He later moved to Hollywood, where he began a lengthy film career, becoming a familiar face in many Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer productions.

Owen is perhaps best known today for his performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938 film version of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, a role he inherited from Lionel Barrymore, who had played the part on the radio for years.

He had a small role in the 1962 Irwin Allen production of the Jules Verne novel Five Weeks in a Balloon.

In August 1964, his mansion in Bel Air was rented to the Beatles, who were performing at the Hollywood Bowl, when no hotel would book them.

[5] Owen died from a heart attack at age 85 in Boise, Idaho, and buried at the Morris Hill Cemetery there.