RICHARD CROMWELL: Pre-Code Heartthrob

Artist Richard Cromwell was inexperienced and a complete unknown when cast over thousands of others to star in the talking remake of TOL’ABLE DAVID (1930)
Set in British India, foreign legionnaire Richard falls in love with his older brother’s fiancé (Rochelle Hudson) in STORM OVER BENGAL (1938)

Films of the Golden Age,
Issue Number 119,
Winter/Spring 2025

“I became a movie actor so quickly it made my head swim. I got a star part by merely wishing and going to the studio at the crucial moment.”

olumbia decided on an unknown to star in the pre-Code remake of the silent classic TOL’ABLE DAVID (1930) and it was the fresh-faced innocence of highly green actor RICHARD CROMWELL (1910-1960) who earned the recognition. The 20-year-old became an instant star and earned a solid “B” level place in films portraying naive lovers and military recruits. Perhaps best remembered for his careless legionnaire opposite Gary Cooper in THE LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER (1935), his career dissipated following his entrance into WWI, having also kept hidden a secret private life (briefly wed to actress Angela Lansbury). Richard returned to his original love – ceramic art – before dying of liver cancer at age 50.

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