Colin Kenny

• Birth name:

  Oswald Joseph Collins

• Date of Birth:

  2 December 1888 Dublin, Ireland

Already accomplished in his homeland, Irish actor Colin Kenny came to the US in 1917 to make his bid in films. To his memory there would be over 150 of them. The silent movies were more generous in ladling out cast credit. He had steady roles from 1918 to the later 1920s. One of his best opportunities had been as Cecil Greystoke, in Tarzan of the Apes (1918) and its sequel The Romance of Tarzan (1918). Sound and the 1930s arrived with a stingy attitude about tallying credit by the most efficient means-to... more

Already accomplished in his homeland, Irish actor Colin Kenny came to the US in 1917 to make his bid in films. To his memory there would be over 150 of them. The silent movies were more generous in ladling out cast credit. He had steady roles from 1918 to the later 1920s. One of his best opportunities had been as Cecil Greystoke, in Tarzan of the Apes (1918) and its sequel The Romance of Tarzan (1918). Sound and the 1930s arrived with a stingy attitude about tallying credit by the most efficient means-to as few actors as possible. But that was the lot of many a character actor of the time, as well as some production people. Kenny found the parts most varied just the same. He was the Talking Clock in Alice in Wonderland (1933). His opening line (of only a few) "Ahh, guilty!" in a distinctively clipped noble attitude as Lord Chester Dyke in Captain Blood (1935) during the courtroom scene in England sets him apart.But such small parts of all sorts would be his sole acting fare, for he was already in his late 40s. Yet his movie roles would average five or six each year from 1934 to 1947, and the list would include many a major film. The year 1952 would be his busiest and include The Quiet Man and Limelight. The bit parts slowed and included simple extra work thereafter. Yet Colin Kenny kept working. He joined a whole crowd of fellow elder British expatriates for a choice bit part in My Fair Lady (1964). His last movie was the 'Steve McQueen' vehicle The Cincinnati Kid (1965).