Roy D'Arcy

Roy D'Arcy
Roy D'Arcy in Captain Calamity (1936)
Born	Roy Francis Giusti (1894-02-10)February 10, 1894 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	November 15, 1969(1969-11-15) (aged 75) Redlands, California
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1925–1939

Roy D'Arcy (February 10, 1894 – November 15, 1969) was an American film actor of the silent film and early sound period of the 1930s noted for his portrayal of flamboyant villains. He appeared in 50 different films between 1925 and 1939, such as The Temptress in 1926 with actresses such as Greta Garbo.

Roy D'Arcy was born as Roy Francis Giusti in San Francisco but educated in Europe and studied painting in Paris. After several years of traveling and various business ventures in South America and Asia he returned to the United States and decided to become involved in the theater. He was hired as a singer in several touring theatrical companies. In the early 1920s, he spent some time in vaudeville.

D'Arcy was performing his show on a Los Angeles stage when he was spotted by director Erich von Stroheim, who thought D'Arcy was just right for the part of the villainous, arrogant Prince Mirko in The Merry Widow. Von Stroheim had wanted to play the part himself, but was forbidden from doing so by MGM production head Irving Thalberg. It was a troubled production - from which von Stroheim was fired, brought back, then fired again - but the film was a great critical and financial success.

With the success of film he was cast in several other MGM productions as the head villain, such as Beverly of Graustark (1925), La Bohème (1926) and The Temptress (1926) alongside Greta Garbo, but he soon appeared in such comedies as Adam and Evil (1927), Frisco Sally Levy (1927) and On Ze Boulevard (1927). He developed a revue he took to Broadway in 1928, called "The Greatest Array of Talent Ever Assembled on Any Bill in This Country", which consisted of singers, dancers, and D'Arcy himself walking out into the audience and telling stories of his travels around the world.