Oscar Profile #491: Brian Aherne

Born May 2, 1902, in Worcestershire, England to a Birmingham architect and his wife, (William) Brian (de Lacy) Aherne was the young brother of fellow actor, Pat Aherne.

The future actor was educated in Birmingham and had some additional training in London which led to a few stage roles as a child., making his local debut at 8 and his London debut at 11. He worked extensively on the London stage after finishing his education.

Aherne made his film debut in 1924’s The Eleventh Commandment and for the next eight years alternated between British films and the British stage. In 1931, he made his Broadway debut as Robert Browning to Katharine Cornell’s Elizabeth Barrett in The Barretts of Wimpole Street. He made an auspicious Hollywood debut opposite Marlene Dietrich in Rouben Mamoulian’s 1933 film, The Song of Songs.

The actor continued to alternate between film and the stage, albeit he now did it in the U.S. On screen, he starred opposite Helen Hayes in 1934’s What Every Woman Knows, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Sylvia Scarlet, Merle Oberon in 1936’s Beloved Enemy, Olivia de Havilland in 1937’s The Great Garrick, Constance Bennett in 1938’s Merrily We Live and Paul Muni and Bette Davis in 1939’s Juarez for which he received his only Oscar nomination. That same year he married former co-star de Havilland’s younger sister, Joan Fontaine.

In 1940, Aherne supported Carole Lombard in Vigil in the Night, starred opposite Madeleine Carroll in My Son! My Son! , Rita Hayworth in The Lady in Question and Rosalind Russell in Hired Wife. In 1941, he starred opposite Kay Francis in The Man Who Lost Himself, Jeanette MacDonald in Smilin’ Through and Claudette Colbert and Ray Milland in Skylark. In 1942, he starred opposite Rosalind Russell in My Sister Eileen and Loretta Young in A Night to Remember. In 1943, he was part of the all-star cast of Forever and a Day. In 1945, he and Fontaine were divorced.

Aherne married second wife Eleanor de Liagra Lebrot in 1946, with whom he would remain married until his death. He starred opposite Laraine Day in that year’s The Locket and Constance Bennett in 1948’s Smart Woman, after which he appeared primarily on TV.

Returning to films in supporting roles, Aherne was featured in 1953’s I Confess and Titanic, 1954’s Prince Valiant, 1956’s The Swan, 1959’s The Best of Everything, 1961’s Susan Slade, 1963’s Word of Lancelot and 1964’s The Cavern. His last film was 1967’s Rosie! in which he had his biggest role in year’s opposite former co-star Rosalind Russell.

Long out of the limelight, Brian Aherne died on February 10, 1986 in Venice, Florida, just three months before what would have been his 84th birthday.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

MERRILY WE LIVE (1938), directed by Norman C. McLeod

Filmed because of the enormous popularity of 1936’s My Man Godfrey, this similarly themed screwball comedy was actually based on an earlier work, a 1920s novel that had been turned into a play in 1930 and was therefore not a rip-off of the 1936 film as is commonly believed. Constance Bennett is the ditzy rich girl who hires Aherne, who she mistook for a hobo, as the family chauffeur who falls in love with her. Billie Burke, in her only Oscar-nominated performance, is Bennett’s even more ditzy mother. Clarence Kolb is her exasperated father, Tim Holt her brother and Bonita Granville her sister.

JUAREZ (1939), directed by William Dieterle

Aherne received his only Oscar nomination as Emperor Maximilian, the benevolent puppet ruler of Mexico installed by France’s Louis Napoleon III (Claude Rains), to circumvent the country’s president, Benito Juarez (Paul Muni). Although the film centers on Aherne’s character, the film taken from the novel The Hollow Crown, is titled after Muni’s character because Muni was the bigger star and a clause in his contract that allowed him to insist that his character’s name be in the film’s title. Muni and Bette Davis in a minor role as Aherne’s wife had star billing, thus Aherne’s placement in Oscar’s supporting actor category.

MY SISTER EILEEN (1942), directed by Alexander Hall

Aherne played Rosalind Russell’s love interest in this classic comedy based on Ruth McKenney’s short stories about her arrival in New York with her sister Eileen (Janet Blair). Real-life Eileen and her husband, writer Nathaniel West (The Day of the Locust) were killed in a car crash four days before the opening of the play in 1940, putting a pall over the opening. Russell, who received her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Ruth, reprised her role in the 1953 Broadway musical Wonderful Town with Edie Adams playing Eileen. Betty Garrett, Jack Lemmon and Janet Leigh starred in the 1955 remake.

THE SWAN (1956), directed by Charles Vidor

Grace Kelly’s last released film and Alec Guinness’ first Hollywood film, this third film version of the Molnar play is far and away the best with delightful performances by the two stars as well as a superb supporting cast. Kelly plays a beautiful but impoverished princess whose future might be saved by marriage to her cousin, crown prince Guinness. Louis Jourdan is the poor tutor of Kelly’s brothers that she is attracted to, Jessie Royce Landis is her ditzy albeit pushy mother, Estelle Winwood is Landis’ disapproving sister, Aherne the family priest and Agnes Moorehead the queen. It was released to coincide with Kelly’s real-life royal wedding.

ROSIE! (1967), directed by David Lowell Rich

Based on a play by Ruth Gordon, Aherne’s last film reunited him with Rosalind Russell in his biggest screen role since the 1940s. Third-billed behind Russell and Sandra Dee, who plays Russell’s granddaughter, he plays Russell’s lawyer who defends her in a competency hearing brought about by greedy daughters, Audrey Meadows and Vanessa Brown, who are afraid she will spend all her money before they can get their hands on it. James Farentino as Aherne’s associate and Dee’s love interest, Margaret Hamilton as Russell’s faithful maid and Juanita Moore as a sympathetic nurse have featured roles.