William Stack
{{short description|American actor (1882-1949)}}
{{about||the British boxer|William Stack (boxer)|the Irish Anglican priest|William Stack (priest)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = William Stack
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1882|3|5}}
| birth_place = Baker, Oregon, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1949|1|15|1882|3|5}}
| death_place = Pasadena, California, U.S.
| birthname =
| occupation = Actor
| spouse =
| yearsactive = 1918–1945
}}
William Stack (March 5, 1882 – January 15, 1949) was an American actor who began his acting career in Great Britain. Over the course of his career he appeared in over 50 films in the United States and United Kingdom, including such notable films as Mary of Scotland, Captains Courageous, and Gone with the Wind.
Life and career
Stack was born on March 5, 1882, in Baker, Oregon. He began his acting career on the stage in England, before entering the film industry with a starring role in the 1918 British silent film, The Girl from Downing Street.{{cite web | url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b71ec6c70 | publisher=British Film Institute | title=The Girl From Downing Street (1918) | accessdate=January 9, 2016 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129040141/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b71ec6c70 | url-status=dead | archivedate=January 29, 2016}} He also starred in the 1922 British film, The Scourge, which also stars Madge Stuart and J.R. Tozer.{{cite web | url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b5403e0 | publisher=British Film Institute | title=The Scourge (1922) | accessdate=January 9, 2016 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129035409/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b5403e0 | url-status=dead | archivedate=January 29, 2016}}
In 1930, Stack returned to the U.S., making his American film debut with a featured role in the melodrama, Sarah and Son, starring Ruth Chatterton and Fredric March.{{cite news | newspaper=Motion Picture News | title=Opinions on Pictures: Sarah and Son| date=March 22, 1930 | page=54 | url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpic41moti#page/n1117/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 9, 2016}}{{Open access}} He followed this with an appearance as Travis in Derelict, directed by Rowland V. Lee, and starring George Bancroft, Jessie Royce Landis, and William "Stage" Boyd.{{cite news | newspaper=Motion Picture News | title=Opinions on Pictures: The Derelict | date=October 18, 1930 | page=61| url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturenew42moti#page/n303/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 9, 2016}}{{Open access}} He finished the year in the small role of Dr. Fowler in The Right to Love, starring Ruth Chatterton and Paul Lukas.{{cite news | newspaper=Motion Picture News | title=Opinions on Pictures: The Right to Love | date=December 6, 1930 | page=118 | url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturenew42moti#page/118/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 9, 2016}}{{Open access}} In 1931 he only appeared in a single film, the legal drama A Free Soul, in a small role. The film stars Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, Lionel Barrymore, and Clark Gable.{{cite news | newspaper=Motion Picture Herald | title=Passing in Review: A Free Soul | date=April 25, 1931 | page=36 | url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpictureher103unse#page/n489/mode/2up | accessdate=January 9, 2016}}{{Open access}} 1932 would see him in another small role, that of a doctor in Payment Deferred, starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Sullivan.{{cite news | newspaper=Photoplay | title=Casts of Current Photoplays | date=December 1932 | page=130 | url=https://archive.org/stream/photo43chic#page/n781/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 9, 2016}}{{Open access}} In Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933), starring Warner Oland in the title role, Stack had the minor part of Jack Eagan.{{cite news | newspaper=The Film Daily | title="Charlie Chan's Greatest Case" | date=October 7, 1933 | page=4 | url=https://archive.org/stream/filmdaily64wids#page/n61/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 12, 2016}}{{Open access}} Small roles followed in the 1934 films The Fountain, starring Ann Harding, Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy, Wonder Bar, starring Al Jolson, and Chained, starring Gable and Joan Crawford. Before he appeared in the substantial role as Warner Baxter's captain in the war drama, Hell in the Heavens.{{cite news | newspaper=The Film Daily | title=Reviews: Warner Baxter in "Hell in the Heavens" | date=December 12, 1934 | page=4 | url=https://archive.org/stream/filmdailyvolume666newy#page/1190/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 13, 2016}}{{Open access}} In 1935 he again had several small roles in such films as Rendezvous, where he played a waiter, as a director in The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, and as Sir Phillip in The Perfect Gentleman. Stack also played the Judge Advocate, another small role, in the classic 1935 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=7072 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Mutiny on the Bounty | accessdate=January 13, 2016 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210163453/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=7072 | url-status=live | archivedate=December 10, 2015}} That year he also had prominent roles in several films. He played a mysterious professor, Henri Fresnel, the father of Wendy Barrie, in the murder mystery, College Scandal.{{cite news | newspaper=Motion Picture Daily | title=Motion Picture Daily's Hollywood Preview: "College Scandal" | date=May 31, 1935 | page=3 | url=https://archive.org/stream/motionpicturedai37unse_0#page/n527/mode/2up/search/%22William+Stack%22 | accessdate=January 13, 2016}}{{Open access}} Stack also had a leading role in the historical drama, Becky Sharp, which was notable because it was the first film shot entirely in the new three-strip Technicolor process.{{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=3647 | publisher=American Film Institute | title=Becky Sharp | accessdate=January 13, 2016 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922091414/http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=3647 | url-status=live | archivedate=September 22, 2015}}
Stack's final screen performance was as the Butler in the 1945 spy film, Confidential Agent, starring Charles Boyer and Lauren Bacall.
Stack died on January 15, 1949, at the age of 66, in Pasadena, California.
Filmography
(Per AFI database){{cite web | url=http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.aspx?s=&retailCheck=&Type=PN&CatID=DATABIN_CAST&ID=156452&AN_ID=&searchedFor=William_Stack_ | publisher=American Film Institute | title=William Stack | accessdate=January 12, 2016}}
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- Derelict (1930) as Party Guest Gossiper (uncredited)
- The Right to Love (1930) as Dr. Fowler
- Sarah and Son (1930) as Cyril Belloc
- A Free Soul (1931) as Dick Roland (uncredited)
- Payment Deferred (1932) as A Doctor
- Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933) as James Eagan
- The Fountain (1934) as Commandant
- Manhattan Melodrama (1934) as Judge (uncredited)
- Hell in the Heavens (1934) as Capt. Andre De Laage
- Wonder Bar (1934) as Businessman (uncredited)
- Tarzan and His Mate (1934) as Tom Pierce (uncredited)
- Chained (1934) as James, Richard's Butler (uncredited)
- The Mystery of Mr. X (1934) as Travers Gordon (uncredited)
- What Every Woman Knows (1934) as Tenterden - Sybil's Brother (uncredited)
- I've Been Around (1935) as Doctor
- The Winning Ticket (1935) as Jeffries (uncredited)
- Rendezvous (1935) as Headwaiter (uncredited)
- Becky Sharp (1935) as Pitt Crawley
- College Scandal (1935) as Dr. Henri Fresnel
- The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935) as Director (uncredited)
- The Perfect Gentleman (1935) as Sir Percy Phillips (uncredited)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) as Judge Advocate (uncredited)
- Dressed to Thrill (1935) as Canadian Colonel (uncredited)
- Magnificent Obsession (1935) as Doctor (uncredited)
- The Last of the Mohicans (1936) as General Montcalm
- Mary of Scotland (1936) as Ruthven
- Stowaway (1936) as Alfred Kruikshank
- Pennies From Heaven (1936) as Clarence B. Carmichael
- Rose-Marie (1936) as Gordon (uncredited)
- The Gorgeous Hussy (1936)
- His Brother's Wife (1936) as Winters
- Souls at Sea (1937) as Judge (uncredited)
- Captains Courageous (1937) as Elliott (uncredited)
- Criminal Lawyer (1937) as District Attorney Hopkins
- Parnell (1937) as Conservative Member (uncredited)
- The Soldier and the Lady (1937) as Grand Duke
- The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) as Czar (voice, uncredited)
- Personal Property (1937) as Bobby at Crystal's House (uncredited)
- A Christmas Carol (1938) as Man Discussing Scrooge's Funeral (uncredited)
- Four Men and a Prayer (1938) as Prosecuting Pttorney
- Man-Proof (1938) as Minister
- Booloo (1938) as Col. Stanley Jaye
- Of Human Hearts (1938) as Uniform Salesman (uncredited)
- The Shopworn Angel (1938) as Minister (uncredited)
- The Lady in Question (1940) as Mr. Marinier (uncredited)
- The Earl of Chicago (1940) as Coroner (uncredited)
- Victory (1940)
- Among the Living (1941) as Minister
- So Ends Our Night (1941) as Professor Meyer
- Confidential Agent (1945) as The Butler (uncredited)
- The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) as Mr. Erskine (uncredited)
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References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0821054}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stack, William}}
Category:American male film actors