John Roche (actor)

John Roche (May 6, 1893 – November 10, 1952) was an American actor of the stage and screen.

John Conklin Roche was born in the small village of Penn Yan, New York, on May 6, 1893.^[1] His father purportedly died by the time of the 1900 census.^[2] By 1910, Roche worked as a stenographer at a flour mill.^[3] He graduated from the University of Rochester, after which he began his acting career touring with stock companies during the 1910s and early 1920s.^[4] By the time of the 1920 census, he listed himself as divorced and worked as a motor truck engineer in Manhattan.^[5] In 1922, he broke into the film industry with a featured role in The Good Provider.^[6] During the 1920s, he acted in both films and on stage, including several roles in Broadway productions, such as R.U.R. (1922).^[7][8][9] By 7 April 1930, he lived in Los Angeles with his partner, Newell Vanderhoef, with whom he stayed until at least 1950.^[10][11][12] 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.^[4][13] By 1940, he took up regular work selling jewelry at a department store.^[11][12] 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.^[14] Over the course of his career he was involved in over six Broadway productions and appeared in over 50 films.^[7][8] His final screen appearance was in 1946's The Brute Man.^[15]

Roche died on November 10, 1952, at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital.^[4][16] His remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery.^[17] Vanderhoef was not named in his obituary, though it states he was survived by his brother, Angelo James Roche, Esq.^[18] Angelo also had a partner, James H Corliss.^[19]

(According to AFI database)^[7]

• John Roche at IMDb