Reginald Gardiner

English-born Reginald Gardiner graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and, by the early 1930's, had become an established revue and musical star on the London stage. His first foray into films was in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) in 1926, but it was in Hollywood where his career really took off. At the prompting of Beatrice Lillie, he left for America in 1935. After appearing in two of her shows, he delighted Broadway audiences in "An Evening with Beatrice Lillie and Reginald Gardiner", performing a series of witty impersonations of various inanimate items, such as lighthouses and wallpaper.In 1936, he appeared in his first Hollywood film, Born to Dance (1936), with Eleanor Powell and James Stewart, as a traffic cop with symphonic delusions. His instant popularity resulted in other film offers, and Gardiner was soon in demand as butlers and "silly ass" upper-crust English twits. With his suave attire, thin moustache and obtuse mannerisms, he took to playing those caricatures with obvious glee. He enlivened many a film with his comic presence, notably A Damsel in Distress (1937), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)(his character "Beverly Carlton" brilliantly lampooning Noël Coward) - and Cluny Brown (1946). In later years, Gardiner was seen on television as co-star of The Pruitts of Southampton (1966), opposite Phyllis Diller. In 1964, he returned to the stage to play Alfred P. Doolittle, the role made famous by Stanley Holloway, in 'My Fair Lady' at the New York City Centre. John Canaday, reviewing for the New York Times, described his character as a "wonderful, boozy, abominable, bug-ridden and altogether reprehensible charmer, a kind of defrocked Boy Scout, whose love for everybody is exceeded only by his propensity for chicanery and self-indulgence".Reginald Gardiner was also celebrated for his classic monologue, simply called 'Trains', which so impressed King George VI that he summoned the actor to Buckingham Palace for a special performance. 'Trains' was recorded by Decca and has since become a collector's item. Show less «