Walter Connolly (April 8, 1887[1] – May 28, 1940) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 50 films from 1914 to 1939. His best known film is It Happened One Night (1934).
Early years
Born in Cincinnati to Walter Joseph Connolly and Ella Burke, Connolly attended St. Xavier College and the Cincinnati College of Music, and acted locally in amateur theatrical productions. Several years later, following his service with the U. S. Marines in World War I, rather than return directly to the U.S., Connolly elected to visit Ireland, where he enrolled in a number of non-theatre-related courses at the University of Dublin, reportedly with the intention of abandoning the profession altogether. However, numerous visits to the Abbey Theater evidently rekindled Connolly's acting bug,[1] and within four months of his return to the States,[2] Connolly was being praised for his work alongside Margaret Anglin and others in Paul Kester's adaptation of Henry Kistemaeckers' play, The Woman of Bronze.[3][4]
^ abc"WALTER CONNOLLY, ACTOR, 53, IS DEAD: Veteran of Stage and Screen Toured With Sothern and Marlowe in 1911-14 JOINED FILMS 8 YEARS AGO Played Role of Victor Herbert in Recent Picture--Planned Broadway Return in Fall Portrayed Many Types Went on Stage at 21 Appeared in 'Applesauce'". The New York Times. May 29, 1940. p. 29. ProQuest105463030. Mr. Connolly was born in Cincinnati on April 8, 1887, a son of Walter Joseph Connelly, a telegraph employe, and Ella Burke Connolly. He attended St. Xavier's College in Cincinnati and the Cincinnati College of Music, and later in life took courses at the University of Dublin. [...] After the war, he went to Dublin, where he studied with the intention of embracing some other calling than that of the actor. His efforts to leave the stage were frustrated when he made several visits to the Abbey Theater, visits which again aroused the call of the boards.
^"In Dramatic Studios". The Cincinnati Enquirer. September 7, 1919. Sec. IV, p. 5. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
^"Russian, Hungarian, Latin Roles All One To Walter Connolly: Actor Finds Irish Ancestry No Handicap in Parts That Are Obviously Non-Celtic Domineering in 'Grand Hotel'; Got Job as Curtain Boy; Studied at Dublin University". New York Herald Tribune. November 29, 1931. p. F2. ProQuest1114156636. This was 1917. Walter Connolly could not forget that Irish ancestry. He enlisted in the Marines and departed for France. Before he returned to this country, at the end of the war, he went into Ireland and studied at the University of Dublin, spending some time at the Abbey Theater. Back in New York again, Connolly then resumed his career in 'The Woman in Bronze,' with Margaret Anglin, playing the role of the lovable Paddy Griggs.
^Hammond, Percy (January 9, 1920). "The Theatre". Chicago Tribune. p. 13. ProQuest174608425. When Miss Anglin and the emotions are effectively in confluence, as they are in 'The Woman of Bronze,' you may expect to experience all the rapid and sympathetic heart-beats common to the theater. [...] 'The Woman of Bronze' is deliberate, premeditated, and according to order. Paul Kester, who adapted it from the collaboration of Henry Kistemaecker and Eugene Delard, deprives it of none of its routine possibilities, and it is by no means a botch. The acting is very good, and it includes that of Fred Eric as the sculptor, Walter Connolly as the honest friend, Miss Marion Barney as a merry widow, Sidney Mather as a semi-villain, and others.
