Robert Arden

Robert Arden

  • Birthday: 1922-12-11
  • Deathday: 2004-03-25
  • Place of birth: London, England, UK
  • Also know as: Bob Arden

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Arden (11 December 1922 – 25 March 2004) was an American film, television and radio actor born in London who worked and lived mostly in the United Kingdom. Arden was born from an American father and an English mother. His father had a successful career as a professional boxer after World War I. He attended "a combination of English and American schools." Arden's most famous film appearance was as lead character Guy Van Stratten in Mr. Arkadin (1955), written and directed by Orson Welles. Welles had worked with Arden on the Harry Lime radio series, produced in London, and later cast the little-known actor in Mr. Arkadin, in the central role of the investigator who uncovers Arkadin's past. Reportedly, Arden was shocked that Welles might consider him for the part and initially thought that the director's phone inquiry was a crank call. Arden's performance in Mr. Arkadin was panned by some critics : The New York Times called it "hopelessly inadequate". Film historian Jonathan Rosenbaum has defended Arden's performance, locating the problem not in the actor's work but in "the unsavoriness and obnoxiousness of the character", who was intended by Welles to be unattractive even though he occupied in the film "the space normally reserved for charismatic heroes". The credits of one the film's Spanish versions misspelled Arden's name as "Bob Harden". Another Spanish print actually credited him as "Mark Sharpe". Mr. Arkadin did poorly at the box-office. Afterwards, Arden played a few other lead roles, in films such as The Depraved (1957) or The Child and the Killer (1959), but he worked mostly as a character actor, appearing in film, television and stage productions. he worked mostly as a character actor, appearing in film, television and stage productions.

Filmography

The Depraved

1957

As Dave Dillon

Among Wolves

1985

As Général Lee W. Simon

Soho Incident

1956

As Buddy

Death Drums Along the River

1963

As Jim Hunter

Bermuda Affair

1956

As Bill

The Final Conflict

1981

As American Ambassador

Condorman

1981

As CIA Chief

The Counterfeit Plan

1957

As Bob Fenton

Two Thousand Women

1944

As Dave Kennedy

Churchill and the Generals

1979

As Harry Hopkins

The Hills of Donegal

1947

As Daniel

Mr. Arkadin

1955

As Guy Van Stratten

A King in New York

1957

As Liftboy

The Pistol

1965

As Captain Danzinger

A Matter of Life and Death

1946

As GI Playing Snout (uncredited)

The Man from Morocco

1945

As American Sergeant

Ragtime

1981

As Foreman of the Jury

Production

A Hatful of Rain

1968

As Associate Producer

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