Acting
Sep 25, 1901
Portland, Oregon
Donald Cook
Acting
Biography
Donald Cook (September 26, 1901 – October 1, 1961) was an American stage and film actor. Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work. He started screen work in "shorts" before going on to films. Cook was known for his portrayal of Mike Powers in the film The Public Enemy. He also was one of the first film actors to portray Ellery Queen, in The Spanish Cape Mystery. He played opposite Helen Morgan in the 1936 film adaptation of Show Boat was one of the suspects in the Philo Vance mystery The Casino Murder Case, starred as an heroic immigration inspector in Ellis Island. Other film credits include The Man Who Played God, Our Very Own and The Penguin Pool Murder (1932). Cook made his Broadway debut in 1926 as Donn Cook, and his New York theatrical career continued until 1959. His credits included a 1948 revival of Private Lives. Cook was married to Princess Gioia Tasca di Cuto from 1937 until his death from a heart attack in New Haven. Description above from the Wikipedia article Donald Cook, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Feature Films (61)
Sheltered beauty Magnolia Hawkes takes over as the leading lady on a Mississippi riverboat show when mixed-race Julie and her white husband are forced out of town by a prejudiced sheriff. Charismatic opportunist Gaylord Ravenal wins Magnolia's heart, but his gambling losses threaten to ruin their chances for a happy marriage.
Show Boat
A young woman uses her body and her sexuality to help her climb the social ladder, but soon begins to wonder if her new status will ever bring her happiness.
Baby Face
In this fictionalized biography, young Pancho Villa takes to the hills after killing an overseer in revenge for his father's death.
Viva Villa!
Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.
The Public Enemy
Ellery Queen's vacation is interrupted when murder strikes next door to his oceanside cabin.
The Spanish Cape Mystery
To avoid the rigors of the law, Gilda flees New Orleans and hides on a Caribbean island where the worst criminals can ask for asylum. Besieged by the scum of the earth, Gilda will soon find out that she has found refuge in hell.
Safe in Hell
The made for television movie Munster's Scary Little Christmas, created three decades after the demise of the original series, concerns son Eddie missing his home in Transylvania. Soon the entire family bands together to teach the young boy everything great about the holiday season.
The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas
Jenny is carrying the child of a young man who dies in the San Francisco earthquake (1906). After giving birth, she decides to place her child in the custody of a wealthy married couple. Years later, thanks to the protection of a corrupt politician, she becomes the main "madame" of San Francisco, in addition to participating in various illegal activities.
Frisco Jenny
New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium.
The Penguin Pool Murder
During a heated argument with her sister Joan, Gail discovers the shocking news that she is adopted. With the reluctant support of her adoptive parents and baby sister Penny, Gail goes in search of her biological mother and true identity.
Our Very Own
After socialite Lynn Llewellyn receives an anonymous threat, he is poisoned at his uncle's casino, and although he recovers, his wife is murdered by the same killer.
The Casino Murder Case
Party Husband finds ex-Ziegfield Girl Dorothy playing the better half of a thoroughly “modern marriage” whose openness threatens to bring about its premature end. Fellow Ziegfield alum Mary Doran plays the coquette whose intended conquest of the free-thinking hubby (James Rennie) starts to throw the couple’s “understanding” awry.
Party Husband
Television & Series (7)
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
Lux Video Theatre
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
The Philco Television Playhouse
Too Young to Go Steady was a live primetime sitcom that aired on NBC in 1959. It centered on the romantic awakening of Pamela Blake, a pretty 15-year-old girl struggling to make the transition from tomboy to young lady.
Too Young to Go Steady
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.