Bernard Nedell

Bernard Nedell
Studio portrait of Bernard Nedell for The Thirteenth Girl, 1922
Born
Bernard Jay Nedell

(1893-10-14)October 14, 1893
New York City U.S.
DiedNovember 23, 1972(1972-11-23) (aged 79)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Alma materWestern Reserve University
OccupationActor
Years active1916–1972
Spouse(s)Helen Porter Nichols
aka Betty Barnicoat
(m. 1921; died 1923)
Olive Blakeney
(m. circa 1927; died 1959)
Children1

Bernard Jay Nedell[1] (October 14, 1893 – November 23, 1972), sometimes billed as Bernard J. Nedell,[2][3][4] was an American actor of stage and screen. He appeared in 50 films between 1916 and 1972.

Early life and career

Born in New York City on October 14, 1893,[5] Nedell was one of at least two children born to stage actors Rose Mary (née Speyer) and William Louis Nedell. He attended Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.[6]

In the early 1920s, Nedell acted with the T. Daniel Frawley Company.[7]

Personal life and death

From April 16, 1921 until her premature death on September 17, 1923, Nedell was married to his fellow actor and sometime leading lady Helen Porter Nichols (stage name, Betty Barnicoat).[8][9][10] By no later than 1927, he had remarried, again to an actress / fellow American expatriate and sometime stage co-star, Olive Blakeney. This marriage produced Nedell's only child, daughter Betty Lou Nedell,[11] who would later marry her mother's frequent onscreen son, actor Jimmy "Henry Aldrich" Lydon.[12][13]

Predeceased by his wife, Nedell died in Hollywood on November 23, 1972, aged 79, survived by his daughter and a brother.[14]

Selected filmography

Notes

References

  1. ↑ "Widow's Kin & Actor Fight Over Jewels". New York Daily News. November 18, 1966. p. 34. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Broadway and Hollywood actor Bernard Jay Nedell was ordered yesterday to appear in Surrogate's Court today to explain why he should not turn over to the daughter of the late lyricist Crace (Tot) Seymour $17,000 and a small fortune in jewels.
  2. ↑ Grein, J. T. (January 15, 1927). "World of the Theatre: Year-End Reflections—'Behind the Beyond'". The Illustrated London News. p. 80. Retrieved July 3, 2026 – via Google Books. "Murder as the result of a 'bootlegging' gang feud: Steve Crandall (Mr. Bernard J. Nedell) shoots 'Scar' Edwards (Mr. Gerald Lundergard) in the presence of Dolph (Mr. Carlo De Angelo), in 'BROADWAY,' at the Strand. [...] The cabaret girl, Pearl (Miss Karen Peterson), avenges the death of her lover by shooting the murderer, Steve (Mr. Bernard J. Nedell): a scene in 'Broadway,' at the Strand. [...] The play is being transferred to the Adelphi on Monday, January 24–(Photograph by Stage Photo, Co.)"
  3. 1 2 American Film Institute (1999). AFI: Americvan Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in The United States. University of California Press. p. 44. ISBN 0-520-21521-4.
  4. 1 2 Cameron, Kate (April 13, 1947). "Chaplin 'Verdoux' Comedy of Murder". New York Daily News. p. 94. Retrieved July 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. THE CAST: Henri Verdoux – Charles Chaplin. Mona Verdoux – Mady Correll. Peter – Allison Roddan. Annabella Bonheur – Martha Raye. [...] Lena. _Almira Sessions. Phoebe – Eula Morgan. Prefect of Police – Bernard J. Nedell. Detective Morrow – Charles Evans.
  5. ↑ "United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V4DC-DS9 : Sun Mar 29 13:07:58 UTC 2026), Entry for Bernard Jay Nedell, 1942.
  6. ↑ Parker, John; Gaye, Frieda (1961). Who's Who in the Theatre: A Biographical Record of the Contemporary Stage. Pitman & Sons. p. 871. LCCN 61-19717.
  7. ↑ "Frawley Broadway players booked to arrive on Mauna Kea tomorrow morning for Friday night opening". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Hawaii, Hilo. October 4, 1922. p. 1. Retrieved February 5, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "FORMER LYNN ACTRESS WEDS". The Daily Item. April 23, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved July 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Miss Helen Porter Nichols, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Nichols of Boston, formerly residents of this city, known on the stage as Betty Barnicoat, was married to Bernard Nedell of New York, an actor, in Manchester, N. H., April 16. The ceremony was performed at the Manchester City Hall, following the evening performance of the Keith company, of which Miss Nichols was member, in the Strand theatre. The wedding was a culmination of a real romance which started nearly two years ago overseas in Brittany, when she was leading lady and Mr. Nedell, leading man in a theatre league entertainment company. The young couple were unable to be married in France because the rules were too rigid.
  9. ↑ "Former Members of Trent Players In Company Now On Oriental Tour; Betty Barnicoat, Bernard Nedell and Herbert Light Win Praise of Hawaiian Paper for Excellent. Work in Presentation of 'Lawful Larceny' in Honolulu". The Trenton Times. December 7, 1922. p. 24. Retrieved July 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Leading Lady Frawley Troup Dies On Coast". The Honolulu Advertiser. September 18, 1923. p. 12. Retrieved July 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Betty Barnicoat, Mrs. Bernard Nedell, of the Frawley players who were in Honolulu a short time ago, died yesterday in a Los Angeles hospital according to advices received here. Mrs. Nedell's death followed an operation undergone in the Los Angeles hospital. Mrs. Nedell was in the Queen's hospital here for several days before sailing for the mainland. She was very well known in Honolulu and has many friends here. During the Frawley company's engagement Mrs. Nedell played the leading role in the 'Gold Diggers.'
  11. ↑ "Baptized at Windsor". The New York Times. March 26, 1928. p. 5. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Betty Lou Nedell Is Bride Of James J. Lydon, Actor". Bergen Evening Record. May 2, 1952. p. 12. Retrieved July 1, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Miss Betty Lou Nedell, daughter of Mrs. Olive Blakeney and Bernard Jay Nedell of New York, became the bride yesterday of James Joseph Lydon, television and movie star
  13. ↑ Johnson, Erskine (July 17, 1943). "Film Gleanings". The San Francisco News. p. 5. Retrieved July 3, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. Olive Blakeney, who plays dignified matrons on the screen—she has played Henry Aldrich's mother in seven straight films—has been considerably amazed for weeks by a sudden flood of letters from service men, most of whom confessed she was their dream girl. Finally light dawned. One of the soldiers enclosed a clipping from a camp newspaper-a full-length portrait of Frances Gifford in a sarong. It had been published with Olive Blakeney's name underneath.
  14. ↑ "Obituaries: Bernard Ledell". Variety. November 29, 1972. p. 71. ProQuest 1032462929. Bernard Nedell, 79, stage and screen actor, died nov. 23 in Hollywood. Nedell and his wife, the late Olive Blakeney, were leading American actors on the London stage from 1923 to 1940, and following World War II were active on Broadway and in Hollywood films. His final screen role was in 'Hickey and Boggs.' Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Jimmy Lydon, wife of actor-producer, and a brother.
  15. ↑ Quinlan, David (1983). The Illustrated Guide to Film Directors. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 288. ISBN 9780389204084. "One of Walter Summers' earliest sound films for B.I.P. was 'The Man from Chicago,' with American actor Bernard Nedell as a crook who takes over a London club. The girl is Joyce Kennedy."
  16. ↑ Silver, Alain; Ursini, James, ed. (2007). The Gangster Film Reader. Pompton Plains, NJ: Limelight Editions. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-87910-332-3. "However, despite the successful attempt of banning the making of a film version of Edgar Wallace's pulp novel When the Gangs Came to London and the creation of home-grown alternatives to American fictional private eyes such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, some examples escaped censorship. In 1930, American actor Bernard Nedell played the title role in The Man from Chicago . The film depicted an ex - racketeer arriving in London to buy a nightclub ( like LaRue in Murder in Soho ) who successfully robs a bank and attracts the attention of the Flying Squad, a body whose activities would be featured in the later successful television series The Sweeney and its movie spinoffs in the 1970s."
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