E. E. CLIVE

E. E. Clive
E. E. Clive
Gender: Male
Known for: Acting
Birthday: August 26, 1879
Deathday: June 6, 1940
Place of Birth: Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK

Biography

Edward Erskholme Clive was a Welsh stage actor and director who had a prolific acting career in Britain and America. He also played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood movies between 1933 and his death. E. E. Clive was born on 28 August 1879 in Blaenavon in Monmouthshire. Clive studied for a medical career, and had completed four years of medical studies at St Bartholomew's Hospital before switching his focus to acting at age 22. Touring the provinces for a decade, Clive became an expert at virtually every sort of regional dialect in the British Isles. He moved to the US in 1912, where after working in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit he set up his own stock company in Boston. By the 1920s, his company was operating in Hollywood; among his repertory players were such up-and-comers as Rosalind Russell. He also worked at the Broadway in several plays. E. E. Clive made his film debut as a village police constable in 1933's The Invisible Man with Claude Rains, then spent the next seven years showing up in wry supporting and bit parts, where he often portrayed comical versions of English stereotypes. He often played butlers, reporters, aristocrats, shopkeepers and cabbies during his short film career. Though his roles were often small, Clive was a well-known and prolific character actor of his time. Among his best-known roles was the incompetent Burgomaster in James Whale's horror classic Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He was a semi-regular as Tenny the Butler in Paramount Pictures' Bulldog Drummond B series, starring John Howard; he also played butlers in other movies like Bachelor Mother with David Niven and Ginger Rogers. In 1939, Clive appeared in The Little Princess as the lawyer Mr. Barrows, and the first two entries of the classic Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone. One of Clive's last roles was Sir William Lucas in the 1940 literature adaption Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. E. E. Clive died on 6 June 1940, of a heart ailment, in his Hollywood home. He was survived by his wife Eleanor and their child. Clive was a member of the Euclid lodge of Freemasons in Boston.

Filmography

Starring

Cosgrove Dabney in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)
Mr. MacPherson
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Mr. Redwood
Horace Snell
Sir William Lucas
Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
Port Commandant General (uncredited)
Butler
London Cabbie John Clayton
Hotchkiss
1939·
Raffles
Barraclough
Inspector Bristol
Barouche Driver
Mr. Barrows
1938·
Gateway
Room Steward
Major Barclay
1938·
Kidnapped
Minister MacDougall
Chester Blascomb
'Tenny' Tennison
Guide
Captain Bowden
Bilge
Cabby
Lord Nigel Braemer
Sir Samuel Buffington
Mr. Palmiston
'Tenny' Tennison
First Butler
"Tenny" Tennison
Cosgrove Dabney
1936·
Show Boat
Sir Arthur
1936·
Camille
Saint Gaudens (uncredited)
Montgomery Brantley, . Montgomery Brantley
Walker
Dr. Smith (uncredited)
Morgan
Barkins
Foot, the Butler
Lord Henry Hathaway
King
Charles Fendwick
London Gossip Editor Bill Mechan
Yacht Captain (uncredited)
Dr. Hardy
Magistrate
Masters
Sir Humphrey Harcourt
Fishing Instructor
Sergeant Wilkes
Sir Harry Lorridaile
Judge in 'Old Bailey'
Coachman
Higgins - Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)
Lord Holloway
Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)
Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)
1935·
Kind Lady
Grammaphone Man (uncredited)
Sheriff's Man (uncredited)
Jevons
McIntosh
Mayor Thomas Sapsea
Clerk of the Court
Burgomaster
1934·
Riptide
Major Mills (uncredited)
Chayne
Sergeant Dawes
Spot Hawkins
Lord Fetherstone
Sheriff Greer
Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Det. Sgt. Thacker
Constable Jaffers
Steward