Arthur Lake (b. Arthur Silverlake, April 17, 1905, Corbin, Kentucky - d. January 9, 1987, Indian Wells, California) was an American actor known best for bringing Dagwood Bumstead, the stumbling husband of Blondie to life in film, radio, and television.
Lake appeared in films starting in the late 1920s, beginning as an adolescent character actor. By the sound era he was playing light romantic roles, usually with a comic "Mama's Boy" tone to them, in films such as Indiscreet with Gloria Swanson. He is best known for portraying the Blondie comic strip character of Dagwood Bumstead in the long-running series of Blondie films produced by Columbia Pictures from 1938 until 1950. During virtually the same length of time, a radio version was broadcast with Lake in the Dagwood role. He also portrayed the character in the 1957 Blondie television series, even though he was old enough by that time to be a grandfather. His work in the popular Blondie radio show earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6646 Hollywood Blvd.
He died of a heart attack in Indian Wells, California on January 9, 1987 and was interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, in the Douras family mausoleum, along with actress Marion Davies and her husband Harold Brown.
Lake's wife Patricia Van Cleeve Lake (1923-1993) was thought to be Davies' niece, until she was revealed to be Davies' and Hearst's illegitimate daughter after Davies died, making Arthur Lake a son-in-law of Davies and William Randolph Hearst. Archive footage of Arthur and Patricia Lake appeared in the documentary film Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies which premiered on Turner Classic Movies on February 14, 2001.
Arthur Lake's sister Florence Lake was also an actress who became famous as one of the screen wives of comedian Edgar Kennedy.
His parents were circus acrobats and he became part of their act. When they changed to vaudeville and wound up in California, he got a job in the movies. The founder of Universal Pictures, Carl Laemmle changed his name to Lake. In silent films he played somewhat dimwitted youngsters, The long-running part of Dagwood in the "Blondie" series pretty much continued the the pattern into adult life. He and Penny Singleton also appeared in a half-hour "Blondie" radio series which ran from 1939 to 1950, airing on CBS, ABC and finally on NBC. The program's stylized opening line, delivered by Bill Goodwin (I) became famous: "Uh-uh-uh. Don't touch that dial. It's time for ...[Lake:] Blond-dee".
