10 Things You May Not Know About Charles Coburn

Charles Coburn (1877 – 1961) was one of the most beloved character actors, during Hollywood’s Golden Age, appearing in some of the most beloved films of 1940s and 1950s. Coburn started his career as a “program boy” and worked his way up to manager of a theater in Savannah, Georgia by the age of 17.

1. Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia.

2. He made his Broadway debut in 1901.

3. In 1906 he married Ivah Wills and they had six children; she died in 1937.

4. Primarily a stage actor, Coburn didn’t make a film until he was in his mid-50s.

5. He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting actor in films starring Jean Arthur: The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and The More The Merrier (1943); he won for the latter.

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell cozy up to Charles Coburn during the filming of  Gentleman Prefer Blondes.

6. Mostly known for his comedy roles, Coburn played dramatic roles in film classics like In Name Only (1939), Kings Row (1942), and The Constant Nymph (1943).

7. Coburn was so well spoken—he and his first wife organized the Coburn Shakespeare Players—that many people thought he was British.

8. Contrary to conventions of the time, Coburn often received star billing alongside his younger costars.

9. Coburn received his third (and last) Academy Award nomination for the enormously popular The Green Years (1946); he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in spite of receiving top billing.

10. He played Barbara Stanwyck’s father in two films: The Lady Eve (1941) and B.F.’s Daughter (1948).

Charles Coburn multitasks: smoking and riding

Preston Sturges series: Screening of “The Lady Eve” May 24 at the Daystar Center

Preston Sturges series: The Lady Eve
Where: The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street, Chicago, IL
When: May 24, 2016
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Hosted by Stephen Reginald

Father and daughter con artists (Charles Coburn and Barbara Stanwyck) travel on transatlantic cruise ships swindling rich passengers in card games. When the two spot a big fish Charles Poncefort Pike (Henry Fonda), heir to Pike Ale—“The ale that won for Yale”—they decide to take him for all he’s worth. But when the daughter falls in love with their mark, things get complicated and hilarious. Preston Sturges directed his first big-budget hit with with amazing results. A critical and financial success, the New York Times declared The Lady Eve the best picture of 1941, above Citizen Kane! Once you see this film you’ll understand why they came to that amazing conclusion.

This was Preston Sturges’s third film as both writer and director and his first big-budget production, with A-list movie stars. After the critical and financial successes of The Great McGinty and Christmas in July, both released in 1940, Paramount gave Sturges free rein to craft The Lady Eve. For his leads, Sturges got Stanwyck and Fonda. From all accounts, both stars enjoyed working with each other and with Sturges. Sturges wrote The Lady Eve with Stanwyck in mind after he saw her performance in Remember the Night the year before. Sturges was so impressed with her characterization in that film that he knew she would be ideal as Eve.

Fonda, who had four films in release in 1940, including The Grapes of Wrath, was happy to star in a comedy. As Charles Pike, Fonda showed his lighter side, being especially deft at physical comedy. Fonda’s numerous pratfalls are one of the film’s major delights. Bosley Crowther in theNew York Times said, “No one could possibly have suspected the dry and somewhat ponderous comic talent which is exhibited by Henry Fonda as the rich young man.” As Eve, Stanwyck is one part of a trio of card sharks mixing it up with rich swells, like Pike, traveling by ocean liner. Along with her father, “Colonel” Harrington (Charles Coburn) and their “butler” Gerald (Melvin Cooper), Eve sees Pike as an easy mark.

A publicity shot during the filming of The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve is filled with a host of great character actors, most of which became part of the “Sturges Stock Company.” This stock company included William Demarest, Eric Blore, and Robert Grieg. The latter two appeared in Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, also released in 1941.

When the movie was opened, Crowther, declared Sturges, “the most refreshing new force to hit the American motion pictures in the past five years.” He went on to say that a “more charming or distinguished gem of nonsense has not occurred since It Happened One Night.”

The Lady Eve is not only one of the best screwball comedies, but one of the best American films ever made.

Henry Fonda said Barbara Stanwyck was his favorite leading lady.

Backstory: Preston Sturges wrote the screenplay for Remember the Night with Carole Lombard in mind. He was disappointed that Paramount didn't secure her services, but when he saw Stanwyck in the lead, he was impressed. Stanwyck told Sturges that no one writes comedies for her. Sturges said he would write one for her; that screenplay was The Lady Eve.

Have some Joe and Enjoy the Show!
Before the movie, grab a cup of coffee from Overflow Coffee Bar, located within the Daystar Center. You can bring food and beverages into the auditorium; we even have small tables set up next to some of the seats. General Admission: $5 Students and Senior Citizens: $3.

Join the Chicago Film club; join the discussion
Twice a month we screen classic films and have a brief discussion afterward. For more information, including how to join (it’s free), click here. The Venue 1550 is easily accessible by the CTA. Please visit Transit Chicago for more information on transportation options.

Stephen Reginald is a freelance writer and editor. He has worked at various positions within the publishing industry for over 25 years. Most recently he was executive editor for McGraw-Hill’s The Learning Group Division. A long-time amateur student of film, Reginald hosts “Chicago Film Club,” a monthly movie event held in the South Loop, for the past two years. Reginald has also taught several adult education film classes at Facets Film School, Chicago.


Daystar Center located at 1550 S. State St. works through a grassroots network of collaborations and partnerships with individuals and other nonprofit organizations. Through this web, they’re able to provide educational, cultural, and civic activities that enrich and empower their clients, guests, and community members. To learn more about classes and events offered at the Daystar Center, please visit their Web site.

Preston Sturges and "The Lady Eve"

This post is part of The Criterion Blogathon hosted by Aaron at Criterion Blues, Kristina at Speakeasy and Ruth at Silver Screenings. It is one of many by some of the best movie bloggers around. I’m so glad to be a small part of this event. To check out all of the other great posts, click here.

Preston Sturges was a playwright, writer of screenplays, inventor, movie director, and a restaurateur. The Lady Eve cemented Preston Sturges’s place as one of American cinema’s major talents.

Sturges wrote the play Strictly Dishonorable in 1929. It was a major hit on Broadway for 16 months. This success caught the attention of Hollywood and Sturges began writing for Paramount. He eventually went from Paramount to Universal, MGM, and then back to Paramount where he had an amazing eight-year run as one of the very first writer/directors in Hollywood.

 The Lady Eve (1941) centers around Father and daughter con artists, along with their “butler” (Charles Coburn, Barbara Stanwyck, and Melvin Cooper respectively) and their caper on a transatlantic cruise ship swindling rich passengers in card games. When the two spot a big fish, Charles Poncefort Pike (Henry Fonda), heir to Pike Ale—“The ale that won for Yale”—they decide to take him for all he’s worth. But when the daughter (Eve/Stanwyck) falls in love with their mark, things get complicated and hilarious.

This was Preston Sturges’s third film as both writer and director and his first big-budget production with A-list movie stars. After the critical and financial successes of The Great McGinty and Christmas in July, both released in 1940, Paramount gave Sturges free rein to craft The Lady Eve. For his leads, Sturges got Stanwyck and Fonda. From all accounts, both stars enjoyed working with each other and with Sturges. Sturges wrote The Lady Eve with Stanwyck in mind after he saw her performance in Remember the Night the year before. Sturges was so impressed with her characterization in that film that he knew she would be ideal as Eve. Fonda, who had four films in release in 1940, including The Grapes of Wrath, was happy to star in a comedy. As Charles Pike, Fonda showed his talent for physical comedy. Fonda’s numerous pratfalls are one of the film’s major delights. Bosley Crowther in the New York Times said, “No one could possibly have suspected the dry and somewhat ponderous comic talent which is exhibited by Henry Fonda as the rich young man.” As Eve, Stanwyck is one part of a trio of card sharks mixing it up with rich swells, like Pike, traveling by ocean liner. Along with her father, “Colonel” Harrington (Coburn) and their “butler” Gerald (Cooper), Eve sees Pike as an easy mark, that is, until she falls in love with him.

Eve’s and Charles’s love is put to the test when Eve is revealed to be a card shark by the ship’s purser. Upon discovering this, Charles dumps Eve in a most humiliating and devastating fashion. Once Eve recovers, she is determined to get back at Charles by “disguising” herself as The Lady Eve Sedgewick, pretending to be the niece of another con artist “Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith” (Eric Blore). The Lady Eve manages to charm Charles on land in the same way Eve charmed him at sea. She eventually gets Charles to propose and he and The Lady Eve get married in an elaborate society wedding. On their honeymoon, Eve concocts a backstory about her past marriages and romances, turning the tables on Charles, humiliating and hurting him the way he hurt her. Charles leaves her, but it’s revealed that Eve is still in love with Charles in spite of everything (We suspect that Charles is still in love with Eve, but he’s too stubborn and proud to admit it). Will The Lady Eve be revealed as just plain Eve? Will Charles and Eve discover each other and find true love and happiness?

Amidst all the hilarity, there are some serious themes running through the narrative: Can one really find true love? Is love redemptive or is it all a bunch of hooey? These themes would be repeated in more serious productions from Alfred Hitchcock. What was unique about Sturges’s approach is how he was able to point to the character flaws of both the upper and lower classes without malice or a mean spirit.

The Lady Eve is filled with a host of great character actors, most of which became part of the “Sturges Stock Company.” This stock company included William Demarest, Eric Blore, and Robert Grieg. The latter two appearing in Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, also released in 1941.

When the movie was released, Crowther, declared Sturges, “the most refreshing new force to hit the American motion pictures in the past five years.” He went on to say that a “more charming or distinguished gem of nonsense has not occurred since It Happened One Night.”

The Lady Eve is not only one of the best screwball comedies ever made, but one of the best American films ever made, this according to director and film historian, Peter Bogdanovitch. In case you think Bogdanovitch’s critique is a bit over the top, consider this: The Lady Eve was voted the best movie of 1941 by The New York Times over Citizen Kane!

“The Lady Eve” 5th film in Screwball Comedy series screened March 11, 2014

When: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 6:30 p.m.
Where: The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street

The Lady Eve (1941) Father and daughter con artists (Charles Coburn and Barbara Stanwyck) travel on transatlantic cruise ships swindling rich passengers in card games. When the two spot a big fish Charles Poncefort Pike (Henry Fonda), heir to Pike Ale—“The ale that won for Yale”—they decide to take him for all he’s worth. But when the daughter falls in love with their mark, things get complicated and hilarious. Preston Sturges directed his first big-budget hit with with amazing results. A critical and financial success, the New York Times declared The Lady Eve the best picture of 1941, above Citizen Kane! Once you see this film you’ll understand why they came to that amazing conclusion.

This was Preston Sturges’s third film as both writer and director and his first big-budget production, with A-list movie stars. After the critical and financial successes of The Great McGinty and Christmas in July, both released in 1940, Paramount gave Sturges free rein to craft The Lady Eve. For his leads, Sturges got Stanwyck and Fonda. From all accounts, both stars enjoyed working with each other and with Sturges. Sturges wrote The Lady Eve with Stanwyck in mind after he saw her performance in Remember the Night the year before. Sturges was so impressed with her characterization in that film that he knew she would be ideal as Eve.

Fonda, who had four films in release in 1940, including The Grapes of Wrath, was happy to star in a comedy. As Charles Pike, Fonda showed his lighter side, being especially deft at physical comedy. Fonda’s numerous pratfalls are one of the film’s major delights. Bosley Crowther in theNew York Times said, “No one could possibly have suspected the dry and somewhat ponderous comic talent which is exhibited by Henry Fonda as the rich young man.” As Eve, Stanwyck is one part of a trio of card sharks mixing it up with rich swells, like Pike, traveling by ocean liner. Along with her father, “Colonel” Harrington (Charles Coburn) and their “butler” Gerald (Melvin Cooper), Eve sees Pike as an easy mark.

A publicity shot during the filming of The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve is filled with a host of great character actors, most of which became part of the “Sturges Stock Company.” This stock company included William Demarest, Eric Blore, and Robert Grieg. The latter two appeared in Sturges’s Sullivan’s Travels, also released in 1941.

When the movie was opened, Crowther, declared Sturges, “the most refreshing new force to hit the American motion pictures in the past five years.” He went on to say that a “more charming or distinguished gem of nonsense has not occurred since It Happened One Night.”

The Lady Eve is not only one of the best screwball comedies, but one of the best American films ever made.

Henry Fonda said Barbara Stanwyck was his favorite leading lady.

Backstory: Preston Sturges wrote the screenplay for Remember the Night with Carole Lombard in mind. He was disappointed that Paramount didn't secure her services, but when he saw Stanwyck in the lead, he was impressed. Stanwyck told Sturges that no one writes comedies for her. Sturges said he would write one for her; that screenplay was The Lady Eve.

Join the Chicago Film club, join the discussion
The Chicago Film Club is for classic movie fans. Once a month we screen a classic film and have a brief discussion afterward. For more information, including how to join (it’s free), click here. Tickets are $5 general admission; $3 for students and seniors. To purchase your ticket in advance, click here. The Venue 1550 is easily accessible by the CTA. Please visit Transit Chicago for more information on transportation options.

Preston Sturges: Master of the Cockeyed Caravan, Part 3

A writer-director is born
As the story goes, Sturges sold the screenplay for The Great McGinty to Paramount for $10, under the condition that he would also be allowed to direct. Since this seemed like a fairly reasonable risk for the studio, they acquiesced.

The Great McGinty (1940) didn't have big stars to pack the movie palaces, but it did have good reviews from some of the top critics of the day. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther said this: "In the trade they call them 'sleepers'—these pictures which come drifting in without benefit of much advance publicity and which turn out delightful surprises." And a delightful surprise it was, and with its success, Sturges was on his way to the big leagues. At the 1941 Academy Awards, Sturges took home the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Without taking a breath, it seems, Paramount released another film in 1940 written and directed by Sturges,  Christmas in July. Again, the film had no big stars, and again, Crowther called the film "another of those one-man creations by Preston Sturges for Paramount, is just about as cunning and carefree a comedy as any one could possibly preordain . . . ." Crowther ended his review by saying,  "As a creator of rich and human comedy Mr. Sturges is closing fast on the heels of Frank Capra."

The lady is a champ
It wasn't too long for the folks at Paramount to realize that Sturges as a writer-director was turning into a goldmine. Armed with a big budget and top-flight movie stars, Sturges jumped into production of The Lady Eve (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, both turning in brilliant performances under his direction. Sturges was at his peak. At the end of 1941, The New York Times named The Lady Eve the best picture of the year, beating Citizen Kane!

Veronica Lake is on the Take
More hits followed in the financial success of The Lady Eve: Sullivan's Travels (1942), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) , and Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). In a span of roughly four years, Sturges wrote and directed seven classic films! If you count The Great Moment (1944), a film that Sturges fan Crowther praised, you can make it an even eight classics in four years. It appeared that Sturges could do nothing wrong.

The shooting star crashes to earth
Almost overnight it seemed, things started going south for Sturges. At the height of his fame, he left Paramount and formed California Pictures Corporation with Howard Hughes. Nothing much came from this venture and eventually Hughes shut things down, bought RKO, and left Sturges without a home studio or any projects on the horizon.

Phoenix rising at Fox?
It would be four years before Sturges would release another film. Darryl Zanuck, at Twentieth Century Fox, hired Sturges to write and direct Unfaithfully Yours (1948) starring Rex Harrison and Linda Darnell. The film, although popular in the eyes of some critics (yes, Crowther was still a fan), didn't fare as well with the public at large. The humor, gags, and amazingly complicated narrative were all there, but as Crowther noted, "... a shade of something fatal to a champion may be perceived in his new picture at the Roxy. That's a slip in his timing and his speed. Like a boxer who takes too long a lay-off, Mr. Sturges has slowed up a bit. And this is something which his public will be the first to note and deplore." And the public did take notice and Unfaithfully Yours didn't turn out to be the next great Sturges hit. Sturges had one more chance at Fox with The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend (1949) starring Betty Grable. But by then, the magic had completely rubbed off. The film was a disaster for Sturges and the studio. Sturges fan and supporter, Crowther ended his review of the film with this zinger: "Put out in Technicolor, The Beautiful Blonde looks good. But, to paraphrase the theme song, it looks pretty well shot in the end."

A lasting legacy
Although Sturges's film career basically ended with The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, his legacy lives on in the ground-breaking comedies he wrote and directed at Paramount. The body of work he produced in those four short years is a feat that has yet to be matched.

Preston Sturges was a man of uncommon intelligence and one of the most talented writer-directors to come out of Hollywood. He paved the for other writer-directors like Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Billy Wilder, and most importantly, he left us his wonderful films that still amaze, surprise, and delight us to this day.