Aileen Despard was an actress, born on July 19, 1908, in Mullynure, County Armagh, Ireland. She died August 25, 1981, in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire, England, UK.
In 1930, the magazine Film Weekly sponsored a pair of film acting scholarships. The two winners (Cyril Butcher and Aileen Despard) went on to appear in the now lost Alfred Hitchcock short An Elastic Affair and placed under contract by British International Pictures. [1]
Alan William Napier-Clavering, better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for portraying Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.
Kitty Kelly, was an American stage and film character actress.
Henry Armetta was an American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, beginning in silent movies. His last film was released posthumously in 1946, the year after his death.
Arthur Basil Radford was an English character actor who featured in many British films of the 1930s and 1940s.
Arthur Hoyt was an American film character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them silent films.
Dorothy Clara Louise Haas was a German-American actress and singer who played in German and American films. After moving to the United States, she often appeared in Broadway plays. She became a naturalized US citizen and married Al Hirschfeld, a noted portraitist and caricaturist in New York City.
Malcolm Keen was an English actor of stage, film and television. He was sometimes credited as Malcolm Keane.
Emerson Treacy was a film, Broadway, and radio actor.
James Cornelius Kirkwood Sr. was an American actor and director.
Miles Mander, was an English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist. He was sometimes credited as Luther Miles.
Niles Eugene Welch was an American performer on Broadway, and a leading man in a number of silent and early talking motion pictures from the early 1910s through the 1930s.
Clito "Clyde" Geronimi, known as Gerry, was an American animation director. He is best known for his work at Walt Disney Productions.
John Longden was a British film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1926 and 1964, including six films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Ethel Griffies was an English actress of stage, screen, and television. She is remembered for portraying the ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963). She appeared in stage roles in her native England and in the United States, and had featured roles in around 100 motion pictures. Griffies was one of the oldest working actors in the English-speaking theatre at the time of her death at 97 years old. She acted alongside such stars as May Whitty, Ellen Terry, and Anna Neagle.
Double Dealing is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Richard Cooper, Frank Pettingell and Sydney Fairbrother. It was made as a quota quickie at Twickenham Studios.
An Elastic Affair (1930) is a 10-minute short comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which features the two winners—Cyril Butcher (1909–1988) as "the Boy" and Aileen Despard (1908–1981) as "the Girl"—of a film acting scholarship sponsored by British film magazine Film Weekly.
Children of Chance is a 1930 British comedy crime film directed by Alexander Esway and starring Elissa Landi, Mabel Poulton, John Stuart and John Longden.
Film Weekly was one of the leading popular film magazines published in the United Kingdom during the late 1920s and 1930s.
Cyril George Butcher was an English actor and director and longtime companion of Beverley Nichols.
Threads is a 1932 British drama film directed by G.B. Samuelson and starring Lawrence Anderson, Dorothy Fane and Wendy Barrie. It was shot at Cricklewood Studios near London and was released by United Artists.