This veteran character and his younger brother, western actor
Jack Rockwell,
were born to American parents south of the border in Vera Cruz, Mexico
in 1882. Charles Trowbridge was educated in Napa, California and
Hawaii, then studied for his degree at Stanford University. He forsook
a thriving career as an architect in his twenties for stage acting,
receiving early training at the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco with
Bert Lytell and
Bessie Barriscale. He then moved to New York where he earned a number
of regional roles in the Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia areas before
making his Broadway bow with "The Marriage Game" in 1913. He proceeded
to build up his resume impressively with the plays "Daddy Long Legs" in
1914 and when it was revived in 1918, "The Broken Wing (1920), "Craig's
Wife (1925), "Ladies Leave" (1929) and "Dinner at Eight" (1933). He
made a sampling of silents over the years as well, primarily in drama,
with
The Fight (1915),
Thais (1917) and
The Eternal Magdalene (1919) to name a few. After co-starring
opposite
Corinne Griffith in
Island Wives (1922), however, he was not seen again for nearly
a decade.
After a steady diet of Broadway plays, he was signed by Paramount for
character roles in sound pictures and proceeded to support the top
stars. With his rangy build, piercing blue eyes, premature gray hair
and serious countenance, Trowbridge was particularly useful throughout
the 1930s and 1940s in crime yarns, horrors and in rugged settings
starting out with
Gary Cooper and
Carole Lombard in the romantic drama
I Take This Woman (1931).
Trowbridge usually adopted a friendly but intelligent, officious
demeanor as assorted doctors, judges, bankers, lawyers, military brass
and even U.S. presidents. He appeared rather indiscriminately in a
number of "A" quality films including
Captains Courageous (1937),
Meet John Doe (1941),
Sergeant York (1941) and
Mildred Pierce (1945), and in popular cliffhangers such as
King of the Texas Rangers (1941),
Adventures of the Flying Cadets (1943) and
Captain America (1944). He often played well-meaning victims who died in the first
reel, notably in horrors. His last two films were unbilled bits,
courtesy of
John Ford, in
The Wings of Eagles (1957) and
The Last Hurrah (1958). Retired thereafter,
Trowbridge passed away a number of years later at age 85.
The Last Hurrah(1958)as Plymouth Club Member at Front Door
The Wings of Eagles(1957)as Adm. Crown
Hoodlum Empire(1952)as Commissioner Garrison
The Bushwhackers(1951)as Justin Stone
The Texas Rangers(1951)as Governor Coke
The Great Ziegfeld(1936)
John Ford Goes to War(2002)as Army Medical Corps Major
Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed(1999)as Dr. Petrie
Henry Fonda: The Man and His Movies(1982)as Actor in 'Let Us Live'
Dr. Satan's Robot(1966)as Bronson
Don't You Believe It(1943)as Politician
