Cecil Kellaway

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Cecil Kellaway (born August 22, 1890 in Cape Town , South Africa , † February 28, 1973 in Los Angeles , California ) was a British film and theater actor and screenwriter .

life and career

Cecil Kellaway was born to the British couple John Kellaway and Rebecca Annie in what is now South Africa. His exact year of birth is disputed, although many sources give the year 1893, but 1890 is considered more likely. Several of his relatives also worked as actors, including Oscar winner Edmund Gwenn and British actor Arthur Chesney Kellaway's cousins . Kellaway grew up in South Africa and England and discovered his interest in acting early on, much to the annoyance of his parents. He began his acting career in a theater company and moved to Australia in 1921 . There he became a popular character actor in the theater. His second film, It Isn't Done (1937), for which he also wrote the original story, caught the attention of RKO Pictures , which Kellaway signed.

After a few minor films, Kellaway first gained attention in 1939 with the role of Mr. Earnshaw in William Wyler's literary adaptation, Storm Heights . Kellaway was often cast in the role of the somewhat funny but friendly British gentleman. In 1946 he was cast as the naive husband of Lana Turner in the film noir In the Net of Passions , who fell victim to his malicious wife in the course of the film. Kellaway received his first of two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor in 1949 for the film The Luck of the Irish , in which he played a cheerful Irish leprechaun alongside Tyrone Power . A year later he played the role of the respected sanatorium director from Henry Koster's comedy My Friend Harvey , who is beginning to believe in a two-meter-tall rabbit named Harvey.

In the 1950s, Kellaway was mainly seen in guest roles on US television. Kellaway's only work for Broadway was in 1960 when he appeared on stage for the musical Greenwillow at the Alvin Theater between March and May . In 1964 he played a good-natured ex-reporter in the crime film Lullaby for a Corpse alongside Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland , which uncovered mysterious and obscure crimes. He got his second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his appearance as a pastor in Rat mal, who comes to dinner in 1967. With an appearance in the television film Call Holme , he retired from the acting business in 1972.

Cecil Kellaway was married and had two sons. He died of arteriosclerosis in 1973 .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Article about the acting family from 1938
personal data
SURNAME Kellaway, Cecil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American-Australian-British actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Cape Town , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH February 28, 1973
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA