Robert Paige

Known for ActingBorn 1911-12-02Died 1987-12-21Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Robert Paige (born John Arthur Page December 2, 1911 in Indianapolis, Indiana, died Dec 21,1987) was a TV star and Universal Pictures leading man who made 65 films in his lifetime and was the only actor ever allowed to sing on film with Deanna Durbin (in 1944's Can't Help Singing). He was a graduate of West Point and was related to Admiral David Beatty, hero of the World War I Battle of Jutland. Paige began his screen career in 1934. His handsome features and assured speaking voice earned him prominent roles in motion pictures, such as Cain and Mabel with Clark Gable and Marion Davies. In 1936, to avoid confusion with another rising leading man, John Payne, Paige briefly adopted the screen name "David Carlyle." He worked primarily for Warner Brothers and Republic Pictures during this period. In 1938 he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, which changed his screen name to Robert Paige. Columbia cast him in "B" features and starred him in one serial, Flying G-Men. When the Columbia contract lapsed, Paige moved to Paramount Pictures and finally found a home in 1941 at Universal Pictures. Robert Paige quickly became one of Universal's reliable stars, playing romantic leads. He is prominent in many of Universal's comedies and musicals, including those of Abbott and Costello, Olsen and Johnson, Gloria Jean, and Hugh Herbert. He had a good singing voice and a flair for comedy, and the studio capitalized on these talents. Beginning in 1943 Universal gave Paige important roles in its biggest productions, but by then he was so established as a B-picture lead that he never quite graduated to mega-stardom. Paige, along with other contract players, left Universal after a corporate shakeup in 1946. He became an independent film producer in 1947 and entered the new field of television. He was the last permanent host of NBC's variety series The Colgate Comedy Hour, and won an Emmy in 1955 for "Best Male Personality" (a category that no longer exists). In the 1960s he became a TV newscaster in Los Angeles. Paige continued to work in occasional films through 1963; his last two films were The Marriage-Go-Round (1961) and Bye Bye Birdie (1963). From 1966 to 1970 Paige was a newscaster and political correspondent for ABC News in Los Angeles. He left the news desk to become Deputy Supervisor of Los Angeles under Baxter Ward, and then moved into the public relations field. He retired in the late 1970s. Robert Paige died suddenly of an aortic aneurysm in 1987.Read more

Movies & web series

Dracula in the Movies

The Red Stallion

What We Are Fighting For

You're Telling Me

Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook

Melody Lane

Jail House Blues

I Stand Accused

Highway Patrol

The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse

The Last Warning

Flying G-Men

The Main Event

Hi, Buddy

First Love

Her Primitive Man

Rhythm in the Clouds

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

Hellzapoppin'

Frontier Badmen

Get Going

Cowboy in Manhattan

Get Hep to Love

What's Cookin'?

Almost Married

San Antonio Rose

Emergency Squad

Opened by Mistake

The Colgate Comedy Hour

Death of a Champion

When G-Men Step In

Melody for Two

Rose Bowl

Four Star Playhouse

Lux Video Theatre

Homicide Bureau

Talent Scout

The Barbara Stanwyck Show

Tangier

Hi'ya, Chum

Pardon My Sarong

The Green Promise

Who Killed Gail Preston?

The Cherokee Strip

Once a Doctor

Split Second

Smart Blonde

It Happened to Jane