Manly Cheesecake #6

Next up is George Brent. Born George Brendan Nolan in County Roscommon, Ireland, Brent served as either a courier or a hitman (depending on who you believe) in the Old Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence.

With regard to his acting, our good friend Zoe of The Big Parade nailed it when she described Brent as "the brick wall almost all the great actresses in Hollywood lent on." He signed with Warner Brothers in 1930 and served primarily as that studio's go-to guy when Bette Davis needed a leading man (they made a dozen movies together and were romantically involved for two years) but he also stood next to Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Arthur, Greta Garbo, Kay Francis—you get the picture.

Brent's career faded during the Second World War and he moved to television in the 1950s. He died of emphysema at the age of eighty.