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John Roche (actor)

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John Roche
John Roche in 1924
Born
John Conklin Roche

(1893-05-06)May 6, 1893
Penn Yan, New York, United States
DiedNovember 10, 1952(1952-11-10) (aged 59)
Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Los Angeles, California, United States
OccupationActor
Years active1910–1946

John Roche (May 6, 1893 – November 10, 1952) was an American actor of the stage and screen.

Biography

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John Conklin Roche was born in the small village of Penn Yan, New York, on May 6, 1893.[1] His father purportedly died by the time of the 1900 census.[2] By 1910, Roche worked as a stenographer at a flour mill.[3] He graduated from the University of Rochester, after which he began his acting career touring with stock companies during the 1910s and early 1920s.[4] By the time of the 1920 census, he listed himself as divorced and worked as a motor truck engineer in Manhattan.[5] In 1922, he broke into the film industry with a featured role in The Good Provider.[6] During the 1920s, he acted in both films and on stage, including several roles in Broadway productions, such as R.U.R. (1922).[7][8][9] By 7 April 1930, he lived in Los Angeles with his partner, Newell Vanderhoef, with whom he stayed until at least 1950.[10][11][12] He acted steadily in films until 1936, in both featured and supporting roles. In the mid-1930s he took a break from films, focusing on the stage, including directing the play, Mackerel Skies, which had a short run at the Playhouse Theatre in New York in 1936.[4][13] By 1940, he took up regular work selling jewelry at a department store.[11][12] Roche returned to films in 1941, with a small role in the Norma Shearer vehicle, We Were Dancing (1942), based on the Noël Coward play of the same name.[14] Over the course of his career he was involved in over six Broadway productions and appeared in over 50 films.[7][8] His final screen appearance was in 1946's The Brute Man.[15]

Roche died on November 10, 1952, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital.[4][16] His remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery.[17] Vanderhoef was not named in his obituary, though it states he was survived by his brother, Angelo James Roche, Esq.[18] Angelo also had a partner, James H Corliss.[19]

Filmography

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(According to AFI database)[7]

References

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  1. ^ "California, Deaths and Burials, 1776-2000". 1952.
  2. ^ "United States, Census, 1900". 1900.
  3. ^ "United States, Census, 1910". 1910.
  4. ^ a b c "John Roche, biography". AllMovie.com. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  5. ^ "United States, Census, 1920". 1920.
  6. ^ "The Good Provider". American Film Institute. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  7. ^ a b c "John Roche". American Film Institute. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  8. ^ a b "John Roche". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  9. ^ Čapek, Karel (1923). "The cast of the Theatre Guild Production" . R. U. R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) . Translated by Selver, Paul. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company. p. v – via Wikisource.
  10. ^ "United States, Census, 1930". 1930.
  11. ^ a b "United States, Census, 1940". 1940.
  12. ^ a b "United States, Census, 1950". 1950.
  13. ^ "Mackerel Skies". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  14. ^ "We Were Dancing". American Film Institute. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  15. ^ "The Brute Man". American Film Institute. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  16. ^ "Daily News from Los Angeles, California". Newspapers.com. 1952-11-11. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  17. ^ "Los Angeles Evening Citizen News from Hollywood, California". Newspapers.com. 1952-11-12. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  18. ^ "The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California". Newspapers.com. 1952-11-13. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
  19. ^ "The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California". Newspapers.com. 1970-07-13. Retrieved 2025-03-25.
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