
Robert Paige
Biography
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.
Acting (63 movies)

Son of Dracula
1943

Bye Bye Birdie
1963

Split Second
1953

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
1953

Blonde Ice
1948

The Flame
1947

Flying G-Men
1939

Can't Help Singing
1944

Hellzapoppin'
1941

San Antonio Rose
1941

Smart Blonde
1937

Get Hep to Love
1942

The Monster and the Girl
1941

The Marriage-Go-Round
1961

Jail House Blues
1942

Golden Gloves
1940

Shady Lady
1945

Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
1991

The Many Faces of Dracula
2000

Rhythm in the Clouds
1937

Who Killed Gail Preston?
1938

Cain and Mabel
1936

Mister Big
1943

Tangier
1946

Meet the Boy Friend
1937

Fired Wife
1943

Dancing on a Dime
1940

Women Without Names
1940

How's About It
1943

There's Always a Woman
1938

The Red Stallion
1947

I Stand Accused
1938

The Green Promise
1949

Rose Bowl
1936

Melody for Two
1937

Homicide Bureau
1939

Her Primitive Man
1944

First Love
1939

Parole Fixer
1940

The Lady Objects
1938

The Cherokee Strip
1937

Frontier Badmen
1943

Once a Doctor
1937

Emergency Squad
1940

What's Cookin'?
1942

When G-Men Step In
1938

Talent Scout
1937

The Last Warning
1938

Melody Lane
1941

Almost Married
1942

Hi'ya, Chum
1943

Hi, Buddy
1943

Pardon My Sarong
1942

Get Going
1943

Don't Get Personal
1942

Keep 'Em Slugging
1943

The Main Event
1938

You're Telling Me
1942

Cowboy in Manhattan
1943

Crazy House
1943

Opened by Mistake
1940

Death of a Champion
1939

It Happened to Jane
1959
| Title | Year | Job | 
|---|---|---|
| The Green Promise | 1949 | Producer |