J. Dudley Digges Letter

Collection — Box: VMF 4, Folder: 8

Identifier: MS-VMF-vmf041

Staff Only

Autograph letter signed from Digges to Mr. Riordan enclosed with a copy of Samhain, an occassional review, edited by W.B. Yeats, dated October, 1902. Mentions that it includes the text of Cathleen ni hoolihan [play] and explains the difficulty of obtaining the play. 1 page

Dates

Creation: 1904 March 5

Creator

Digges, Dudley, 1879-1947 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Conditions Governing Use

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Extent

1.00 items

1 folders

Additional Description

Biographical Information

Dudley Digges (June 9, 1879 – October 24, 1947) was an Irish stage and film actor. Born in Dublin, he went to America with a group of Irish players in 1904, and became successful both as an actor and producer. For a time, he was stage manager to Charles Frohman and George Arliss. Digges went to Hollywood in 1930.

One of Digges's best-known stage roles was as Ficsur in the original 1921 Broadway production of Ferenc Molnár's Liliom (later adapted into the musical Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein.) In 1924, Digges founded the Maverick Theater in Woodstock, New York, with the assistance of Hervey White, the founder of the Maverick Arts Colony. Digges was artistic director of a company that included Helen Hayes and Edward G. Robinson.

Digges appeared in forty films between 1929 and 1946, including the original, pre-code version of The Maltese Falcon (1931). Digges portrayed Caspar Gutman, the character later made famous by Sydney Greenstreet in the 1941 version. He played the role of the Heavenly Examiner in both the original Broadway production and the 1930 screen versions of Sutton Vane's play, Outward Bound. He also worked as a director on Broadway.