Ian Hunter (actor)

Ian Hunter (actor)
Ian Hunter (13 June 1900 – 22 September 1975) was a Cape Colony-born British actor of stage, film and television.
Acting career
On his return from military service Hunter studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Within two years he made his stage debut. He decided to work in British silent films taking a part in Not for Sale (1924) directed by W.P. Kellino for Stoll Pictures.
Hunter made his first trip to the United States because Basil Dean, the British actor and director, was producing Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal at the Knickerbocker Theater. However, the production folded after one performance. He met the director Alfred Hitchcock in 1927 and was featured in Hitchcock's The Ring (1927) and stayed for Downhill (US: When Boys Leave Home, 1927) and Easy Virtue (1928), based on the Noël Coward play. By late 1928, he returned to Broadway for only a months run in the original comedy Olympia and stayed in America to work in Hollywood on Syncopation (1929) for RKO, his first sound film.
Hunter returned to London for Dean's thriller Escape (1930). In The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935) with Bette Davis, Hunter made his connection with Warner Bros. But before settling in with them through much of the 1930s, he did three pictures in succession with British director Michael Powell. He then appeared as the Duke in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) for Warner Bros. It marked the start of a string of nearly 30 films for the studio. Among the best remembered was his jovial King Richard the Lionheart in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). Hunter was also paired in seven movies with Kay Francis between 1935 and 1938.
Hunter appeared in The Little Princess (1939) as Captain Reginald Crewe. And he was the benign guardian angel-like Cambreau in Loew's Strange Cargo (1940) with Clark Gable. He was staying regularly busy in Hollywood until into 1942 when he returned to Britain to serve in the war effort.
Hunter appeared once more on Broadway in 1948 and made Edward, My Son (1949) for MGM-British with George Cukor directing and Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr in the lead roles. Hunter worked once more for Michael Powell (The Queen's Guards, 1961) and then retired in the middle of that decade after nearly 100 films.
Among dozens of film roles, his best-remembered appearances include That Certain Woman (1937) with Bette Davis, Tower of London (1939, as King Edward IV), and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941, as Dr. Lanyon). Hunter returned to the Robin Hood legend in the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood from 1955 in the recurring role of Sir Richard of the Lea.
His numerous West End roles included appearances in London Life (1924), The High Road (1927), A Song of Sixpence (1930), Good Losers (1931), Can the Leopard...? (1931), Take a Chance (1931), Touch Wood (1934) and South Sea Bubble (1956).
Marriage and children
Hunter married Catharine "Casha" Pringle in 1917. They had two sons, including the actor Robin Hunter.
Filmography
Not for Sale (1924) as Martin Bering
Confessions (1925) as Charles Oddy
A Girl of London (1925) as Peter Horniman
The Ring (1927) as Bob Corby
Downhill aka When Boys Leave Home (1927) as Archie
His House in Order (1928) as Hilary Jesson
Easy Virtue (1928) as The Plaintiff's Counsel
The Physician (1928) as Dr. Carey
The Valley of Ghosts (1928) as Andrew McLeod
The Thoroughbred (1928) as Allen Stockbridge
Syncopation (1929) as Alexander Winston
Escape (1930) as Detective
Cape Forlorn aka The Love Storm (1931) as Gordon Kingsley
Sally in Our Alley (1931) as George Miles
The Water Gipsies (1932) as Fred Green
The Sign of Four aka The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case (1932) as Dr. John H. Watson
Marry Me (1932) as Robert Hart
The Man from Toronto (1933) as Fergus Wimbush
The Silver Spoon (1934) as Captain Watts-Winyard
Orders Is Orders (1934) as Capt. Harper
The Church Mouse (1934) as Johnathan Steele
No Escape (1934) as Jim Brandon
Something Always Happens (1934) as Peter Middleton
Death at Broadcasting House aka Death at a Broadcast (1934) as Detective Inspector Gregory
Lazybones (1935) as Sir Reginald Ford
The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935) as Geoffrey D. 'Geoff' Sherwood
The Night of the Party aka The Murder Party (1935) as Guy Kennington
The Phantom Light (1935) as Jim Pearce
Jalna (1935) as Renny Whiteoaks
The Crusades (1935) as Second Knight Pleading to King Richard for Food (uncredited)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) as Theseus - Duke of Athens
I Found Stella Parish (1935) as Keith Lockridge
The Morals of Marcus (1935) as Sir Marcus Ordeyne
The White Angel (1936) as Reporter Fuller of the London Times
To Mary - with Love (1936) as Bill Hallam
The Devil Is a Sissy (1936) as Jay Pierce
Stolen Holiday (1937) as Anthony Wayne
Call It a Day (1937) as Roger Hilton
Another Dawn (1937) as Colonel John Wister
Confession (1937) as Leonide Kirow
That Certain Woman (1937) as Lloyd Rogers
52nd Street (1937) as Rufus Rondell
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) as King Richard the Lion-Heart
Always Goodbye (1938) as Phillip Marshall
Secrets of an Actress (1938) as Peter Snowden
The Sisters (1938) as William Benson
Comet Over Broadway (1938) as Bert Ballin
Yes, My Darling Daughter (1939) as Lewis Murray
The Little Princess (1939) as Captain Crewe
Broadway Serenade (1939) as Larry Bryant
Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939) as August Lancing
Maisie (1939) as Clifford Ames
Bad Little Angel (1939) as Jm Creighton (Sentinel editor)
Tower of London (1939) as King Edward IV
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) as Bert C. Matthews
Strange Cargo (1940) as Cambreau
Dulcy (1940) as Gordon Daly
The Long Voyage Home (1940) as Smitty
Bitter Sweet (1940) as Lord Shayne
Gallant Sons (1940) as 'Natural' Davis
Come Live with Me (1941) as Barton Kendrick
Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941) as Steven V. Land
Ziegfeld Girl (1941) as Geoffrey Collis
Billy the Kid (1941) as Eric Keating
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) as Dr. John Lanyon
Smilin' Through (1941) as Reverend Owen Harding
A Yank at Eton (1942) as Roger Carlton
It Comes Up Love (1943) as Tom Peabody
Forever and a Day (1943) as Dexter Pomfret
Bedelia (1946) as Charlie Carrington
White Cradle Inn aka High Fury (1947) as Anton
The White Unicorn aka Milkwhite Unicorn and Bad Sister (1947) as Philip Templar
Edward, My Son (1949) as Doctor Larry Woodhope
It Started in Paradise (1952) as Arthur Turner
Appointment in London aka Raiders in the Sky (1952) as Logan
The Divine Creatures (1952, TV Movie) as Florent
Don't Blame the Stork (1954) as Sir George Redway
Eight O'Clock Walk (1954) as Geoffrey Tanner, Q.C.
Fire One (1954, TV Movie) as Mr. Dennison
It's Never Too Late (1954, TV Movie) as Charles Hammond
The Battle of the River Plate aka Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956) as Captain Charles Woodhouse - HMS Ajax
South Sea Bubble (BBC TV 1956) as Sir George Shotter
Fortune Is a Woman aka She Played with Fire (1957) as Clive Fisher
Rockets Galore aka Mad Little Island (1958) as Air Commodore Watchorn
North West Frontier (1959) as Sir John Windham
The Bulldog Breed (1960) as Adm. Sir Bryanston Blyth
Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961) as Dr. Robert Blood, Peter's Father
The Treasure of Monte Cristo (1961) as Colonel Jackson
The Queen's Guards (1961) as Mr. George Dobbie
Guns of Darkness (1962) as Dr. Swann
Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance (1963) as Robert Talbot
Kali-Yug, The Bárbaros's Fury (1963) as Robert Talbot (final film role)
References
External links
Photos of Ian Hunter from The Long Voyage Home by Ned Scott
1900 births
1975 deaths
English male film actors
20th-century English male actors
Male actors from Cape Town
British expatriate male actors in the United States
South African emigrants to the United Kingdom