RICHARD ARLEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 585, 11 February 1929, Page 14

RICHARD ARLEN

ROSE FROM EXTRA RANKS Richard Arlen, the well-known Paramount player, was born in Charlottesville. Virginia, 27 years ago. His real name is James van Mattimcre and he adopted the name -if Richard Arlen 'or picture purposes. I':- J.anuary, 1917, the young player wen t to England and enlisted in the Flying Corps, later receiving die rank of lieutenant and serving as a pilot at he front. He returned to America following the Armistice, and was successively a broker, a swimming instructor, a sports writer and an oil prospector. Then he decided that he would try motion pictures. It took him five years to gain recognition, and often he was living on a meagre pittance that scarcely provided him with food. Finally, after much disappointment, Arlen was given a long-term contract by Paramount, and appeared in a number of pictures, notably “Behind the Front” and “Old Ironsides.” Following his role in the latter, he was given a test and selected for a part of David Armstrong in “Wings.” “Wings” made Arlen s name, and there followed other parts, with Wallace Beery in “Beggars of Life,” with Nancv Carroll in “The Shopworn Angel,” ana now he has the leading role in Meson’s “The Four Feathers.”