Young, Roland

(1887-1953)

   London-born Roland Young acted in England before making his United States debut in 1912. Scoring his earliest successes in Broadway comedies, particularly two Clare Kummer plays, Good Gracious Annabelle (1916) and A Successful Calamity (1918), Young consolidated his stardom in the hit musical Buddies (1919). In 1920, Kummer, Young's mother-in-law, wrote the popular Rollo 's Wild Oat for him, as well as Her Master's Voice* (1933). He also appeared to acclaim as the bumbling composer Neil McRae in the expressionistic George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly comedy, Beggar on Horseback (1924), after which he became one of the best-loved comic character actors in motion pictures including David Copperfield (1935), Topper (1937), and The Philadelphia Story* (1940). He returned to Broadway occasionally, including for long runs in Frederick Lonsdale's The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1926) and Robert E. Sherwood's The Queen's Husband (1928), as well as lesser works like The Distant Shore (1935), A Touch of Brimstone (1935), Spring Thaw (1938), Ask My Friend Sandy (1943), and Another Love Story (1944).