Francis X. Bushman

At the peak of his career, he was known as "the King of Photoplay" before that title went to Clark Gable, with whom it remains today. Sir Thomas Courtenay was knighted in 2001. Mayer (of the then-fledgling Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studio). In 2003 he appeared on the West End stage again in the one-man show Pretending To Be Me, as Philip Larkin. His role as Messala in Ben-Hur in 1925 might have launched his career even further but for being blacklisted by Louis B. His best known film role after the 1960s is probably in The Dresser, (from Ronald Harwood's play of the same name, in which he also appeared), with Albert Finney. He was actually married four times. He appeared in "I Heard the Owl Call My Name" on US television in 1973.

His popularity waned when it was revealed that he was married. His television appearances have been relatively few, but have included She Stoops to Conquer on BBC and several Ayckbourn plays. Three days after his divorce with Josephine was final, Bushman and Bayne were married. He showed his comic talent again by creating the role of Norman in Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy, The Norman Conquests. He was briefly married to the actress, Cheryl Kennedy. In 1918, he was the subject of a huge scandal as his affair with longtime costar Beverly Bayne became a national scandal. His Hamlet at the Edinburgh Festival of 1968 marked him out as one of Britain's leading stage actors as well as a film actor. By the launch of his film career, the couple had five children. He was born Thomas Courtenay in Hull, England, and made his stage début in 1960 with the Old Vic company.

In 1902, he married seamstress Josephine Fladume. (In the latter two, he appeared alongside Julie Christie). He appeared in nearly 200 feature film roles - more than 175 films before 1920, 17 in his film debut year of 1911 alone. Zhivago (1965). He was performing at Bronco Billy Anderson’s Essanay Studio in Chicago, Illinois, where he was first noticed for his muscular, sculpted frame. Tom Courtenay (pronounced "Courtney") (born February 25, 1937) is a British actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of critically-acclaimed films including The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner (1962), Billy Liar (1963) and Dr. He died in Pacific Palisades, California from a fall. Bushman, like many of his contemporaries, broke into film from stage.