A familiar character face in movies and television, Walter Abel was a dedicated stage actor who had studied at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York before moving on to a progression of stage work that culminated in his first appearance on Broadway in the original play "Forbidden" in late 1919. The year before he had just dabbled in the relatively new film industry doing Out of a Clear Sky (1918) directed by prolific silent actor and director Marshall Neilan. Abel did just one other silent and then moved back into serious stage work for ten years (including doing some road productions in 1924) before once again surfacing in film for the first sound version of the play Liliom (1930). Perhaps he was enticed with doing the play on film, but his was a small part and the sound of early talkies - as usual - was lousy. Once again Abel returned to Broadway and worked steadily from late 1930 into part of the 1934 season. He would have some 40 Broadway roles in his career. About that time his stage success was noticed by Hollywood, and he was signed with RKO. The studio had decided to do the first sound version of Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1935) which first appeared as a silent in 1922 with Douglas Fairbanks. The part of the enthusiastic but novice D'Artagnan really called for a younger actor reflecting those traits, and RKO decided to go with Abel. He had a bright voice and an animated style of theater acting that seemed a good bet. It was all the more impressive considering Abel was in his mid 30s - but he looked younger. RKO did not skimp on the film. The director was Rowland Lee, who had just finished another Dumas filming, The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) with Robert Donat. The rousing music was composed by Max Steiner, and the costumes were gloriously rendered by Walter Plunkett.