--- name: "Patric Knowles" canonical: "https://film.one/person/patric-knowles" roles: ["Actor"] born: "11 November 1911" died: "23 December 1995" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 86 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T03:16:29.315352+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Patric Knowles Actor. Born 11 November 1911 in Horsforth, Yorkshire, England, UK. Died 23 December 1995. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 11 November 1911, Horsforth, Yorkshire, England, UK - **Died:** 23 December 1995 - **Active:** 1938–1958 - **Also known as:** Reginald Lawrence Knowles, Pat Knowles - **Average Fi1m score:** 86, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 90 (1), 1940s 82 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patric_Knowles, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q206113, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0461549/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8726 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*The Adventures of Robin Hood*](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-robin-hood.md) (90) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Patric Knowles > Patric Knowles spent forty years as the upright man beside the exciting one: Will Scarlett to Flynn's Robin, a doctor in Universal's monster films, a brother in Ford's Welsh valley. Decent, reliable, easy to miss, and the parts were written that way. Watch any of the Warner Bros adventures of the late 1930s and there is usually a man standing a pace behind Errol Flynn, decent, well spoken, agreeing with him. Often it is Patric Knowles. He came out of Yorkshire and regional repertory into British films in 1932, was signed by Warner Bros and sent to Hollywood in 1936, and was put beside Flynn almost at once, as Captain Perry Vickers in *The Charge of the Light Brigade* (1936) and then as Will Scarlett in *The Adventures of Robin Hood* (1938). The studio had found its use for him: the upright supporting man in period adventure, there to make the flamboyant lead look more so. That is a real job and he did it well, though it is a job designed to go unremarked. Our review of *The Adventures of Robin Hood* does not mention him, and we do not think that is a failing of the review. The film is built on one straight moral line and Flynn carries it alone; everyone else is scenery with lines. We went back looking for Knowles and found we had to look, which we admit with some discomfort, because he is on screen a good deal and never does anything wrong. He simply never does anything Flynn is not already doing louder. Freelancing from 1939 gave him more varied rooms, if not larger parts. At Fox he played Ivor Morgan, one of the brothers, in John Ford's *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), and it suits him: a family picture full of faces, in which being solid and quiet is the point rather than a limitation. At Universal the same year he was Frank Andrews in *The Wolf Man*, the start of a run in the studio's monster films as the doctor or the sensible young man, roles that even sympathetic accounts describe as formulaic. A war spent as a flying instructor with the RCAF interrupted things, and afterwards he settled into the long second career of the utility player: comic foils, villains, military officers, Lindsay Woolsey opposite Rosalind Russell in *Auntie Mame* (1958), Henry Tunstall in *Chisum* (1970), three films for Andrew V. McLaglen, final appearances in 1973. The knock on him was there from the start. A limerick went round in the 1930s predicting he would not act very well because he looked the way he did, and the studios took the hint and cast him for the profile. That was unkind, and it describes the career fairly well. Nothing in the two films we have reviewed suggests a great actor held back; what they show is a good one who was never handed the scene. So do not seek him out. Watch *The Adventures of Robin Hood* for Flynn and *How Green Was My Valley* for Ford and the singing, and let Knowles turn up, as he did for forty years, a pace behind and perfectly reliable. He is the reason the star looks like a star, and nobody ever went to the pictures for that. ## Biography Patric Knowles (born Reginald Lawrence Knowles) was an English actor. Born in Horsforth, Yorkshire, he made his film debut in the early 1930s and appeared in films through the 1970s. He was signed by Warner Bros. and made his first American film, *Give Me Your Heart* (1936). Knowles frequently appeared alongside Errol Flynn, playing his brother in *The Charge of the Light Brigade* (1936) and Will Scarlett in *The Adventures of Robin Hood* (1938). Other notable roles include *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), *The Wolf Man* (1941), *Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man* (1943), *Auntie Mame* (1958) and *Chisum* (1970). During the Second World War he served as a flying instructor in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He died in 1995 in California. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, latimes.com, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), Fi1m 82, as Ivor Morgan — [page](https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley.md) - *The Adventures of Robin Hood* (1938), Fi1m 90, as Will Scarlett — [page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-robin-hood.md) ## Complete filmography (105) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Arnold* (1973), as Douglas Whitehead - *Terror in the Wax Museum* (1973), as Mr. Southcott - *The Man* (1972), as South African Consul - *Getting Together* (1971), series, Actor - *Chisum* (1970), as Henry Tunstall - *The D.A.: Murder One* (1969), as Charles Lloyd - *In Enemy Country* (1968), as General Lloyd-Griffis - *The Devil's Brigade* (1968), as Adm. Lord Mountbatten - *Garrison's Gorillas* (1967), series, Actor - *The Way West* (1967), as Captain Grant - *Jericho* (1966), series, Actor - *Family Affair* (1966), series, Actor - *Mona McCluskey* (1965), series, as Trevor Blake - *Mickey* (1964), series, Actor - *Six Gun Law* (1962), Actor - *The Barbara Stanwyck Show* (1960), series, as Simon Lambert - *Hawaiian Eye* (1959), series, Actor - *Tightrope* (1959), series, Actor - *Auntie Mame* (1958), as Lindsay Woolsey - *From the Earth to the Moon* (1958), as Josef Cartier - *77 Sunset Strip* (1958), series, Actor - *Peter Gunn* (1958), series, Actor - *Maverick* (1957), series, as Paul Carthew - *Have Gun, Will Travel* (1957), series, Actor - *Band of Angels* (1957), as Charles de Marigny - *Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers* (1956), series, Actor - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *No Man's Woman* (1955), as Wayne Vincent - *The 20th Century Fox Hour* (1955), series, Actor - *Gunsmoke* (1955), series, as MacIntosh - *The Millionaire* (1955), series, as Martin Scott - *The Thief* (1955), as Philippe Voyson - *Khyber Patrol* (1954), as George Kennely - *The Whistler* (1954), series, Actor - *World for Ransom* (1954), as Julian March - *The United States Steel Hour* (1953), series, as Richard Voyson - *Flame of Calcutta* (1953), as Capt. Keith Lambert - *Revlon Mirror Theatre* (1953), series, Actor - *Jamaica Run* (1953), as William Montague - *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Longridge, George Spence, Manson (uncredited) - *Tarzan's Savage Fury* (1952), as Edwards - *Mutiny* (1952), as Capt. Ben Waldridge - *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, as Paul Maynard, John Stacey - *Quebec* (1951), as Charles Douglas - *Lux Video Theatre* (1950), series, as Corey Hill, Barclay, Bert, Mr. Morley - *Three Came Home* (1950), as Harry Keith - *The Big Steal* (1949), as Jim Fiske - *Studio One* (1948), series, as Martin Helm - *Isn't It Romantic?* (1948), as Richard Brannon - *Dream Girl* (1948), as Jim Lucas - *Variety Girl* (1947), as Patric Knowles - *Ivy* (1947), as Dr. Roger Gretorex - *Monsieur Beaucaire* (1946), as Duc le Chandre - *Of Human Bondage* (1946), as Harry Griffiths - *The Bride Wore Boots* (1946), as Lance Gale - *O.S.S.* (1946), as Cmdr. Brady - *Masquerade in Mexico* (1945), as Thomas Grant - *Kitty* (1945), as Brett Harwood Earl of Carstairs - *This Is the Life* (1944), as Hilary Jarret - *Pardon My Rhythm* (1944), as Anthony "Tony" Page - *Chip Off the Old Block* (1944), as Commander Judd Corrigan - *Crazy House* (1943), as Edmund 'Mac' MacLean - *Always a Bridesmaid* (1943), as Tony Warren - *All by Myself* (1943), as Dr. Bill Perry - *Hit the Ice* (1943), as Dr. William 'Bill' Burns - *Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man* (1943), as Dr. Frank Mannering - *Forever and a Day* (1943), as Trimble-Pomfret Son - *Who Done It?* (1942), as Jim Turner - *Sin Town* (1942), as Wade Crowell - *Lady in a Jam* (1942), as Doctor Enright - *The Mystery of Marie Roget* (1942), as Dr. Paul Dupin - *The Strange Case of Doctor Rx* (1942), as Private Detective Jerry Church - *The Wolf Man* (1941), as Frank Andrews - *How Green Was My Valley* (1941), as Ivor Morgan — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/how-green-was-my-valley.md) - *Anne of Windy Poplars* (1940), as Gilbert Blythe - *Women in War* (1940), as Lt. Larry Hall - *A Bill of Divorcement* (1940), as John Storm - *Married and in Love* (1940), as Paul Wilding - *The Honeymoon's Over* (1939), as Pat Shields - *Another Thin Man* (1939), as Dudley Horn - *The Spellbinder* (1939), as Tom Dixon - *Five Came Back* (1939), as Judson Ellis - *Beauty for the Asking* (1939), as Denny Williams - *Torchy Blane in Chinatown* (1939), as Capt. Condon - *Breakdowns of 1938* (1938), as Patterson Buckley (archive footage) (uncredited) - *Heart of the North* (1938), as Jim Montgomery - *Storm Over Bengal* (1938), as Captain Jeffrey Allison - *The Sisters* (1938), as Norman French - *Four's a Crowd* (1938), as Patterson 'Pat' Buckley - *The Adventures of Robin Hood* (1938), as Will Scarlett — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-robin-hood.md) - *The Patient in Room 18* (1938), as Lance O'Leary - *Expensive Husbands* (1937), as Prince Rupert Heinrich Franz Von Rentzau - *It's Love I'm After* (1937), as Henry Grant Jr. - *Irish for Luck* (1936), as Terry O'Ryan - *Two's Company* (1936), as Lord Jerry Wendower - *The Charge of the Light Brigade* (1936), as Captain Perry Vickers - *Give Me Your Heart* (1936), as Robert 'Bob' Melford - *Fair Exchange* (1936), as Tony Meredith - *Crown v. Stevens* (1936), as Chris Jensen - *The Brown Wallet* (1936), as John Gillespie - *The Guv'nor* (1935), as Paul - *Abdul the Damned* (1935), as Omar - Hilmi's Attache - *Honours Easy* (1935), as Harry Markham - *The Girl in the Crowd* (1935), as Tom Burrows - *The Student's Romance* (1935), as Max Brandt ## Gallery - ![Patric Knowles](https://film.one/media/person/1230477/gallery-2f2b001ab49c.jpg) Patric Knowles — unknown (20th Century Fox), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Claudette_Colbert-Patric_Knowles_in_Three_Came_Home.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Promotional photograph of Claudette Colbert & Patric Knowles for Three Came Home (1950)](https://film.one/media/person/1230477/gallery-fe502beab29a.jpg) Promotional photograph of Claudette Colbert & Patric Knowles for Three Came Home (1950) — unknown (20th Century Fox), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Patric_Knowles_in_Three_Came_Home.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Patric Knowles & Angela Lansbury in Mutiny - publicity still (cropped : see source) (1952)](https://film.one/media/person/1230477/gallery-45d1383c9caa.jpg) Patric Knowles & Angela Lansbury in Mutiny - publicity still (cropped : see source) (1952) — unknown (King Brothers Prod. / United Artists), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Patric_Knowles-Angela_Lansbury_in_Mutiny.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Anne Gwynne & Patric Knowles in The Strange Case of Doctor Rx - publicity still (1942)](https://film.one/media/person/1230477/gallery-957cd2646363.jpg) Anne Gwynne & Patric Knowles in The Strange Case of Doctor Rx - publicity still (1942) — unknown (Universal Pictures), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/The_Strange_Case_of_Doctor_Rx_%281942%29_still_1.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Patric Knowles](https://film.one/media/person/1230477/gallery-9dfecaa4d6a4.jpg) Patric Knowles — Image via TMDB - ![Olivia de Havilland and Patric Knowles in the original trailer for The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1936](https://film.one/media/person/1230477/gallery-5d3e76749e5b.jpg) Olivia de Havilland and Patric Knowles in the original trailer for The Charge of the Light Brigade, 1936 — Warner Bros., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Olivia_de_Havilland_and_Patric_Knowles_in_The_Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade_trailer_%281936%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/patric-knowles