Reginald Sheffield

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Reginald Sheffield was born Matthew Reginald Sheffield Cassan in the St Georges Hanover Square district of London to Matthew Sheffield Cassan and Alice Mary Field He had a brother Edward Sheffield Cassan and a sister Flora Kathleen Sheffield Cassan who became an actress known as Flora Sheffield His father was born in Ireland and his mother in England They were married in London in 1892 Matthew died when Reginald was nine In 1913 Reginald billed as Eric Desmond appeared in David Copperfield In 1914 Alice Sheffield and her children emigrated to the United States where they lived in Queens New York Reginald acted on the stage and in films While his sister Flora was an actress brother Edward worked as an accountant in a bank and later became a theatrical agent Sheffields Broadway performances credited as Reggie Sheffield include Evidence 1914 in which his mother also appeared The Merry Wives of Windsor 1916 If 1917 The Betrothal 1918 and Helenas Boys 1924 His performances credited as Reginald Sheffield include Youth 1920 The Way Things Happen 1924 Hay Fever 1925 Slaves All 1926 Soldiers and Women 1929 and Dear Old England 1930 Reginald Sheffield was married in 1927 to Louise Van Loon 21 January 1905 14 April 1987 a New Yorkborn Vassar College graduate with a liberal arts education The couple had three children Mary Alice Sheffield Cassan born 1928 Jon Matthew Sheffield Cassan 11 April 1931 15 October 2010 aka actor Johnny Sheffield and William Hart Sheffield Cassan 15 July 1935 12 December 2010 actor Billy Sheffield As film production became more and more located in Southern California Sheffield and his wife travelled back and forth between New York City and Los Angeles After several years they moved permanently to the West Coast Being a trained stage actor Sheffield easily made the transition from silent films to talkies He was a working actor who became memorable in numerous character and supporting roles and appeared with some of the greatest film stars of the day including Constance Bennett William Powell George Arliss Loretta Young Gary Cooper Errol Flynn Rosalind Russell Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine In 1954 he began starring as Professor Mayberry in the television series Rocky Jones Space Ranger And after his son Johnny Sheffield of first the Tarzan then the Bomba films series appeared in his last jungle film in 1955 Reginald created produced and directed a pilot for a television series Bantu the Zebra Boy but a sponsor was not found and the show was never produced as a weekly series Sheffield acted in both versions 1938 and 1958 of Cecil B DeMilles The Buccaneer the latter being his last screen appearance Reginald Sheffield died 8 December 1957 at his home in Pacific Palisades California aged 56