M. A. Wetherell
Marmaduke Arundel "Duke" Wetherell (1883[1] – 25 February 1939) was a British–South African actor, screenwriter, producer, film director and big-game hunter.[2]
In the 1930s, Marmaduke went to Loch Ness to look for the Loch Ness monster. Wetherell claimed to have found footprints, but when casts of the footprints were sent to scientists for analysis they turned out to be from a hippopotamus; a prankster had used a hippopotamus-foot umbrella stand.
Biography
Born in Bodmin, Cornwall, Wetherell acted in both British and South African films during the silent era. In the 1920s he branched out to producing and directing films but they were not a success.[3] He produced, directed and played the lead role in his productions of Livingstone (1925) and Robinson Crusoe (1927). A planned biography of Lawrence of Arabia called Revolt in the Desert to be photographed by Freddie Young who had photographed his war films The Somme (1927) and Victory (1928) did not eventuate.[4][5]
He was responsible for the hoax "surgeon's photograph" of the Loch Ness Monster.
He was the father of actor Ian Colin.
Selected filmography
Actor
- The Rose of Rhodesia (1918)
- Isban: Or the Mystery of the Great Zimbabwe (1920)
- The Madcap of the Veld (1921)
- Wee MacGregor's Sweetheart (1922)
- Man and His Kingdom (1922)
- His Wife's Husband (1922)
- Darkness (1923)
- Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight (1923)
- Women and Diamonds (1924)
Director
- Livingstone (1925)
- Robinson Crusoe (1927)
- The Somme (1927)
- Victory (1928)
- A Moorland Tragedy (1933)
- Hearts of Oak (1933)
- Wanderlust (1933)
- Safari (1937)
Producer
- Roses of Picardy (1927)
Bibliography
- Low, Rachael. History of the British Film, 1918–1929. George Allen & Unwin, 1971.
References
- ^ "Wetherell, Marmaduke Arundel". FreeBMD. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
- ^ "M.A. Wetherell". BFI. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
- ^ Low p.155
- ^ p. 12 Morris, L. Robert & Raskin, Lawrence Lawrence of Arabia: The 30th Anniversary Pictorial History Doubleday, 1 Oct 1992
- ^ "All the Movies in Tony Crawley's Casting Calls".
External links
- M. A. Wetherell at IMDb
- Marmaduke Wetherell on Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT) https://esat.sun.ac.za/index.php/M.A._Wetherell
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- 1883 births
- 1939 deaths
- British male film actors
- British film producers
- British film directors
- South African male film actors
- South African film producers
- South African film directors
- 20th-century British male actors
- Male actors from Cornwall
- British film actor stubs
- South African artist stubs
- African film director stubs