Edmund Lowe
Edmund Sherbourne Lowe was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film.
Biography
Lowe's childhood home was at 314 North 1st Street, San Jose. He attended Santa Clara College and entertained the idea of becoming a priest before starting his acting career. His classmate was William Gaxton.
He died in Woodland Hills, California, of lung cancer and is buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California.
Quirt and Flagg
Lowe's career included over 100 films, beginning in 1915. He became established as a popular leading man in silent films. He is best remembered for his role as Sergeant Harry Quirt, smart-mouthed buddy of the equally abrasive Captain Jimmy Flagg in the 1926 silent feature What Price Glory? directed by Raoul Walsh.
The popularity of Quirt and Flagg virtually guaranteed Edmund Lowe's success in the new talking pictures: audiences could hardly wait to hear the salty Quirt and Flagg insulting each other in spoken dialogue. During the sound era, a musical comedy remake and two sequels were produced, all starring Lowe and McLaglen, with the first two also directed by Raoul Walsh. Lowe reprised his role from the movies in the radio program Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt, broadcast on the Blue Network September 28, 1941 - January 25, 1942, and on NBC February 13, 1942 - April 3, 1942.
Lowe worked steadily as a leading man throughout the 1930s, freelancing at various Hollywood studios. He portrayed the young doctor trying to get out of an affair with Wallace Beery's character's wife, played by Jean Harlow, in Dinner at Eight.
Later career
A look at Edmund Lowe's screen resumé would indicate that he descended to "Poverty Row" productions in 1942 and his career never recovered. In fact, Lowe's career was stalling as early as 1938, when the actor was too mature to play most romantic leads. His last such role was in 1937's Every Day's a Holiday, in which the 48-year-old Lowe played opposite the 44-year-old Mae West. Lowe shifted gears and began playing strong supporting roles in major films and leads in minor films.
Lowe's friend William K. Howard, a top director of the 1920s, was attempting a comeback at the low-budget Monogram Pictures in 1942. As a favor to Howard, Lowe took the leading role in Klondike Fury. Lowe's loyal gesture took a toll on his professional standing: the small, independent Monogram studio was firmly in Hollywood's minor league. As actor Bill Kennedy told author Scott MacGillivray, "If you were an actor on the way up, like Robert Mitchum or Alan Ladd, working at Monogram was okay -- no stigma. But -- if you were already a star at a big studio like Fox or Paramount and then went to Monogram, a la Edmund Lowe, it was the kiss of death."
Lowe's work in Klondike Fury won him an invitation from Columbia Pictures to star in three comedy-mysteries. Lowe also kept working at Monogram, notably in the 1945 crime thriller Dillinger, a surprise hit. Lowe's last starring movie role was in Monogram's The Strange Mr. Gregory.
In 1951-52 Lowe starred in 38 episodes of the television show Front Page Detective and appeared as the elderly lead villain in the first episode of Maverick opposite James Garner in 1957. Lowe appeared occasionally in major motion pictures through 1960.
Marriages
After his first marriage to Esther Miller ended in early 1925. Lowe met Lilyan Tashman while filming Ports of Call. Lowe and Tashman were married on September 21, 1925, before the release of the film. The two had homes, in Beverly Hills and Malibu, California. They were married until Tashman's death from cancer at age 37 in 1934.
Seventy years after Tashman's death, author E.J. Fleming claimed Lowe was a homosexual and Tashman was a lesbian. If the claims were true, fan magazine writers and newspaper columnists made no mention of them during Tashman's lifetime or for 70 years after her death.
Lowe's third wife was costume designer Rita Kaufman, married from 1936 to 1950.
Filmography
The Wild Olive as Charles ConquestThe Spreading Dawn as Captain Lewis NugentVive la France! as Jean PicardSomeone Must Pay as Jim Burke Eyes of Youth as Peter JudsonThe Woman Gives as Robert MiltonA Woman's Business as Johnny ListerSomeone in the House as Jim BurkeMadonnas and Men as Gordon TurnerThe Devil as Paul de VeauxMy Lady's Latchkey as Nelson SmithLiving Lies as Dixon GrantPeacock Alley as Phil GarrisonThe Silent Command as Capt. Richard DecaturIn the Palace of the King as Don JohnWife in Name Only as Norman ArleighThe White Flower as Bob RutherfordNellie, the Beautiful Cloak Model as Jack CarrollHonor Among Men as Prince KaloneyBarbara Frietchie as Captain William TrumbullThe Brass Bowl as Dan MaitlandEast of Suez as George TevisGreater Than a Crown as Tom Conway Marriage in Transit as Cyril GordonThe Winding Stair as PaulThe Kiss Barrier as Richard MarchChampion of Lost Causes as LoringPorts of Call as Kirk RainsfordEast Lynne as Archibald CarlyleThe Fool as Daniel GilchristSoul Mates as Lord TancredWhat Price Glory? as 1st Sergeant QuirtSiberia as Leonid PetroffThe Palace of Pleasure as Ricardo MadonsBlack Paradise as GrahamThe Wizard as Stanley GordonPublicity Madness as Pete ClarkIs Zat So? as Hap HarleyOne Increasing Purpose as Sim ParisDressed to Kill as 'Mile-Away Barry'Outcast as GeoffreyHappiness Ahead as Babe Stewart In Old Arizona as Sgt. Mickey DunnThis Thing Called Love as Robert CollingsThe Cock-Eyed World as Sgt. Harry QuirtThe Painted Angel as BroodThru Different Eyes as Harvey ManningMaking the Grade as Herbert Littell DodsworthHappy Days as Show PerformerGood Intentions as David CressonThe Bad One as Jerry FlanaganBorn Reckless as Louis BerrettiPart Time Wife as Jim MurdockScotland Yard as Dakin BarrollesTransatlantic as Monty GreerDon't Bet on Women as Roger Fallon The Spider as ChatrandThe Cisco Kid as Sgt. Michael Patrick "Mickey" DunnWomen of All Nations as Sergeant Harry QuirtMen on Call as Chuck LongThe Devil Is Driving as Orville "Gabby" DentonMisleading Lady as Jack CraigenChandu the Magician as ChanduAttorney for the Defense as William J. BurtonGuilty as Hell as Russell KirkDinner at Eight as Dr. Wayne TalbotLet's Fall in Love as Ken LaneI Love That Man as Brains StanleyHot Pepper as Harry QuirtHer Bodyguard as Casey McCarthyGift of Gab as Philip GabneyBombay Mail as Inspector DykeNo More Women as Three TimeThe Great Impersonation as Sir Everend DomineyBlack Sheep as John Francis DuganThe Great Hotel Murder as Roger BlackwoodThe Best Man Wins as TobyKing Solomon of Broadway as King SolomonThunder in the Night as Captain Karl TorokGrand Exit as Tom FletcherUnder Pressure as Shocker DuganMister Dynamite as "Dynamite" T.N. ThompsonSeven Sinners as HarwoodMad Holiday as Philip TrentThe Garden Murder Case as Philo VanceThe Girl on the Front Page as "Hank" GilmanThe Squeaker as Barrabal Espionage as KennethEvery Day's a Holiday as Capt. Jim McCareyMurder on Diamond Row as BarrabalUnder Cover of Night as Christopher CrossNewsboys' Home as Perry WarnerSecrets of a Nurse as John DodgeThe Witness Vanishes as Mark PetersOur Neighbors – The Carters as Bill HastingsWolf of New York as Chris FaulknerHoneymoon Deferred as Adam FarradeneThe Crooked Road as Danny Driscoll / John Vincent / George AtwaterI Love You Again as Duke SheldonMen Against the Sky as Dan McLeanDouble Date as Roger BaldwinFlying Cadets as Captain Rockcliffe 'Lucky Rocky' AmesCall Out the Marines as Harry CurtisKlondike Fury as Dr. John MandreMurder in Times Square as Cory WilliamsDangerous Blondes as Ralph McCormickThe Girl in the Case as William WarnerOh, What a Night as RandDillinger as Specs GreenThe Enchanted Forest as Steven BlaineThe Strange Mr. Gregory as Mr. Gregory / Lane TalbotGood Sam as H.C. BordenIntruder in the Dust as Gowrie twinAround the World in 80 Days as the engineer of the SS HenriettaWings of Eagles as Admiral MoffettThe Last Hurrah as Johnny Byrne Plunderers of Painted Flats as Ned EastHeller in Pink Tights as Manfred 'Doc' Montague