George Bancroft

George Bancroft — American film actor whose pre-Code tough-guy leads and later supporting work helped define Hollywood grit before the Production Code softened the edges — died in Santa Monica, California, on October 2, 1956. He was seventy-four. Born September 30, 1882, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy before finding the screen, then starred for Josef von Sternberg in films culminating in Thunderbolt (1929), which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He later supported classics including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and John Ford's Stagecoach, proving a hard face could still serve an ensemble. After retiring from films in the early 1940s he lived in Southern California and died in Santa Monica; he was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery there. Philadelphia gave him ballast; Hollywood gave him the close-up. He acted as if toughness needed a pulse. He died in Santa Monica on October 2, 1956. Somewhere a nitrate print is still catching the glare off a badge. Bancroft's gift was workable menace — making authority look human. Notice Nearby keeps the death date so October 2 remembers the Philadelphia actor who toughened early sound cinema.