A Double Life (1947)
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71% of critics liked it
(7 reviews) -
61% of users liked it
(1,492 ratings)
Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens… More Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens to sabotage his career. Nonetheless, Anthony makes his peace with Brita, and the two actors star in a new Broadway staging of Othello. The play is a hit, running over 300 performances, but the pressures of portraying a man moved to murder by jealousy takes its toll on Anthony. In a fit of delirium, he strangles his casual mistress, Pat (Shelley Winters), but retains no memory of the awful crime. Press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien), unaware that Anthony is the killer, uses Pat's murder as publicity for Othello. Anthony becomes enraged at this cheap ploy, and attacks Friend. At this point, Anthony realizes that he has been living "a double life" and is in fact Pat's murderer. A Double Life was written for the screen by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, who occasionally digress from the melodramatic plotline to include a few backstage inside jokes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- George Cukor
- Written By
- Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Classics
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1947 Wide
- Studio
- Universal Studios Home Video
Critic Reviews
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It was the role of a lifetime, for any actor, but Colman got it, and he nailed it. He won an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and he deserved them.
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Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine
A Double Life can be best summed up by paraphrasing Charles Laughton: "Real actors give you an oil painting, but method actors give you a photograph...of MURDER."
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Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena
Colman faz um belo trabalho como o perturbado ator que falha em separar realidade da ficção, mas Cukor e seus roteiristas se perde nos aspectos da produção que devem ao noir, tornando-a frágil e artificial.
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Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
Subtle, well-directed drama.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ronald Colman won a Best Actor Oscar for his ornate and hammy performance as an obsessed matinee-idol stage actor cracking up before our eyes.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
Featured Audience Ratings
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Cast
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Whit Bissell
as Dr. Stauffer
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Ronald Colman
as Anthony John
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Betsy Blair
as Girl in Wig Shop
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Signe Hasso
as Brita
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David Bond
as ["othello" Sequence]
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Edmond O'Brien
as Bill Friend
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Shelley Winters
as Pat Kroll
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Harlan Briggs
as Oscar Bemard
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Ray Collins
as Victor Donlan
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Georgia Caine
as [A Gentleman's Gentleman Sequence]
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Claire Carleton
as Waitress
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Philip Loeb
as Max Lasker
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John Drew Colt
as Stage Manager
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Leslie Denison
as ["othello" Sequence]
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Elizabeth Dunne
as Gladys
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Alan Edmiston
as Rex
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Arthur E. Gould-Porter
as David Bond ["othello" Sequence]
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Wilton Graff
as Dr. Mervin
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Boyd Irwin
as Virginia Patton ["othello" Sequence]
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Fay Kanin
as Guy Bates Post ["othello" Sequence]
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Charles La Torre
as Stellini
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Millard Mitchell
as Al Cooley
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Virginia Patton
as ["othello" Sequence]
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Guy Bates Post
as ["othello" Sequence]
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Elliott Reid
as [A Gentleman's Gentleman Sequence]
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Thayer Roberts
as ["othello" Sequence]
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Joe Sawyer
as Pete Bonner
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Art Smith
as Wigmaker
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Peter Thompson
as Assistant Stage Manager
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Sid Tomack
as Wigmaker
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Percival Vivian
as Thayer Roberts/Georgia Caine ["othello" ...
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Janet Warren
as Girl in Wigshop
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Marjorie Woodworth
as Girls in Wig Shop
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Frederic Worlock
as Leslie Denison ["othello" sequence]
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Mary Young
as Elliott Teid [A Gentleman's Gentleman Se...
- William Norton Bailey
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Joe Bernard
as Husband
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Laura Brooks
as Dowager
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Angela Clarke
as Lucy
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Curt Conway
as Reporter
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Russ Conway
as Reporter
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Nick Dennis
as Stagehand
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Joann Dolan
as Ellen
- George Douglas
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Fernanda Eliscu
as Landlady
- Beatrice Gray
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Ethel May Halls
as Woman
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Fred Hoose
as Laughing Man
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Charles Jordan
as Bartender
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Robert Emmett Keane
as 2nd Photographer
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Hazel Keener
as Woman
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Elmo Lincoln
as Detective
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Barry Macollum
as Stagehand
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Joyce Mathews
as Janet
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Walter McGrail
as Steve
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Carl Milletaire
as Customer
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Howard Mitchell
as Tailor
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Harry Hays Morgan Jr.
as Guest
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Albert Pollet
as Costume Designer
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Joey Ray
as Boyer
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Buddy Roosevelt
as Fingerprint Man
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Sarah Selby
as Anna
- Jamesson Shade
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George Sherwood
as Guest
- Mike Stokey
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Mary Worth
as Woman in Audience
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Paddy Chayefsky
as Photographer [uncredited]
- Leander De Cordova
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John Derek
as Police Stenographer
- John Chapin Morgan
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Harry Bannister
as 2nd Actor
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Watson Downs
as Bootmaker
- Diane Stewart
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Reginald Billado
as Reporter
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Kevin Alexander Clark
as Barry
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Maude Fealy
as Woman
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Nina Gilbert
as Woman
- Doretta Johnson
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Kay Lavelle
as Large Woman
- Katherine Marlowe
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Don McGill
as Man at Party
- Bruce Riley
- Elektra Rozanska
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Pete Sosso
as Tailor
- Cedric Stevens
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Wayne Treadway
as Men at Party
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Frank Richards
as Stagehand
