Frank Vosper
Encyclopedia
Frank Vosper was a British
actor
and playwright
.
His extensive stage experience included appearing in his own play Love from a Stranger
(1936), adapted from the short story Philomel Cottage by Agatha Christie
.
His other plays included co-writing the comedy No Funny Business.
He also wrote People Like Us, based on the case of Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters. Banned by the Lord Chamberlain
after a performance at the Strand Theatre
featuring Atholl Fleming
, it remained unperformed until 1948 when it premiered at the Wyndhams Theatre, London
, with Miles Malleson
, George Rose, Robert Flemyng
and Kathleen Michael.
Films as a writer included
after considerable media speculation as to the cause of the death.
According to the Daily Express Fiction Library edition of Murder on the Second Floor, Vosper fell from the French ocean liner SS Normandie
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
.
Stage
Vosper made his stage debut in 1919 and was best known for playing urbane villains.His extensive stage experience included appearing in his own play Love from a Stranger
Love from a Stranger (play)
Love from a Stranger is a 1936 play based on Philomel Cottage, a 1924 short story by British mystery writer Agatha Christie.-Background:...
(1936), adapted from the short story Philomel Cottage by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
.
His other plays included co-writing the comedy No Funny Business.
He also wrote People Like Us, based on the case of Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters. Banned by the Lord Chamberlain
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain or Lord Chamberlain of the Household is one of the chief officers of the Royal Household in the United Kingdom and is to be distinguished from the Lord Great Chamberlain, one of the Great Officers of State....
after a performance at the Strand Theatre
Novello Theatre
The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
featuring Atholl Fleming
Atholl Fleming
Atholl Fleming was a British actor and an Australian radio personality.He was the third of nine children of R. S. Fleming, a Scottish Baptist minister of Beckenham in Kent. After a fall as a child, he became deaf in his right ear...
, it remained unperformed until 1948 when it premiered at the Wyndhams Theatre, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with Miles Malleson
Miles Malleson
William Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly known for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the...
, George Rose, Robert Flemyng
Robert Flemyng
Robert Flemyng OBE, MC was a British film and stage actor.Flemyng was born in Liverpool, the son of a doctor, and was educated at Haileybury. He began his career as a medical student before abandoning medicine to become an actor. Flemyng made his stage debut in the early 1930s, and worked steadily...
and Kathleen Michael.
Filmography
His films as an actor included- The Woman JurorThe Woman JurorThe Woman Juror is a 1926 British silent era drama film directed by Milton Rosmer and starring Charles Ashton , Alexander Field and Frank Vosper....
(1926) - Blinkeyes (1926)
- The Last PostThe Last Post (film)The Last Post is a 1929 British silent film drama, directed by Dinah Shurey and starring John Longden and Frank Vosper. The film was the first solo directorial venture by Shurey, who was the only female producer and director working in the British film industry at the time...
(1929) - Rome ExpressRome ExpressRome Express is a British film directed by Walter Forde and written by Sidney Gilliat and Clifford Grey. -Cast:*Esther Ralston - Asta Marvelle*Conrad Veidt - Zurta*Harold Huth - George Grant*Frank Vosper - M...
(1932) - Strange EvidenceStrange EvidenceStrange Evidence is a 1933 British crime film directed by Robert Milton and starring Leslie Banks, George Curzon, Carol Goodner and Frank Vosper.-Cast:* Leslie Banks as Francis Relf* Carol Goodner as Marie / Barbara Relf* George Curzon as Stephen Relf...
(1932) - Dick TurpinDick Turpin (1933 film)Dick Turpin is a 1933 British historical drama film directed by Victor Hanbury and John Stafford it starred Victor McLaglen, Jane Carr, Frank Vosper, James Finlayson and Cecil Humphreys. The film depicts the adventures of the eighteenth century highwayman Dick Turpin and his legendary ride to York....
(1933) - Waltzes from ViennaWaltzes from ViennaWaltzes from Vienna is a British musical film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, also known as Strauss' Great Waltz.-Production background:The film tells the story of the writing and performance of The Blue Danube. According to Hitchcock:...
(1934) - Red EnsignRed Ensign (film)Red Ensign is an early work by noted British film-maker Michael Powell.-Story:David Barr is the manager and chief designer of a British shipyard who comes up with a radical new design for ships, at a time when the industry as a whole is in recession...
(1934) - Open All NightOpen All Night (film)Open All Night is a 1934 British drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Frank Vosper, Margaret Vines, Gillian Lind, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Michael Shepley...
(1934) - Blind JusticeBlind Justice (1934 film)Blind Justice is a 1934 British thriller film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Eva Moore, Frank Vosper, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Roger Livesey and John Mills. A woman is blackmailed by a criminal, who has discovered that her brother was shot as a coward during the First World War...
(1934) - Jew SussJew Suss (1934 film)Jud Süß is a 1934 British historical romantic drama film. Directed by Lothar Mendes, the film stars German actor Conrad Veidt in the role of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer. British censors did not allow a film to openly criticize the persecution of Jews, since it would have appeared as an attack on German...
(1934) - The Man Who Knew Too MuchThe Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)The Man Who Knew Too Much is a British suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period....
(1934) - Heart's DesireHeart's Desire (film)Heart's Desire is a 1935 British musical drama film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Richard Tauber, Leonora Corbett, Kathleen Kellyand Frank Vosper. A young opera singer is discovered in Vienna and is brought to London where he rises to stardom....
(1935) - Royal CavalcadeRoyal CavalcadeRoyal Cavalcade is a 1935 British, black-and-white, drama film directed by six separate directors: Thomas Bentley , Herbert Brenon, Norman Lee, Walter Summers, Will Kellino and Marcel Varnel. The film features Marie Lohr, Hermione Baddeley, Owen Nares, Robert Hale, Austin Trevor, James Carew,...
(1935) - KoenigsmarkKoenigsmark (1935 film)Koenigsmark is a British-French film directed by Maurice Tourneur and starring Elissa Landi, John Lodge, Pierre Fresnay, Frank Vosper, and Cecil Humphreys....
(1935) - Secret of StamboulSecret of StamboulSecret of Stamboul is a 1936 British thriller film, taken from the novel The Eunuch of Stamboul by Dennis Wheatley, directed by Andrew Marton and starring Valerie Hobson, James Mason and Frank Vosper...
(1936) - Spy for Napoleon (1936)
Films as a writer included
- Murder on the Second FloorMurder on the Second FloorMurder on the Second Floor is a 1932 British thriller film directed by William C. McGann and starring Pat Peterson, John Longden and Sydney Fairbrother. A novelist imagines the murders of his fellow tenants. It was based on a play with the same name by Frank Vosper....
(1932) - No Funny BusinessNo Funny BusinessNo Funny Business is a 1933 British comedy film directed by Victor Hanbury and starring Laurence Olivier, Gertrude Lawrence, Jill Esmond and Edmund Breon. The film is based around a comedy of errors during a divorce case It was made at Ealing Studios...
- 1933 - Shadows on the Stairs - 1941 (adapted from Murder on the Second Floor)
Death
Vosper drowned on 6 March 1937 when he fell from the ocean liner SS Paris. The death was eventually ruled as accidentalAccidental
Accidental may mean:* Accidental * Accidental , by Fred Frith* Accidental , a biological phenomenon more commonly known as vagrancy* Accidental property, a philosophical term-See also:* Accident...
after considerable media speculation as to the cause of the death.
According to the Daily Express Fiction Library edition of Murder on the Second Floor, Vosper fell from the French ocean liner SS Normandie
SS Normandie
SS Normandie was an ocean liner built in Saint-Nazaire, France for the French Line Compagnie Générale Transatlantique. She entered service in 1935 as the largest and fastest passenger ship afloat; she is still the most powerful steam turbo-electric-propelled passenger ship ever built.Her novel...
.
External links
- Portrait of the actor Frank Vosper by Thomas Staedeli at www.cyranos.ch Short biography and photograph of Vosper.