Ben Bard
Actor · Died May 17, 1974, aged 81 · Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ben Bard (January 26, 1893, Milwaukee – May 17, 1974, Los Angeles) was a movie actor, stage actor, and acting teacher. With comedian Jack Pearl, Bard worked in a comedy duo in vaudeville. In 1926, Bard, Pearl, and Sascha Beaumont appeared in a short film made in Lee DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Bard had a small roll in Roland West's classic mystery The Bat Whispers (1930). Later in the decade, he ran a leading Hollywood acting school, Ben Bard Drama. He married the serial film star Ruth Roland in 1929, and was married to Roland until her death in 1937. Bard was recruited to be a leading man at Fox Film Corporation. However, he was typecast as a "Suave Heavy"—a smooth-talking, well-dressed fellow with a dark side. An example of this type is his portrayal of "Mr. Brun" in The Seventh Victim (1943). Also in 1943, Bard appeared in two other Val Lewton-produced horror films: The Leopard Man, as Robles, the Police Chief, and The Ghost Ship, as First Officer Bowns. In 1939, he married Roma Clarisse, an actress and last recipient of the Ruth Roland Scholarship to Ben Bard Drama. They had 3 children before she died in 1947. In 1948 Bard married Jackie Lynn Taylor, an actress in the Our Gang series. They divorced in 1954. During the 1950s, Bard was the head of the New Talent Department at Twentieth Century Fox. He re-opened his school, Ben Bard Drama, in 1960. Bard died in Los Angeles in 1974. His resting place is with Ruth Roland at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. He is survived by his son Bryan Barak Bard, who is a video documentary artist living in Israel. He is also survived by his other son Bartley Bard, who is a professional director and screenwriter. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ben Bard, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Biography from TMDB.
- January 26, 1893
- May 17, 1974 (aged 81)
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- Actor
- 5 on MovieCove · 23 credits in all
What are Ben Bard's films like?
Across a limited sample of 3 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Bonds.
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 3
Light 0 · Serious 0 · Dark 3
Grounded 0 · Stylized 3 · Heightened 0
Gentle 0 · Charged 2 · Intense 1
A split, not a type: Steady 1 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 0 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0
Casual 0 · Engaged 3 · Full focus 0
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 0
Resolved 0 · Open-ended 2 · Ambiguous 1
Roles they play
- Threshold guardianas Mr. Brun in The Seventh Victim (1943)
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Ben Bard's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 4 of their 5 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
Subscription and free streaming for Ben Bard's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
23 credits, 5 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.
Black Angel(1946)
Midcredits score: 75th percentile of all films
Youth Runs Wild (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1944)
The Ghost Ship (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1943)
The Seventh Victim(1943)
Midcredits score: 70th percentile of all films
The Leopard Man(1943)
Midcredits score: 71st percentile of all films
Meet the Baron (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1933)
The Bat Whispers(1930)
Midcredits score: 55th percentile of all films
Night Work (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1930)
Born Reckless(1930)
Midcredits score: 22nd percentile of all films
The Sculptor's Dream (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1930)
Love and the Devil (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1929)
Romance of the Underworld (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1928)
Fleetwing (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1928)
No Other Woman (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1928)
Dressed to Kill (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1928)
Come to My House (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
Two Flaming Youths (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
The Arizona Wildcat (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
Two Girls Wanted (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
7th Heaven (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
The Secret Studio (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
Car Shy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1927)
My Own Pal (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1926)
Career shape
Star power in the 82nd percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 23 titles from 1926 to 1946.
Film career
- 1927Screen debut· 7th Heaven
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30.
How do Ben Bard's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 70th percentile, the median of all 5; across a limited sample of 3 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 71st percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up1
- 50th to 74th3
- Below 25th1
Shape of the crowd
None of their 5 titles divides audiences: 4 are Crowd Pleasers.
- Crowd Pleaser4
- Broadly Agreed1
Reviewers score the acting 63/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 68, detractors 46. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Ben Bard work with?
People who share at least 2 of Ben Bard's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Cornell Woolrich shares the most, 2.
Writers
- Cornell WoolrichShared titles: Black Angel (1946), The Leopard Man (1943)See all 2 shared titles with Cornell Woolrich
Actors
- Isabel JewellShared titles: The Leopard Man (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943)See all 2 shared titles with Isabel Jewell
- Jean BrooksShared titles: The Leopard Man (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943)See all 2 shared titles with Jean Brooks
Composers
- Roy WebbShared titles: The Leopard Man (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943)See all 2 shared titles with Roy Webb
Producers
- Val LewtonShared titles: The Leopard Man (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943)See all 2 shared titles with Val Lewton
Mixed roles
- Mark RobsonShared titles: The Leopard Man (1943), The Seventh Victim (1943)See all 2 shared titles with Mark Robson
