Callender began his career as a stage actor in 1906 performing with Robert B. Mantell's Shakespeare company.
He made his debut with that company at His Majesty's Theatre, Montreal as the Duke of Albany in William Shakespeare's King Lear on September 5, 1906.
[5] Other roles he portrayed with that company in the 1906-1907 season included Gratiano in Othello,[6] Sir Robert Brackenbury in Richard III,[7][8] Salanio in The Merchant of Venice,[9] and Tillius Cimber in Julius Caesar.
Not long after this he took his father's stage name of Romaine Callender; first appearing on Broadway under that name as Snake in the 1925 revival of The School for Scandal at the Knickerbocker Theatre.
His other later Broadway credits include the roles of Malacoda in Mima (1928), Dr. Otternschlag in Grand Hotel (1930), Fernand Demoncey in The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1932), Dr. Frederick Swan in Keeper of the Keys (1933), Cesar Poustiano in Another Love (1934), General Michael Rakovski in Judgment Day (1934), and Wesley Cartwright Post Road (1934-1935).
"[18] Callender portrayed butlers, often with humorous impact, in several more Columbia pictures; including the films The Music Goes 'Round (1936),[19] Pepper (1936),[20] Life Begins with Love (1937),[21] The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938),[22] Wuthering Heights (1939),[23] and It's a Date (1940).