A Pictorial Tribute to Ralph Bellamy on His 110th Birthday

Many people might remember Ralph Bellamy best as the guy that lost the girl to Cary Grant not once, but twice. He was Mr. Grant's romantic rival in both The Awful Truth (1937) and His Girl Friday (1940) and both times he loved and lost.  Despite this, Ralph Bellamy was a leading man in his own right, and I rather suspect that quite a few women who might well have chosen Mr. Bellamy instead of Mr. Grant. Ralph Bellamy's film career spanned nearly 60 years, with his first film being The Secret Six in 1931 and his final film being Pretty Woman in 1990. Ralph Bellamy was born on this day 110 years ago, on 17 June 1904, in Chicago, Illinois. Following is a pictorial tribute to an actor who was as comfortable in lead roles as he was supporting roles and even character parts.

A still from Ralph Bellamy's second film and his first as the male lead, The Magnificent Lie (1931). He's pictured with the female lead from the movie, Ruth Chatterton.

A still from John Ford's Air Mail (1932) on which Ralph Bellamy was the lead actor. Here he is with Gloria Stuart.

A rather uncomfortable scene from The Awful Truth with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne.

In the late Thirties and early Forties Ralph Bellamy played mystery writer/amateur sleuth Ellery Queen in a series of films. Here is a publicity still for Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery with Margaret Lindsay and Anna May Wong.

By the Forties Ralph Bellamy's film career had slowed, so he moved into television. He played private eye Mike Barnett on the TV show Man Against Crime from 1949 to 1954. This is a photo from 1953 with his co-star Gloria McGhee.

Ralph Bellamy appeared on television frequently from the Fifties to the Eighties, both as a guest star and the star of his own shows. He starred in such shows as The Eleventh Hour, The Survivors, and Hunter. Here is a publicity shot with George Maharis and Yvette Mimieux from the short lived show The Most Deadly Game.

Among the roles Ralph Bellamy played on television was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1983 mini-series The Winds of War.

A picture of Ralph Bellamy in his last role, James Morse in Pretty Woman, with Richard Gere.