--- name: "Richard Arlen" canonical: "https://film.one/person/richard-arlen" roles: ["Actor"] born: "30 August 1899" died: "28 March 1976" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-19T21:23:31.463204+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." --- # Richard Arlen Actor. Born 30 August 1899 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. Died 28 March 1976. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 30 August 1899, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA - **Died:** 28 March 1976 - **Also known as:** Van Mattimore, Dick Arlen, Sylvanus Richard Mattimore - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Arlen, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q861426, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0035159/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/29760 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Wings*](https://film.one/film/wings-1927.md) (78) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Richard Arlen > Richard Arlen flew in the first war before he flew for the camera, and it shows. He was a quiet, level actor who asked nothing of the lens and was at his best beside something louder: Clara Bow, Charles Laughton, an aeroplane. In *Wings* (1927), two new fliers share a tent at training camp. Charles Rogers plays Jack for the camera, all eagerness and eyebrows, and Richard Arlen, as David Armstrong, mostly sits. He listens, he waits, he lets the other man have the scene. We found ourselves watching him rather than Rogers whenever the two were in the frame, and it took us a while to see why: he was the one man in the picture who was not asking the lens for anything. It is not a large gift, but it is a real one, and the silent screen did not have many actors who knew what to do with it. Arlen had flown before he acted, with the Royal Flying Corps in the first war, which is the one line of biography that belongs here: he knew how a man sits in a cockpit, and William A. Wellman, who had also flown, knew it too. They made four films together, *Beggars of Life* (1928) among them, and Wellman got the best out of Arlen by putting his stillness next to something moving. When sound came he was at Paramount, as Steve in *The Virginian* (1929) alongside Gary Cooper, and as Edward Parker in *Island of Lost Souls* (1932), where his job is to stand in front of Charles Laughton and take it in, which is exactly the job he was built for. Then the pictures got smaller. From the early 1930s he freelanced, and between 1939 and 1941 he made fourteen action films with Andy Devine, cheap and quick, the kind of thing a studio put out to fill the bottom of the bill. He went back to the air as a flight instructor in the second war, and afterwards worked in westerns and supporting parts into the 1960s, with television in between; Bacon in *Warlock* (1959) is a fair sample. We have not seen enough of the later work to judge it and will not pretend to. The general complaint is that it never asked him to be more than competent, and competent is what he was. The flaw is the other side of the virtue. An actor who does not push can read as an actor who is not there, and when the picture around him is quiet too, there is a risk that nothing much happens on the screen. He needed noise: Bow, Laughton, a real sky full of real aeroplanes. Start with *Wings*, and for once watch the tent rather than the dogfights. Then *Island of Lost Souls*, where the noise is Laughton and Arlen's job is to keep his face still while everything behind it changes. ## Biography Richard Arlen (born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore, also credited as Van Mattimore or Dick Arlen) was an American film and television actor. He served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War and later as a flight instructor with the United States Army Air Forces in the Second World War. Arlen is best known for playing David Armstrong in the silent film *Wings* (1927), which won the first Academy Award for Best Picture. He appeared in other films including *Island of Lost Souls* (1932) and *Beggars of Life* (1928), and later worked in television series such as *Perry Mason* and *Petticoat Junction*. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, catalog.afi.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Wings* (1927), Fi1m 78, as David Armstrong — [page](https://film.one/film/wings-1927.md) ## Complete filmography (164) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Clara Bow: Hollywood's Lost Screen Goddess* (2012), Actor - *The Muppets Go to the Movies* (1981), as David Armstrong (archive footage) (uncredited) - *The Horror Show* (1979), as (archive footage) - *A Whale of a Tale* (1976), as Mr. Monahan - *Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood* (1976), as Silent Film Star 2 - *The Sky's the Limit* (1975), as Grimes - *Buckskin* (1968), as Townsman - *Rogue's Gallery* (1968), as Man in Club - *Fort Utah* (1967), as Sam Tyler - *Hostile Guns* (1967), as Sheriff Travis - *Red Tomahawk* (1967), as Deadwood Telegrapher - *Road to Nashville* (1966), as Studio Boss - *Waco* (1966), as Billy Kelly - *To the Shores of Hell* (1966), as Brig. Gen. F.W. Ramsgate - *Johnny Reno* (1966), as Ned Duggan - *Apache Uprising* (1965), as Captain Gannon - *The Bounty Killer* (1965), as Matthew Ridgeway - *Town Tamer* (1965), as Doctor Kent - *Black Spurs* (1965), as Pete - *The Human Duplicators* (1965), as National Intelligence - *Branded* (1965), series, Actor - *Young Fury* (1964), as Sheriff Jenkins - *Sex and the College Girl* (1964), as Charles Devon - *Law of the Lawless* (1964), as Ben the Bartender - *The Shepherd of the Hills* (1964), as Old Matt - *The Best Man* (1964), as Sen. Oscar Anderson - *The Crawling Hand* (1963), as Lee Barrenger - *The Young and the Brave* (1963), as Col. Ralph Holbein - *The Lucy Show* (1962), series, as Richard - *The New Breed* (1961), series, as Willits - *The Last Time I Saw Archie* (1961), as Col. Edwin Martin - *Coronado 9* (1960), series, Actor - *Raymie* (1960), as Chris Garber - *Lock-Up* (1959), series, Actor - *Warlock* (1959), as Bacon - *Bat Masterson* (1958), series, as John Minor, Sheriff Dan Rainey - *Yancy Derringer* (1958), series, as General Hugh Morgan - *Wanted: Dead or Alive* (1958), series, as Damon Ring, Sr. - *Cavalry Command* (1958), as Sgt. Jim Heisler - *Perry Mason* (1957), series, as Dr. Harrison - *Child of Trouble* (1957), as Louis Contino - *The Mountain* (1956), as C. W. Rivial - *Hidden Guns* (1956), as Sheriff Ward Young - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *Crossroads* (1955), series, as Father John Fletcher Slee - *The 20th Century Fox Hour* (1955), series, Actor - *Blonde Blackmailer* (1955), as Tony Pelassier - *Devil's Point* (1954), as John 'Captain' Martin - *Climax!* (1954), series, as Nevers - *The Whistler* (1954), series, Actor - *Letter to Loretta* (1953), series, as Christopher Waring - *Sabre Jet* (1953), as Gen. Robert E 'Bob' Hale - *The Blazing Forest* (1952), as Joe Morgan - *Hurricane Smith* (1952), as Brundage - *Flaming Feather* (1952), as Showdown Calhoun - *Silver City* (1951), as Charles Storrs - *Kansas Raiders* (1950), as Union Captain - *Your Show of Shows* (1950), series, Actor - *Grand Canyon* (1949), as Mike Adams - *When My Baby Smiles at Me* (1948), as Harvey Howell - *The Return of Wildfire* (1948), as Dobe Williams - *Speed to Spare* (1948), as Cliff Jordan - *Buffalo Bill Rides Again* (1947), as Buffalo Bill - *Accomplice* (1946), as Simon Lash - *The Phantom Speaks* (1945), as Matt Fraser - *Identity Unknown* (1945), as Johnny March - *The Big Bonanza* (1944), as Capt. Jed Kilton - *Storm Over Lisbon* (1944), as John Craig - *That's My Baby!* (1944), as Tim Jones - *The Lady and the Monster* (1944), as Dr. Patrick Cory - *Timber Queen* (1944), as Russell Evans - *Minesweeper* (1943), as Richard Houston - *Submarine Alert* (1943), as Lewis J. 'Lee' Deerhold - *Alaska Highway* (1943), as Woody Ormsby - *Aerial Gunner* (1943), as Jon Davis - *Wrecking Crew* (1942), as Matt Carney - *A Letter From Bataan* (1942), as Pvt. John W. Lewis - *Wildcat* (1942), as Johnny Maverick - *Torpedo Boat* (1942), as Skinner Barnes - *Flying Blind* (1941), as Jim Clark - *A Dangerous Game* (1941), as Dick Williams - *Raiders of the Desert* (1941), as Dick Manning - *Forced Landing* (1941), as Dan Kendall - *Power Dive* (1941), as Brad Farrell - *Men of the Timberland* (1941), as Dick O'Hara - *Mutiny in the Arctic* (1941), as Dick Barclay - *Lucky Devils* (1941), as Dick McManus - *The Devil's Pipeline* (1940), as Dick Talbot - *The Leather Pushers* (1940), as Dick 'Kid' Roberts - *Black Diamonds* (1940), as Walter Norton - *Hot Steel* (1940), as Frank Stewart - *Danger On Wheels* (1940), as "Lucky" Larry Taylor - *The Man from Montreal* (1939), as Clark Manning - *Legion of Lost Flyers* (1939), as Gene 'Loop' Gillan - *Tropic Fury* (1939), as Dan Burton - *Mutiny on the Blackhawk* (1939), as Capt. Robert Lawrence - *Missing Daughters* (1939), as Wally King - *Straight, Place and Show* (1938), as Denny Paine - *Call of The Yukon* (1938), as Gaston Rogers - *No Time to Marry* (1938), as Perry Brown - *Murder in Greenwich Village* (1937), as Steve Havens Jackson Jr. - *Artists & Models* (1937), as Alan Townsend - *Secret Valley* (1937), as Lee Rogers - *The Great Barrier* (1937), as Hickey - *The Mine with the Iron Door* (1936), as Bob Harvey - *Three Live Ghosts* (1936), as William 'Bill' Jones, an alias of William Foster - *The Calling of Dan Matthews* (1935), as Dan Matthews - *Let 'em Have It* (1935), as Mal Stevens - *Helldorado* (1935), as Art Ryan - *Ready for Love* (1934), as Julian Barrow - *She Made Her Bed* (1934), as Wild Bill Smith - *Come On, Marines!* (1934), as Lucky Davis - *Alice in Wonderland* (1933), as Cheshire Cat - *Hell and High Water* (1933), as Capt J.J. Jericho - *Golden Harvest* (1933), as Walt Martin - *Three Cornered Moon* (1933), as Dr. Alan Stevens - *How to Break 90 #4: Downswing* (1933), Actor - *College Humor* (1933), as Mondrake - *Song of the Eagle* (1933), as Bill Hoffman - *Island of Lost Souls* (1932), as Edward Parker - *The All-American* (1932), as Gary King - *Tiger Shark* (1932), as Pipes Boley - *Guilty as Hell* (1932), as Frank C. Marsh - *Sky Bride* (1932), as Bert 'Speed' Condon - *Wayward* (1932), as David Frost - *Touchdown!* (1931), as Dan Curtis - *Caught* (1931), as Lt. Tom Colton - *The Secret Call* (1931), as Tom Blake - *The Lawyer's Secret* (1931), as Joe Hart - *Gun Smoke* (1931), as Brad Farley - *The Conquering Horde* (1931), as Dan McMasters - *Only Saps Work* (1930), as Larry Payne - *The Santa Fe Trail* (1930), as Stan Hollister - *The Sea God* (1930), as Phillip 'Pink' Barker - *The Border Legion* (1930), as Jim Cleve - *Paramount on Parade* (1930), as Hunter (Dream Girl) - *The Light of Western Stars* (1930), as Dick Bailey - *Dangerous Paradise* (1930), as Heyst - *Burning Up* (1930), as Lou Larrigan - *The Virginian* (1929), as Steven 'Steve' - *Dangerous Curves* (1929), as Larry Lee - *Thunderbolt* (1929), as Bob Moran - *The Four Feathers* (1929), as Lt. Harry Faversham - *The Man I Love* (1929), as Joe "Dum-Dum" Brooks - *Manhattan Cocktail* (1928), as Fred Tilden - *Beggars of Life* (1928), as The Boy (Jim) - *Ladies of the Mob* (1928), as Red - *Feel My Pulse* (1928), as Her Problem - *Under the Tonto Rim* (1928), as Edd Denmeade - *She's a Sheik* (1927), as Capt. Colton - *Figures Don't Lie* (1927), as Bob Blewe - *Sally in Our Alley* (1927), as Jimmie Adams - *Wings* (1927), as David Armstrong — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/wings-1927.md) - *The Blood Ship* (1927), as John Shreve - *Rolled Stockings* (1927), as Ralph Treadway - *Old Ironsides* (1926), as Seaman (uncredited) - *You'd Be Surprised* (1926), as Reporter (uncredited) - *Padlocked* (1926), as 'Tubby' Clark - *Behind the Front* (1926), as Percy Brown - *The Enchanted Hill* (1926), as Link Halliwell - *The Coast of Folly* (1925), as Bather - *In the Name of Love* (1925), as Dumas Dufrayne - *Hollywood* (1923), as Richard Arlen - *Quicksands* (1923), Actor ## Gallery - ![Still from the American drama film Dangerous Curves (1929). Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actresses, actors](https://film.one/media/person/1224063/gallery-f07631997e34.jpg) Still from the American drama film Dangerous Curves (1929). Subjects (LCTGM): motion pictures, actresses, actors — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Dangerous_Curves_%28SAYRE_14037%29.jpg/1280px-Dangerous_Curves_%28SAYRE_14037%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Kathleen Burke and Richard Arlen in Island of Lost Souls (1932) publicity still.](https://film.one/media/person/1224063/gallery-f31f0f517226.jpg) Kathleen Burke and Richard Arlen in Island of Lost Souls (1932) publicity still. — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Island_of_Lost_Souls_publicity_still.jpg/1280px-Island_of_Lost_Souls_publicity_still.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Actors Jobyna Ralston and Richard Arlen, with son Rickey, on their boat Jobnya R in Coronado, California (1935)](https://film.one/media/person/1224063/gallery-8e5cd5049a82.jpg) Actors Jobyna Ralston and Richard Arlen, with son Rickey, on their boat Jobnya R in Coronado, California (1935) — Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/Jobyna_Ralston%2C_Richard_Arlen%2C_and_their_son_on_a_boat.jpg/1280px-Jobyna_Ralston%2C_Richard_Arlen%2C_and_their_son_on_a_boat.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Richard Arlen](https://film.one/media/person/1224063/gallery-a5a5a150b82f.jpg) Richard Arlen — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Other awards — 1 won - star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 1960: star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (won) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © 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/richard-arlen