Mar 18 2006 27 mins 4
Born Arthur Silverlake in Kentucky in April 1905, Arthur Lake was born into show business, as his parents had a vaudeville act which he joined while still a youth. In the late 1910s, the family made its way to California, where Arthur Lake would soon enter films as a juvenile lead. In 1924, Lake signed with Universal Studios and acted in many silent short subjects, nearly all of them comedies. But when Lake's contract was up in 1930, Universal dropped his option, sending his career into decline. Lake freelanced at Monogram, RKO, and other studios until signing a contract with Columbia Pictures in 1938 to portray Dagwood Bumstead in the Blondie series of films. The popularity of the first film, Blondie, in 1938 led to three follow-up films in 1939 and the introduction of the CBS radio series of the same name
