Eric Blore
Eric Blore | |
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![]() from the trailer for The Casino Murder Case (1935). | |
Born | 23 December 1887 |
Died | 2 March 1959 (aged 71) Hollywood, California, United States |
Years active | 1920–1955 |
Spouse(s) | Clara Blore (1926–1959) (his death) 1 child Violet Winter (1917–1919) (her death) |
Eric Blore (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English comic actor who worked in the United States beginning in the 1920s and had a very busy career in Hollywood films in the 1930 and 1940s. Blore was born in Finchley, Middlesex, England.
Biography
Aged 18, Blore worked as an insurance agent for two years. He gained theatre experience while touring Australia. Originally enlisting into the Artists Rifles, he was commissioned in the South Wales Borderers in the First World War. Eventually, he appeared in several shows and revues in England. In 1923, he went to the United States and began playing character roles on Broadway. After the death of his first wife, Violet Winter, he married Clara Mackin in 1926. His stage work in the musical Gay Divorce with Fred Astaire earned him a role in films.
He moved on to film and appeared in over eighty Hollywood films. Blore, in his role as an English butler, appeared more frequently than any other supporting player in the series of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals at RKO Radio Pictures, five of ten. Some of his most memorable on-screen moments took place in Top Hat (1935) and Shall We Dance (1937). He reprised this role with Astaire for a final time in The Sky's the Limit (1943), delivering the line: "If I were not such a gentleman's gentleman, I could be such a cad's cad," as he had in It's Love I'm After six years earlier. Other memorable roles included Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith in the Preston Sturges film The Lady Eve (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, a small part as Charles Kimble in the second of the seven Bing Crosby-Bob Hope "Road" films, Road to Zanzibar (1941), and, from 1940 to 1947, in eleven Lone Wolf films as Jamison the butler.
Blore died of a heart attack at age 71 on 2 March 1959 in Hollywood, California. He was entombed in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.
His death caused an unexpected stir, quite independent of his fame. The British critic Kenneth Tynan, writing for The New Yorker, had recently made a mistaken reference to "the late Eric Blore", and this error passed by the normally vigilant checking department. When Blore’s lawyer demanded a retraction, the editor had no choice other than to refer this demand to Tynan, pointing out in a fury that this was the first retraction ever to appear in that uniquely authoritative magazine. In disgrace, Tynan prepared a major apology, to appear prominently in the next issue. On the eve of publication, when the edition was printed and ready for delivery, Blore died. So next morning, the daily papers announced Blore’s death, while The New Yorker apologised for any insult to Mr. Blore’s feelings through their erroneous report of his demise.
Filmography
- The Great Gatsby (1926) - Lord Digby
- Laughter (1930) - Party Guest in Angel Costume (uncredited)
- Tarnished Lady (1931) - Jewelry Counter Clerk (uncredited)
- My Sin (1931) - Barfly
- Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) - Complaining Club Member (uncredited)
- Flying Down to Rio* (1933) - The Head Waiter
- The Gay Divorcee* (1934) - The Waiter
- Behold My Wife! (1934) - Benson (butler)
- Limehouse Blues (1934) - Slummer (uncredited)
- The Good Fairy (1935) - Dr. Metz
- Folies Bergère de Paris (1935) - Francois
- The Casino Murder Case (1935) - Currie
- Old Man Rhythm (1935) - 'Phil' Phillips
- Top Hat* (1935) - Bates
- Diamond Jim (1935) - Sampson Fox
- I Live My Life (1935) - Grove, Bentley's Butler
- To Beat the Band (1935) - Hawkins
- I Dream Too Much (1935) - Roger Briggs
- Seven Keys to Baldpate (1935) - Prof. Harrison Boulton
- Two in the Dark (1936) - Edmund Fish
- Sons o' Guns (1936) - Hobson
- The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936) - Stokes, Bradford's Butler
- Piccadilly Jim (1936) - Bayliss, Jim's Butler
- Swing Time* (1936) - Gordon
- Smartest Girl in Town (1936) - Lucius Philbean - Dick's Valet
- Quality Street (1937) - Recruiting Sergeant
- The Soldier and the Lady (1937) - Blount
- Shall We Dance* (1937) - Cecil Flintridge
- It's Love I'm After (1937) - Digges
- Breakfast for Two (1937) - Butch - Blair's Valet
- Hitting a New High (1937) - Cedric Cosmo, aka Captain Braceridge Hemingway
- Joy of Living (1938) - Potter
- Swiss Miss (1938) - Edward
- A Desperate Adventure (1938) - Trump
- A Gentleman's Gentleman (1939) - Heppelwhite
- Island of Lost Men (1939) - Herbert
- $1,000 a Touchdown (1939) - Henry
- Music in My Heart (1940) - Griggs
- The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940) - Horace Parker
- The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940) - Jamison
- 'Til We Meet Again (1940) - Sir Harold Pinchard
- The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady (1940) - Jamison
- The Boys from Syracuse (1940) - Pinch
- Earl of Puddlestone (1940) - Horatio Bottomley
- South of Suez (1940) - Harold 'Limey' Wemsley
- The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940) - Jamison
- The Lady Eve (1941) - Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith
- The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941) - Jamison
- Road to Zanzibar (1941) - Charles Kimble
- Redhead (1941) - Digby
- Lady Scarface (1941) - Mr. Hartford
- Three Girls About Town (1941) - Charlemagne
- New York Town (1941) - Vivian
- Secrets of the Lone Wolf (1941) - Jamison
- Confirm or Deny (1941) - Mr. Hobbs, Regency Hotel
- Sullivan's Travels (1941) - Sullivan's Valet
- The Shanghai Gesture (1941) - The Bookkeeper
- Counter-Espionage (1942) - Jamison
- The Moon and Sixpence (1942) - Capt. Nichols
- Happy Go Lucky (1943) - Betsman
- One Dangerous Night (1943) - Jamison
- Forever and a Day (1943) - Charles
- Heavenly Music (1943, Short) - Mr. Frisbie - Public Relations
- The Sky's the Limit (1943) - Jackson - Phil's Butler (uncredited)
- Submarine Base (1943) - Spike - Morgan's Aide
- Passport to Suez (1943, part of the Lone Wolf series) - Llewellyn Jameson
- Holy Matrimony (1943) - Henry Leek
- San Diego, I Love You (1944) - Nelson, Butler
- The Captain from Köpenick (1945) - Obermueller, the Mayor
- Penthouse Rhythm (1945) - Ferdy Pelham
- Easy to Look at (1945) - Billings
- Men in Her Diary (1945) - Florist
- Kitty (1945) - Dobson
- The Notorious Lone Wolf (1946) - Jameson
- Winter Wonderland (1946) - Luddington
- Abie's Irish Rose (1946) - Stubbins, Asst. Hotel Manager
- The Lone Wolf in Mexico (1947) - Jamison
- The Lone Wolf in London (1947) - Jamison
- Romance on the High Seas (1948) - Ship's Doctor
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949 short) - J. Thaddeus Toad (voice)
- Love Happy (1949) - Mackinaw
- Fancy Pants (1950) - Sir Wimbley
- Bowery to Bagdad (1955) - Genie of the Lamp (final film role)
* - films featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
References
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Eric Blore at IMDb
- Eric Blore at the Internet Broadway Database
- Eric Blore at Find a Grave
- Use dmy dates from April 2012
- 1887 births
- 1959 deaths
- Male actors from London
- English male film actors
- South Wales Borderers officers
- Artists' Rifles soldiers
- People from Finchley
- English expatriates in the United States
- 20th-century English male actors
- Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
- British expatriate male actors in the United States