Johnny Arthur

Johnny Arthur was an American stage and film actor. After years in theater, he made his screen debut in The Unknown Purple (1923). He played the romantic lead opposite Lon Chaney in The Monster (1925). With sound, he developed an effeminate comic persona in movies such as The Desert Song (1929) and She Couldn't Say No (1930). After the Production Code took effect in 1934, he shifted to fussy, timid, and worried characters. Those roles came in low-budget features like Ellis Island and Danger on the Air and in larger productions including Crime and Punishment and Road to Singapore (1940). He was best remembered for playing the father of Darla Hood in the Our Gang shorts. He appeared in That Nazty Nuisance (1942) and portrayed a menacing Japanese antagonist in The Masked Marvel (1943). He worked on the Diary of Fate radio series and returned to the stage in April Fool. His last film, I Want You, came in 1951.