Henry Edwards (Director)
Henry Edwards ; Born Arthur Harold Ethelbert Edwards (born September 18, 1883 in Weston-super-Mare , Somerset , England , † November 2, 1952 in Chobham , Surrey , England) was a British actor and director. He was one of the most important British filmmakers of the 1910s and 1920s.
Life
Henry Edwards was born as Arthur Harold Ethelbert Edwards and began his acting career in 1900 on provincial stages. In 15 years of theater work as an actor, producer and author, he made it to New York , where he appeared with Ethel Barrymore in 1913 .
His film career began in 1915 with the screen version of his stage role in The Man Who Stayed at Home , directed by Cecil Hepworth . Edwards made his directorial debut in the film that same year with A Welsh Singer . For the next 10 years he was permanently employed by Hepworth and was stylized with Chrissie White , whom he also married in January 1924, to be the first British screen couple with star status. They were successful in Hepworth's Broken in the wars (1918), in which Alma Taylor , another star of the studio, also played.
In 1918 Edwards made the short war propaganda film Old Mother Hubbard , one of several commissioned works by the newly created British Ministry of Information. His directorial work is considered innovative for its time, so in 1923 he shot Lily of the Alley, a film that completely dispensed with subtitles .
With the bankruptcy of the Hepworth production company, Chrissie White withdrew from the film business, Edwards continued working and played the leading role in Maurice Elvey's The Flag Lieutenant (1926) for Astra-National . Inspired by the success of the film, he founded the WP Film Company with Julius Hagen in 1927 and produced independently in the studios in Twickenham. Until 1937 he directed low-budget productions himself, and several remakes of British silent films were made. He then appeared as an actor in British films until his death.
He and Chrissie White have a daughter, Henryetta Edwards, who appeared in several films in the 1950s.
Filmography (selection)
actor
- 1915: The Man Who Stayed at Home
- 1917: Merely Mrs. Stubbs
- 1920: The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss
- 1926: The Flag Lieutenant
- 1928: fear
- 1928: A girl and three clowns
- 1946: Paganini ( The Magic Bow )
- 1946: Warning: Green ( Green for Danger )
- 1947: The Saving Song ( Take My Life )
- 1948: Oliver Twist
- 1948: The misogynist ( Woman Hater )
- 1950: That's Life ( Trio )
- 1951: The Wonderful Flicker Box ( The Magic Box )
Director
- 1915: A Welsh Singer
- 1916: East Is East
- 1917: Merely Mrs. Stubbs
- 1923: Lily of the Alley
- 1925: King of the Castle
- 1931: The Girl in the Night
- 1933: One Precious Year
- 1935: Scrooge
- 1935: Vintage Wine
- 1935: The Private Secretary
- 1937: The Vicar of Bray
Web links
- Henry Edwards in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Henry Edwards in the Internet Broadway Database (English)
- Henry Edwards at screenonline
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Edwards, Henry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Edwards, Arthur Harold Ethelbert (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British actor and director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 18, 1883 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Weston-super-Mare , Somerset , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 2, 1952 |
| Place of death | Chobham , Surrey , England |