Cyril Smith | |
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| Born | 4 April 1892 Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland |
| Died | 5 March 1963 (aged 70) London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1900–1962 |
Cyril Edward Bruce-Smith (4 April 1892 – 5 March 1963) was a Scottish actor who began his career as a child in 1900 and went on to appear in numerous stage plays as well as over 100 films between 1914 and his death almost 50 years later. The son of Frederick and Elsa Smith; his mother travelled with him on his engagements during his boyhood.
Smith first became known as a child stage actor in 1900, and by the age of 13 in 1905, he travelled to New York to appear as Cosmo in a production of the J. M. Barrie play Alice-Sit-By-The Fire, opposite Ethel Barrymore; at the time, The New York Times hailed him as "one of the best-known child actors in England". [1] Smith's film career began in 1914 in the Wilfred Noy-directed Old St. Paul's and he appeared in almost 20 other silent films of the 1910s and 1920s before making the transition to sound. From the early 1930s until his death, he featured in dozens of films ranging from the quota quickies of the 1930s and the B-movies of the 1940s and 1950s, through to more prestigious productions starring names such as Vivien Leigh, Trevor Howard and Deborah Kerr. Smith was not a name-billed film actor, and many of his roles were uncredited bit parts or minor roles with generic titles such as "Publican", "Reporter" or "Bailiff"; however towards the end of his life he achieved several more prominent billings after finding a late-career niche portraying scatty and doddery elderly men. For instance, in 1956, he had a leading role in the Peggy Mount comedy, Sailor Beware! and a similar leading role in the Hylda Baker comedy, She Knows Y'Know (1962) . Smith also moved into television, as Merlin the magician in the 1956 ITV series The Adventures of Sir Lancelot which was also a success in the U.S. and as Harold Wormold in the first series of the BBC sitcom Hugh and I in 1962.
Smith suffered a heart attack in December 1962 and died on 5 March 1963, aged 70. [2]
Tom London was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to The Guinness Book of Movie Records, London is credited with appearing in the most films in the history of Hollywood, according to the 2001 book Film Facts, which says that the performer who played in the most films was "Tom London, who made his first of over 2,000 appearances in The Great Train Robbery, 1903. He used his birth name in films until 1924.
Walter Sydney Vinnicombe was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre.
Douglas Fowley was an American movie and television actor in more than 240 films and dozens of television programs, He is probably best remembered for his role as the frustrated movie director Roscoe Dexter in Singin' in the Rain (1952), and for his regular supporting role as Doc Fabrique and Doc Holiday in The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. He was the father of rock and roll musician and record producer Kim Fowley.
John Francis Regis Toomey was an American film and television actor.
Jimmy Hanley was an English actor who appeared in the popular Huggetts film series, and in ITV's most popular advertising magazine programme, Jim's Inn, from 1957 to 1963.
Frank Jenks was an American actor and vaudevillian.
John Farrell MacDonald was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed forty-four silent films from 1912 to 1917.
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Edward Gargan was an American film and television actor.
James Michael Burke was an Irish-American film and television character actor born in New York City.
Arthur Hambling was a British actor, on stage from 1912, and best known for appearances in the films Henry V (1944) and The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). In 1939 he appeared in the West End in N.C. Hunter's comedy Grouse in June.
Wilfred William Dennis Shine was a British theatre, film and television actor. Shine was born into a family of theatre actors; among others, Shine's father, mother, grandmother, two uncles and an aunt had worked in theatre. His father Wilfred Shine was a theatre actor who also appeared in films during the 1920s and the 1930s. Bill Shine made his film debut in 1929, since which he appeared in over 160 films and television series. Towards the end of his career, he was best known for playing Inventor Black on children's television series Super Gran. In series two, episode four, of Mrs Thursday, 'The Duke and I', (1967), he played the Duke of Midlothian.
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Frederick Piper was an English actor of stage and screen who appeared in over 80 films and many television productions in a career spanning over 40 years. Piper studied drama under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Johnnie William Schofield was a British actor, known for The Middle Watch (1948), Tawny Pipit (1944) and Melody of My Heart (1936).
Warren Reynolds "Ray" Walker was an American actor, born in Newark, New Jersey, who starred in Baby Take a Bow (1934), Hideaway Girl (1936), The Dark Hour (1936), The Unknown Guest (1943) and It's A Wonderful Life (1946).
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