Roland Young - Success As A Free-lance Performer

Success As A Free-lance Performer

Young began to work as a free-lance performer and found himself in constant demand. He appeared with Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin and Maurice Chevalier in One Hour With You (1932) and with Kay Francis in Street of Women (1932). Alexander Korda invited him to return to England to make his British film debut in Wedding Rehearsal (1932). He returned to Hollywood and appeared in a diverse group of films that included comedies, murder mysteries and dramas, and also worked on Broadway. Among his films of this period, were Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), playing Uriah Heep in David Copperfield (1935) and H.G. Wells' fantasy, The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936).

In 1937, he achieved one of the most important successes of his career, as the businessman Cosmo Topper, haunted by the ghosts of his clients played by Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. The film was one of the most successful films of the year, and for his comedy performance, Young received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination. His wife was played by Billie Burke who wrote in her memoir that Young "was dry and always fun to work with". They also appeared together in The Young in Heart (1938), and the first of the Topper sequels, Topper Takes a Trip (1939). He continued to play supporting roles in comedies such as Yes, My Darling Daughter, with Fay Bainter and Priscilla Lane, but over the next few years the importance of his roles again decreased, but he achieved another success as Katharine Hepburn's uncle in The Philadelphia Story (1940). His last starring role was in the final installment of the Topper series, Topper Returns in 1941, with Billie Burke and Joan Blondell.