 walter john "jack" buchanan (2 april 1891 â 20 october 1957) was a scottish theatre and film actor, singer, producer and director. he was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of george grossmith jr., and was described by the times as "the last of the knuts." he is best known in america for his role in the classic hollywood musical the band wagon in 1953. ==biography== buchanan was born in helensburgh, dunbartonshire in scotland, the son of walter john buchanan sr (d. 1902), auctioneer, and his wife, patricia, nÃ©e mcwatt (d. 1936).spicer, andrew h: "buchanan, walter john (1890â1957)", oxford dictionary of national biography, oxford university press, sept 2004; online edn, january 2008, accessed 3 nov 2008 he was educated at the glasgow academy. ===early career=== after a brief attempt to follow his late father's profession and a failure at acting in glasgow, he came to london and became a music-hall comedian under the name of chump buchanan and first appeared on the west end in september 1912 in the comic opera the grass widow at the apollo theatre. hardship dogged him for a while before he became famous whilst on tour in tonight's the night. he produced and acted in his own plays both in london and new york. buchanan's health was not robust, and he was declared unfit for military service in world war i. he appeared with some success in west end shows during the war, attracting favourable notices as a "knut"defined by the oxford english dictionary as "a fashionable or showy young man" in the mould of george grossmith jr, and achieved front rank stardom in andrÃ© charlot's 1921 revue a to z, appearing with gertrude lawrence. among his numbers in the show was ivor novello's "and her mother came too", which became buchanan's signature song. the show transferred successfully to broadway in 1924. for the rest of the 1920s and 1930s he was famous for "the seemingly lazy but most accomplished grace with which he sang, danced, flirted and joked his way through musical shows.... the tall figure, the elegant gestures, the friendly drawling voice, the general air of having a good time."the time
1891_births 1957_deaths 20th-century_Scottish_male_actors Cancer_deaths_in_England Deaths_from_spinal_cancer People_from_Dunbartonshire People_from_Helensburgh Scottish_male_film_actors Scottish_male_musical_theatre_actors