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Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 – October
13, 1966) was an United States|American actor.

He was born Webb Parmalee Hollenbeck in Beech
Grove, Indiana|Beech Grove, Indiana, the son of
Jacob Grant Hollenbeck (1867-May 2, 1939) and
Mabelle A. Parmalee (March 24, 1869—October
17, 1960).

In 1892, his formidable mother, Mabelle, moved to
New York City|New York with her beloved "little
Webb," as she called him for the remainder of her
life. She dismissed questions about his father, a
railroad manager, by saying, "We never speak of
him. He didn't care for the theatre."

Privately tutored, Webb also studied dance and
acting. He made his theater|stage debut at age
seven. He sang with the Boston Opera Company when
he was seventeen. Taking the stage name Clifton
Webb, he was a professional ballroom dancer at age
nineteen and appeared in about two dozen operas
before debuting on Broadway theatre|Broadway as
Bosco in The Purple Road (1913). Over the next
twenty-five years, the tall and slender performer,
who sang in a clear, gentle tenor, appeared in
numerous musicals and worked his way from featured
dancer to leading man.

Webb introduced George Gershwin|George and Ira
Gershwin's "I've Got a Crush on You" in Treasure
Girl (1928); Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "I
Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan" in The Little
Show (1929); and Irving Berlin's "Not for All the
Rice in China" in As Thousands Cheer (1933).

Despite his impressive Broadway credentials, and
some appearances on the London stage, he did not
fare as well in Hollywood, California|Hollywood.
After a few silent film|silent movies, he was
classified as a character actor and stereotyped as
a fussy effete snob. His first major film|motion
picture roles came in his middle-age as the classy
but villainous radio programming|radio columnist
Waldo Lydecker in the film noir|noir classic Laura
(movie)|Laura (1944 in film|1944) and as the
elitist Elliott Templeton in The Razor's Edge
(1946 in film |1946).

Webb received Academy Award nominations for
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Actor
in a Supporting Role in 1945 for Laura and in 1947
for The Razor's Edge. He received an Oscar
nomination for Academy Award for Best Actor|Best
Actor in a Leading Role in 1949 for Sitting
Pretty.

He also played the priggish title role in a series
of comedic "Mr. Belvedere" features, beginning
with Sitting Pretty (1948 in film|1948); the
husband of Myrna Loy and father of twelve children
in Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 in film|1950); a
silent movie star, Bruce Blair, called
"Dreamboat," turned college professor, Prof.
Thornton, who wants to go and stop a recent
revival of his movies on television|TV, in
Dreamboat (1952 in film|1952); John Philip Sousa
in Stars and Stripes Forever (1952 in film|1952);
the doomed husband of Barbara Stanwyck in the 1953
in film |1953 version of Titanic (1953
movie)|Titanic; and John Frederick Shadwell in
Three Coins in the Fountain (movie)|Three Coins in
the Fountain (1954 in film |1954).

Webb's comically foppish mannerisms as Mr.
Belvedere and in other movies flaunted his
homosexuality, but his scrupulous private life
kept him free of scandal. In fact, his character
of Mr. Belvedere is said to have been very close
to his real life–he had an extreme devotion
to his mother, who lived with him until her death
at age ninety-one. When Webb's mourning for her
continued for what seemed a prolonged period of
time, his longtime friend, Noel Coward, is said to
have remarked with a bit of exasperation, "It must
be tough to be orphaned at seventy-one."

Webb's elegant taste kept him on Hollywood's
best-dressed lists for decades. He retired after
making the movie Satan Never Sleeps (1962 in
film|1962).

He died of a heart attack at his home in Beverly
Hills, California|Beverly Hills, California, at
age seventy-six. He is interred in crypt 2350,
corridor G-6, Abbey of the Psalms in Hollywood
Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California|Hollywood.

Clifton Webb has a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard. 

==Filmography==
*Polly with a Past (1920 in film|1920) (Metro
Pictures) ... Harry Richardson (uncredited)
*Let Not Man Put Asunder (1924 in film|1924)
(Vitagraph) ... Major Bertie (uncredited)
*New Toys (1925 in film|1925) (First National
Pictures) ... Tom Lawrence
*The Heart of a Siren (1925 in film|1925) (First
National Pictures) ... Maxim
*The Still Alarm (1930 in film|1930) comedy short
of Broadway skit (Vitaphone) ... Business man
sharing a room in burning hotel
*Laura (1944 movie)|Laura (1944 in film|1944)
(20th Century Fox) ... Waldo Lydecker
*The Dark Corner (1946 in film |1946) (20th
Century Fox) ... Hardy Cathcart
*The Razor's Edge (1946 in film |1946) (20th
Century Fox) ... Elliott Templeton
*Sitting Pretty (1948 in film |1948) (20th Century
Fox) ... Lynn Belvedere
*Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949 in film
|1949) (20th Century Fox) ... Lynn Belvedere
*Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 in film |1950) (20th
Century Fox) ... Frank Bunker Gilbreth
*For Heaven's Sake  (1950 in film |1950) (20th
Century Fox) ... Charles/Slim Charles
*Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951 in film |1951)
(20th Century Fox) ... Lynn Belvedere
*Elopement (1951 movie)|Elopement (1951 in film
|1951) (20th Century Fox) ... Howard Osborne
*Dreamboat (1952 in film |1952) (20th Century Fox)
... Prof. Thornton Sayre/Dreamboat/Bruce Blair
*Stars and Stripes Forever (1952 movie)|Stars and
Stripes Forever (1952 in film |1952) (20th Century
Fox) ... John Philip Sousa
*Titanic (1953 movie)|Titanic (1953 in film |1953)
(20th Century Fox) ... Richard Ward Sturges
*Mister Scoutmaster (1953 in film |1953) (20th
Century Fox) ... Robert Jordan
*Three Coins in the Fountain (movie)|Three Coins
in the Fountain (1954 in film |1954) (20th Century
Fox) ... John Frederick Shadwell
*Woman's World (1954 in film |1954) (20th Century
Fox) ... Ernest Gifford
*The Man Who Never Was (1956 in film |1956) (20th
Century Fox) ... Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu
*Boy on a Dolphin (1957 in film |1957) (20th
Century Fox) ... Victor Parmalee
*The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959 in film
|1959) (20th Century Fox) ... Mr. Horace
Pennypacker
*Holiday for Lovers (1959 in film |1959) (20th
Century Fox) ... Robert Dean
*Satan Never Sleeps (1962 in film |1962) (20th
Century Fox) ... Father Bovard

==External links==
* http://www.cliftonwebb.com Clifton Webb .com
* http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=64304 IBDB
entry for Clifton Webb
* http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0916067/ IMDb entry
for Clifton Webb
*
http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/SearchResult.as
px?s=1&Type=PN&Tbl=&CatID=DATABIN_CAST&ID=33317&se
archedFor=Clifton_Webb_&SortType=ASC&SortCol=RELEA
SE_YEAR AFI Catalog entry for Clifton Webb
* http://members.aol.com/rdkone/CliftonWebb.html
Clifton Webb 1889-1966
*
http://www.hoosierwoodindiana.com/WebbClifton.html
Indiana Hollywood Hall of Fame: Clifton Webb