Legendary Broadway star of both dramas and musicals, he created the role of Francois Villon in Rudolf Friml's "The Vagabond King" in 1925, in which he also made his sound film debut opposite Jeanette MacDonald, Lillian Roth, and Warner Oland five years later. Primarily a stage actor, he only made a few more films, most notably Fra Diavolo (1933) and Between Two Worlds (1944), and was very active on early TV.