Reginald Gardiner

About Reginald Gardiner

Who is it?: Actor, Soundtrack
Birth Day: February 27, 1903
Birth Place:  London, England, United Kingdom
Died On: 7 July 1980(1980-07-07) (aged 77)\nWestwood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Birth Sign: Pisces
Cause of death: Heart attack
Occupation: Actor
Years active: 1927–1968
Spouse(s): Wyn Richmond (?–?) (divorced) Nadia Petrova (1942–80) (his death)
Children: 1 child

Reginald Gardiner Net Worth

Reginald Gardiner was born on February 27, 1903 in  London, England, United Kingdom, is Actor, Soundtrack. English-born Reginald Gardiner, graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, became an established revue and musical star on the London stage in the 1930's. His first foray into the film business was in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927). However, it was in Hollywood where his career really took off. At the prompting of Beatrice Lillie he departed England for America in 1935. After appearing in two of her shows he delighted Broadway audiences in "An Evening with Beatrice Lillie and Reginald Gardiner", performing a series of clever impersonations of such inanimate items as lighthouses and wallpaper.In 1936, he appeared in his first Hollywood film, Born to Dance (1936) (starring Eleanor Powell and James Stewart), Gardiner playing a traffic cop with symphonic delusions. His instant popularity resulted in further film offers and he soon found himself in constant demand to impersonate butlers and "silly ass" upper-crust English twits. With his suave attire, thin moustache and obtuse mannerisms, he took to playing those caricatures with obvious glee. He enlivened many a film with his comic presence, most notably A Damsel in Distress (1937), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) (his character "Beverly Carlton" brilliantly lampooning Noël Coward) and Cluny Brown (1946). In later years, Gardiner became a regular on television as co-star of The Pruitts of Southampton (1966), and, in 1964, he returned to the stage to play Alfred P. Doolittle at the New York City Centre (the role made famous by Stanley Holloway in My Fair Lady) . John Canaday, reviewing for the New York Times, described his character as a "wonderful, boozy, abominable, bug-ridden and altogether reprehensible charmer, a kind of defrocked Boy Scout, whose love for everybody is exceeded only by his propensity for chicanery and self-indulgence". Gardiner was also celebrated for his classic monologue, simply called 'Trains'. It so impressed King George VI that he summoned the actor to Buckingham Palace for a special performance. 'Trains' was recorded by Decca and has since become a collector's item.
Reginald Gardiner is a member of Actor

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1926

Gardiner worked in almost 100 movies. He started film work in crowd scenes, making his big film break in 1926 in the silent film The Lodger, by Alfred Hitchcock.

1935

Gardiner started as a super on stage and eventually became well known on the West End stage. "He appeared in British revues, plays, and films before delighting Broadway audiences in 1935 with a wallpaper imitation act in At Home Abroad." His other Broadway credits include Little Glass Clock and An Evening with Beatrice Lillie.

1936

His Hollywood film debut came in 1936. During his career, he was cast in numerous roles, often as a British butler. One of his most famous roles was that of Schultz in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. He also performed memorable turns as Beverly Carlton (a parody of Noel Coward) in The Man Who Came to Dinner, the spurned "almost-husband" in The Doctor Takes a Wife and Christmas in Connecticut.

1950

He also recorded a curious and eccentric classic called "Trains" which was regularly played on a 1950s British radio programme called Children's Favourites. This record, consisted of a tipsy-sounding Gardiner reciting a monologue, which he first introduced in the 1935 Broadway revue At Home Abroad, about steam railway engines (which he claimed were 'livid beasts') and impersonating both the engines themselves and the sound of trains running on the track. This latter he famously characterised as 'diddly-dee, diddly-dum' to mimic the sound pattern as the four pairs of bogie wheels ran over joins between the lengths of track. (A sound no longer heard since welded rail joins were introduced.) "Trains" was released as a 78 and 45 by English Decca Records (F 5278) which remained on catalogue into the 1970s. At the end of the record, Gardiner signs off with "Well folks, that's all: back to the asylum." He was summoned to Buckingham Palace to give a performance in person.

1956

On 4 October 1956, Gardiner appeared with Greer Garson as the first two guest stars in the series premiere of NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. In 1956, he was the guest star on "The Millionaire" on the episode "The Story Of Waldo Francis Turner". He made other guest appearances on television sitcoms of the 1960s, including Fess Parker's ABC series, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Stanley Holloway's Our Man Higgins. He also appeared in the 1964 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Ugly Duckling," as Business owner Albert Charity, and in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Banquo's Chair"). His last major role was alongside Phyllis Diller in her 1966-1967 ABC series, The Pruitts of Southampton. Also in 1967 he made a guest appearance on Petticoat Junction, in the episode "Uncle Joe and the Master Plan", as Gaylord Martindale.

1980

Gardiner died of a heart attack at his home in Westwood, California, on 7 July 1980. He was survived by his wife.