Romney Brent

The dapper Mexican-born actor Romney Brent, born Romulo Larralde, had a multi-faceted career as a playwright, producer, stage manager/director and drama teacher. The son of a diplomat, he first appeared on stage in a 1922 Theatre Guild production of "He Who Gets Slapped". That same year, he made his bow on Broadway in the comedy "The Lucky One", henceforth establishing himself for the next thirteen years as a solid character player in just about any role of exotic ethnicity, ranging from Ibsen and Gogol, to Shakespeare. He also sang and danced with the 'Garrick Gaieties' and even had time to author a comedy play of high society manners, "The Mad Hopes", in 1932. In 1933, Brent adapted a somewhat risqué novel, "Nymph Errant", by James Laver, into a play, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It had a successful run of 154 performances at the Adelphi Theatre in London, but did not premiere on Broadway until 1982. Brent acted at the same London venue in Noël Coward's popular revue "Words and Music", co-starring alongside a young John Mills. By 1936, Brent had segued into film work, spending four years acting in prestige British productions, such as Dinner at the Ritz (1937) and The Middle Watch (1940), in which he played a Chinese character named Ah Fong. With the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in the Canadian Army and was demobbed in 1945 with the rank of captain. Brent made a stop-over in Hollywood three years later, cast as a memorable King Phillip III in the lavishly-produced Warner Brothers Technicolor production of Adventures of Don Juan (1948), with Errol Flynn at his swashbuckling best. The remainder of his screen career, which generally took backstage to a resumption of his theatrical work on Broadway, consisted mainly of guest appearances in early TV anthology series. An exception was a recurring role as the benevolent Padre Felipe in Zorro (1957). In 1961, Brent returned to his theatrical roots for good, travelling through Europe and South America at the head of a repertory company under the aegis of the State Department. Four years later, fully retired from screen acting, he toured the Far East along with Helen Hayes, holding seminars and workshops on stage direction. He spent the last seven years of his life back in the country of his birth, teaching drama.