Edmund Lowe

A look at Edmund Lowe's screen resumé would indicate that he descended to "Poverty Row" productions in 1942 and his career never recovered. In fact, Lowe's career was stalling as early as 1938, when the actor was too mature to play most romantic leads. His last such role was in 1937's Every Day's a Holiday, in which the 48-year-old Lowe played opposite the 44-year-old Mae West. Lowe shifted gears and began playing strong supporting roles in major films and leads in minor films. Lowe's friend William K. Howard, a top director of the 1920s, was attempting a comeback at the low-budget Monogram Pictures in 1942. As a favor to Howard, Lowe took the leading role in Klondike Fury. Lowe's loyal gesture took a toll on his professional standing: the small, independent Monogram studio was firmly in Hollywood's minor league. As actor Bill Kennedy told author Scott MacGillivray, "If you were an actor on the way up, like Robert Mitchum or Alan Ladd, working at Monogram was okay -- no stigma. But -- if you were already a star at a big studio like Fox or Paramount and then went to Monogram, a la Edmund Lowe, it was the kiss of death." Lowe's work in Klondike Fury won him an invitation from Columbia Pictures to star in three comedy-mysteries. Lowe also kept working at Monogram, notably in the 1945 crime thriller Dillinger, a surprise hit. Lowe's last starring movie role was in Monogram's The Strange Mr. Gregory (1945). In 1951-52 Lowe starred in 38 episodes of the television show Front Page Detective and appeared as the elderly lead villain in the first episode of Maverick opposite James Garner in 1957. Lowe appeared occasionally in major motion pictures through 1960.