| Court Theatre

| This long-running production starred Maurice Moscovich and Mary Grey, with Miles Malleson, George Hayes, Edith Evans, and Cathleen Nesbitt.

rowspan=4|1920

|Joan of Memories

| Richard Tirrell

| Shaftesbury Theatre

| Three-act experimental comedy by Willson Disher was produced by the Stage Society for a single performance.

Marriage à la mode

| Leonidas

| Lyric Theatre

| Mounted by the revivalist Phoenix Society for a two-day engagement.

The Fair Maid of the West

| Mr. Spencer

| Lyric Theatre

| Another Phoenix Society revival, and not well received.

The Jest

|

| Touring Company

| The St. James Theater company production starred Henry Ainley, with Claude Rains and Kinnell's wife, Henrietta Goodwin.

rowspan=9|1921
1922

|As You Like It

| Orlando / Jacques

| Touring Company

| Kinnell portrayed Orlando with Henry Baynton's Shakespeare company in 1921, but when Baynton's Jacques came in for repeated criticism they switched parts the following year.

The Merchant of Venice

| Bassiano

| Touring Company

| {{cite news |title=Amusements in Bristol |work=The Western Daily Press |date=June 14, 1921 |location=Bristol, England |page=5 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Antony and Cleopatra

| Octavius Caesar

| Touring Company

| {{cite news |title=Prince's Theater |work=The Western Daily Press |date=June 18, 1921 |location=Bristol, England |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Julius Caesar

| Brutus

| Touring Company

|

The Taming of the Shrew

| Lucentio

| Touring Company

|

Romeo and Juliet

| Mercutio

| Touring Company

|

Hamlet

| Horatio

| Touring Company

|

King Lear

| Earl of Kent

| Touring Company

|

The School for Scandal

| Joseph Surface

| Touring Company

| {{cite news |title="The School For Scandal" |work=The Evening Despatch |date=July 29, 1921 |location=Birmingham, England |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}

rowspan=8|1923

|Oliver Cromwell

| Seth Tanner

| Touring Company

| Written and produced by John Drinkwater, it starred Henry Ainley in title role.

The Faithful Shepherdess

| Thenot

| Shaftesbury Theatre

| Another two-performances revival by the Phoenix Society, mounted while Kinnell was still touring in Oliver Cromwell.{{cite news |title=Elizabethan Drama |work=Daily Herald |date=June 26, 1923 |location=London, England |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Cymbeline

| Guiderius

| Jolson's Theatre

| This marks Kinnell's return to the US stage with the company of E. H. Sothern and Julia Marlowe.

The Taming of the Shrew

| Tranio

| Jolson's Theatre
Touring Company

| {{cite news |title=Nine New Plays |work=The New York Times |date=October 10, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=26 |via = NYTimes.com}}

Twelfth Night

| Sebastian

| Jolson's Theatre
Touring Company

| {{cite news |title="Twelfth Night" Revived |work=The New York Times |date=October 23, 1923 |location=New York, New York |page=17 |via = NYTimes.com}}

The Merchant of Venice

| Lorenzo

| Jolson's Theatre
Touring Company

|

Hamlet

|

| Jolson's Theatre
Touring Company

|

Romeo and Juliet

| Benvolio

| Jolson's Theatre
Touring Company

| Sothern and Marlowe, at 64 and 58 respectively, played the titlular teenage roles.

rowspan=3|1924

|Simon Called Peter

|

| Stamford TheatreThis was in Stamford, Connecticut.

| This was a tryout run.

The Dream Kiss

|

| Wimbledon Theatre

| Farce in three acts by Joshua Jordan was described by reviewer as "a wearisome crudity".

Hassan

| Ishak

| Knickerbocker Theatre

| Spectacle based on James Elroy Flecker verses lasted only two weeks on Broadway.

rowspan=7|1925

|The Way of the World

| Fainall

| Princess Theatre

| Revival started out in Greenwich Village then moved to the theater district.

Ann

|

| Orpheum TheatreThis was in Montreal, Canada.

| Kinnell became leading man of the All-English stock company with this three-act comedy by Lechmere Worrall.

Clothes and the Woman

| Eric Thrale

| Orpheum Theatre

| Romantic stock comedy was later made into a 1937 British film.{{cite news |title=At Theatres Next Week |work=The Gazette |date=March 26, 1925 |location=Montreal, Canada |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Spring Cleaning

|

| Orpheum Theatre

| {{cite news |title=At Orpheum Theatre |work=The Gazette |date=May 2, 1925 |location=Montreal, Canada |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Dover Road

| Leonard

| Orpheum Theatre

| {{cite news |title=At Orpheum Theatre |work=The Gazette |date=May 9, 1925 |location=Montreal, Canada |page=16 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Naughty Wife

|

| Orpheum Theatre

|

Old English

| Charles Ventnor

| Touring Company

| National touring company for the Broadway production starring George Arliss ran from September 1925 thru May 1927.

1926

|The Lovers

|

| Woodstock TheatreA converted assembly hall seating 150 in Woodstock, New York.

| Carlo Goldoni comedy, staged by Ethel Griffies. With Edward Cooper, Rose Hobart, Theodore St. John, Philip Leigh, Harold Moulton, Anne Walters.

1927

|The Constant Wife

| Mortimer Durham

| Touring Company

| This production starred Ethel Barrymore and C. Aubrey Smith, with Frank Conroy, Verree Teasdale, Cora Witherspoon, Jeanette Sherwin, Alice John, and Thomas A. Braidon.

rowspan=6|1928

|The Merchant of Venice

| Bassanio

| Shubert Theatre
Broadhurst Theatre
Touring Company

| Arliss played Shylock, with Peggy Wood as Portia, Spring Byington as Nerissa, and Leonard Willey as Antonio.

Captain Applejack

| Ambrose Applejohn

| Beechwood TheatreThis was in Scarborough, New York.

| Summer stock with the Scarborough Stock company.

Smudge

|

| Beechwood Theatre

| A debut drama by Douglas Murray. Starred Charlotte Walker and Douglas Wood, with Sherling Oliver, Flora Sheffield, and Hugh Rennie.{{cite news |title=Suburban Drama Is Interesting |work=Daily News |date=July 9, 1928 |location=New York, New York |page=25 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Giftee

|

| Beechwood Theatre

| A new drama by Percival Wilde, staged and produced by Hamilton MacFadden.{{cite news |title=Newsy Items About Theater From Broadway and Beyond |work=Democrat and Chronicle |date=August 5, 1928 |location=Rochester, New York |page=60 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Frail Emma

| Admiral Nelson

| Cass TheatreThis was in Detroit, Michigan.

| Original comedy by Genevieve Thompson Smith, starred Kinnell and Selena Royle as Emma, Lady Hamilton.{{cite news |last=Shaw |first=Len G. |title=The Theater |work=Detroit Free Press |date=September 10, 1928 |location=Detroit, Michigan |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Sign of the Leopard

| Sutton

| Majestic Theatre
National Theatre

| Mystery by Edgar Wallace, originally produced in the UK as The Squeaker.

1929

|Young Love

| Peter Bird

| Touring Company

| Kinnell replaced lead James Rennie for the Broadway production road company.

rowspan=2|1930

|Elizabeth and Essex

| Lord Burleigh

| Shubert Playhouse
Booth Theatre

| Between tryout in Wilmington, Delaware and Broadway debut the play was renamed to The Royal Virgin.

The Infinite Shoeblack

| Andrew Berwick

| Music Box

| Los Angeles Civic Repertory production of play by Norman MacOwen starred Kinnell and Olive Meehan.

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="font-size: 90%"

|+ Film (by year of first release)

scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Role

! scope="col" | Notes

rowspan=2|1930

|Old English

| Charles Ventnor

| Warner Brothers Vitaphone film premiered August 21, 1930 at the Warner's Theatre in Hollywood. Both Kinnell and his wife Henrietta Goodwin reprised their stage roles in this George Arliss star turn.

The Princess and the Plumber

| Lord Worthing

| Film premiered on December 18, 1930, at Loew's Hollywood Theater.

rowspan=8|1931

|The Secret Six

| Metz - the Dummy

| The first of two gangster roles for Kinnell that premiered in April 1931.

The Public Enemy

| Putty Nose

| Kinnell's second gangster role also debuted in April 1931.

The Black Camel

| Archie Smith

| An unusual role for Kinnell as a derelict one-time gentleman; the film opened in July 1931.

Honor of the Family

| Captain Elek

| A now-lost film, it premiered in October 1931.

Reckless Living

| Alf

| Racetrack melodrama involving gamblers competing for a young woman.

The Guilty Generation

| Jerry

| Racketeering melodrama; Kinnell is uncredited but listed in newspaper reviews.

The Deceiver

| Breckinridge

| Critics panned this trite mystery on the backstage murder of a treacherous star. Kinnell played a suave detective.{{cite news |title=Movies |work=Petaluma Argus-Courier |date=February 25, 1932 |location=Petaluma, California |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Under Eighteen

| Peterson (Butler)

| Romantic comedy about a teenager's disillusionment with her older sister's marriage.

rowspan=15|1932

|The Menace

| Carr

| Based on the Edgar Wallace 1927 novel The Feathered Serpent.

Freaks

| Freakshow Barker

| Uncredited

The Beast of the City

| Judge

| Uncredited

The Man Who Played God

| King's Aide

| Kinnell had recommended Bette Davis to George Arliss for this film.{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Llewellyn |title=Arliss Film Is Well Done |work=The Los Angeles Record |date=February 10, 1932 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Expert

| Smitty (the Fence)

| Uncredited

Are You Listening?

| Carson

| {{cite news |title=Film Exposes Radio Racket |work=Visalia Times-Delta |date=May 17, 1932 |location=Visalia, California |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Grand Hotel

| Schweimann

|

The Mouthpiece

| Thompson (Day's Butler)

|

While Paris Sleeps

| Escaping Prisoner

| Uncredited

The Purchase Price

| Spike Forgan

| Kinnell plays a nightclub owner's henchman.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=Stanwyck and Brent In Saga Of Soil At Strand |work=Daily News |date=July 16, 1932 |location=New York, New York |page=128 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Painted Woman

| Collins

| {{cite news |title='The Painted Woman' Coming Tomorrow |work=The Press Democrat |date=September 4, 1932 |location=Santa Rosa, California |page=10 |via = Newspapers.com}}

A Successful Calamity

| Alfred Curtis, The Broker

| Kinnell is George Arliss business rival.

Secrets of the French Police

| Bertillon

| One reviewer considered this more of a horror film than a mystery or crime drama.{{cite news |title=Previews |work=The Los Angeles Record |date=October 29, 1932 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Rasputin and the Empress

| Professor Kropotkin

| Uncredited

The Match King

| Nyberg

| {{cite news |title=Drama of "The Match King" Booked By Warners |work=The Los Angeles Record |date=December 20, 1932 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=4 |via = Newspapers.com}}

rowspan=12|1933

|Today We Live

| Padre

| Uncredited

Zoo in Budapest

| Garbosh

|

Damaged Lives

| Dr. Vincent Leonard

| A controversial film about venereal disease, censors kept it out of New York City until 1937.

Voltaire

| Emile (Voltaire's Servant)

|

The Avenger

| Cormack

|

The Solitaire Man

| Inspector Harris

| Uncredited

I Loved a Woman

| Davenport

|

Ann Vickers

| Dr. Slenk (Copperhead Gap Warden)

|

From Headquarters

| Horton

|

If I Were Free

| Dr. Clairbourne

| Uncredited

The Women in His Life

| 1st Defendant

| Uncredited

I Am Suzanne

| Luigi Malatini

|

rowspan=9|1934

|The House of Rothschild

| James Rothschild

| Though he'd changed studios, Arliss continued to cast Kinnell whenever he could.

Affairs of a Gentleman

| Fletcher

| "No man is a hero to his valet", as Kinnell's character in this murder mystery could testify.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title="Affairs of a Gentleman" |work=Daily News |date=July 1, 1934 |location=New York, New York |page=59 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Murder in Trinidad

| Colonel Bruce Cassell

| Nigel Bruce is a detective tasked by Kinnell to uncover diamond smuggling in Trinidad.{{cite news |title=More Murder Comes Next Week |work=Modoc County Times |date=July 19, 1934 |location=Alturas, California |page=3 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Such Women Are Dangerous

| Jan Paris

|

Charlie Chan's Courage

| Martin Thorne

| Kinnell is the first victim this time out.

Hat, Coat and Glove

| The Judge

| Courtroom drama about a middle-aged attorney defending his wife's young lover.{{cite news |last=Cameron |first=Kate |title=Cortez Is Good In Murder Mystery |work=Daily News |date=July 27, 1934 |location=New York, New York |page=198 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Charlie Chan in London

| Phillips

| Kinnell as yet another butler, though this time with an unexpected flourish.

Anne of Green Gables

| Mr. Phillips

| Kinnell plays a teacher in this popular sentimental story.

The Silver Streak

| Doctor Flynn

| Uncredited

rowspan=10|1935

|Charlie Chan in Paris

| Henri Latouche

| Kinnell is one-half of a villainous duo that almost does in Charlie Chan and son.

Cardinal Richelieu

| Duke of Lorraine

|

Mad Love

| Charles

| Though supposedly uncredited, Kinnell's name and theater owner character are in newspaper reviews for this improbable horror story.{{cite news |last=Palmer |first=Rollin |title=Century Picture Has New Villain |work=The Buffalo News |date=July 26, 1935 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Three Musketeers

| Bernajou

|

The Last Days of Pompeii

| Simon (Judean Peasant)

|

Rendezvous

| de Segroff

|

Fighting Youth

| Dean James Churchill

| Kinnell plays a college dean in this Red Scare gridiron tale.{{cite news |title=Football Film Due Thursday at the Capitol |work=Press and Sun-Bulletin |date=October 1935 |location=Binghamton, New York |page=17 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Kind Lady

| Doctor

|

The Great Impersonation

| Seaman

|

Captain Blood

| Court Clerk

| Uncredited

rowspan=9|1936

|The Witness Chair

| Defense Attorney Conrick

|

One Rainy Afternoon

| Theatre Manager

|

Mary of Scotland

| Judge

|

The Big Game

| Dean of Men

| Uncredited

15 Maiden Lane

| Fingers

| Uncredited

Make Way for a Lady

| Doctor Barnes

|

Lloyd's of London

| Rev. Nelson

| Kinnell plays the father of Lord Nelson in this historical picture.

Four Days' Wonder

| Morris

|

Winterset

| Prof. Dean Liggett

| Uncredited

rowspan=6|1937

|Outcast

| Anthony 'Tony' Stevens

| Kinnell plays the father of a local girl in love with the outcast physician.{{cite news |title=Double Bill At Hipp Is Topped By Outcast |work=The Buffalo News |date=April 19, 1937 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=6 |via = Newspapers.com}}

The Soldier and the Lady

| Peasant

| Uncredited

The Prince and the Pauper

| Hugo

| Kinnell was an excellent fencer, but his vagabond character is overmatched by Bobby Mauch's Prince Edward.{{cite news |last=Palmer |first=Rollin |title=Mauch Brothers At Great Lakes |work=The Buffalo News |date=May 10, 1937 |location=Buffalo, New York |page=12 |via = Newspapers.com}}

Captains Courageous

| Minister

| Uncredited

Parnell

| Sir Richard Webster

| Uncredited

Think Fast, Mr. Moto

| Joseph B. Wilkie

| A major part in a Grade B film was Kinnell's last film role.

Notes

{{reflist|group=fn}}

References

{{reflist}}