RONNIE SINCLAIR

Evening Star, Issue 23376, 20 September 1939, Page 7

RONNIE SINCLAIR

ACTIVE DAYS IN HOLLYWOOD RADIO WORK AND SMALL FILM ROLES Minor picture roles in rapid succession and considerable radio work are keeping the former Dunedin boy, Ra Hould, extremely busy in Hollywood, where he is now known as Ronnie Sinclair. A letter from Ronnie’s father has been received here which indicates that the boy is losing little because of the lack of major screen parts, and it may well be that he will last longer as a capable player in supporting roles than if he were made a fully-fledged star. His screen work at present brings him in an attractive 300dol for two days’ work, and apart from this he is earning nice sums each week through repeated radio performances.

When the letter was written Ronnie Sinclair had just finished acting the part of Ronald Colman as a boy in the prologue of Kipling’s ‘The Light that Failed,’ in which Colin Tapley also has an important role. The sequences in which Ronnie Sinclair appears were shot at Laguna Beach, 70 miles north of Hollywood, in temperatures ranging up to llOdeg. These sequences took five days to film, although Ronnie’s appearances on the screen will total little more than five minutes Mr Hould makes some references to Ronald Colman, who, he states, is a man quite free of self-importance,- and speaks of the esteem in which the noted actor is held. He saw Colman’s “'stand-in ” being photographed in long shots in place of the star. This standin is so like Colman that “ it would be hard to tell them apart, even in a close-up.” The stand-in is paid 350d0l a week, “ and does much of Colman’s acting for him, I am told, but, of course, this maj; be only hearsay.” About the time Ronnie’s part in ' The Light that Failed ’ was completed the boy actor also completed playing Jasper King in the first of a new series of films, ‘ Five Little Peppers.’ He had also been working with RKO Radio studies on location at Catalina .Island, 30 miles off Santa Monica, acting in ‘ The Swiss Family Robinson.’ Universal studios were, at the time the letter was written, making tentative negotiations to obtain the boy’s services in a picture they were contemplating, while other studios were also said to be showing an interest in him. No big film work is looming on the horizon just now, but that certainly does not seem to- be a matter calling for any concern. Ronnie is very happy in Hollywood and is enjoying himself to the utmost, and he is very well liked by all who come in contact with him.