Alan Dinehart

Tall, heavy-set character actor Alan Dinehart dropped out of school to join a repertory company. He had extensive stage experience (including some 27 appearances on Broadway) and, by the time he was signed by Fox in 1931, he had worked not only as an actor but as a stage manager and writer. On screen he appeared for the most part in "B" pictures, notable exceptions being the MGM musical blockbuster Born to Dance (1936) and the 20th Century-Fox classic family drama Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938). Dinehart specialized in portraying blustering or shifty businessmen, crooked politicians or racketeers. While he is usually described as a supporting player, he actually started out in the early 1930s playing leading roles opposite some of the major female stars of the period. However, Dinehart's characters were rarely sympathetic. In Street of Women (1932) he essayed an architect who, bored with his society wife, indiscreetly keeps a mistress (Kay Francis) on the side. In Supernatural (193