From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Roche (February 6, 1893 – November 10, 1952) was an American actor of the stage and screen.
Roche was born in the small village of Penn Yan, New York, on February 6, 1893.
He graduated from the University of Rochester, after which he began his acting career touring with stock companies during the 1910s and early 1920s.
In 1922, he broke into the film industry with a featured role in The Good Provider.
During the 1920s, he acted in both films and on stage, including several roles in Broadway productions.
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.
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.
Over the course of his career he was involved in over half a dozen Broadway productions and appeared in over 50 films.
His final screen appearance was in 1946's The Brute Man.
Roche died on November 10, 1952, in Los Angeles, California.
Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain behind them is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider. Based on "The Sign of Four" and the short stories "The Dying Detective", "The Final Problem", "The Speckled Band" and "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot".
Fight promoter Nick Donati grooms a bellhop as a future champ, but has second thoughts when the 'kid' falls for his sister.
A wealthy girl hires a male escort to make one of her male friends jealous. She spreads rumours about her character that makes her popular amongst all bachelors in the city including her friend.
Dowdy Sylvia accepts her boss' marriage proposal, even though he only asked her to avoid marriage to another woman. As a wealthy wife, Sylvia changes from ugly duckling to uninhibited swan and even contemplates having an affair with a man she meets during a trip to Paris.
A countess fleeing her husband mistakes a count for her hairdresser at a Monte Carlo casino.
A romance runs into difficulties because the girl has seen a great deal of the turbulence in her sister's household, and has no illusions about married bliss.
When a rash of murders depletes their number, a billionaire's employees are brought together at an Englishman's estate.
In South Africa, a worker in a diamond mine is sentenced to death for stealing a huge diamond he found in the mine. Before he dies he passes the stone to a local girl, Musa. Known as the "Shah" diamond, it eventually winds up in New York City. Complications ensue, involving a wealthy society matron, her jealous husband, a gang of vicious jewel thieves and a brutal gangster who owns a nightclub. A lost film.
In 1856, slave Eliza plans to marry George with the consent of the Shelbys, her masters, but George's owner prevents the wedding. A few years later, Eliza flees with her son, Harry, after learning the Shelbys plan to hand them over to a crooked creditor to prevent foreclosure. George also escapes and goes on the run while Eliza and Harry are captured and brought back home. Mother and son are separated as George tries to find them both.
During World War I, a young woman marries a famous flying ace. After the honeymoon, he is called back into service and leaves for the battlefield. Not long afterwards she discovers evidence that her new husband has been cheating on her.
If there was one thing that Don Juan de Marana learned from his father Don Jose, it was that women gave you three things - life, disillusionment and death. In his father's case it was his wife, Donna Isobel, and Donna Elvira who supplied the latter. Don Juan settled in Rome after attending the University of Pisa. Rome was run by the tyrannical Borgia family consisting of Caesar, Lucrezia and the Count Donati. Juan has his way with and was pursued by many women, but it is the one that he could not have that haunts him. It will be for her that he suffers the wrath of Borgia for ignoring Lucrezia and then killing Count Donati in a duel. For Adriana, they will both be condemned to death in the prison on the river Tigre.
A pair of professional thieves discover that their accomplice, Mary Brennan, is a dead-ringer for wealthy heiress Margaret Waring. They wait until Margaret is absent from the house, then place Mary there to make their heist easier. Unfortunately, Margaret returns before they've finished the job and gets shot. When the police get there, both women claim to be Margaret Waring and accuse the other of being the thief--and they look so much alike that no one can tell the difference.
Lucretia Morgan has been married to an old man for the past seven years. The marriage is loveless but the whole time Lucretia has been a devoted wife. Her husband Allen has been sick for some time. Lucretia thinks Allen is upset with her because she is going out to a charity ball and he has to stay. Allen understands she is young and she needs to socialize he is not upset with her for wanting to go out.