JohnHerrington

Carr was born in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey in 1876, and had an acting career from 1909 to 1934 (in films such as A fortune at stake, Under suspicion, A daughter of Eve, Out to win, The silver lining, The Third eye etc).
That is the sum of my knowledge about him, and I wonder if anyone knows any more about him - such as his date of death and what happened to him after 1934, the date of his last film according to the BFI database. I have been unable to find any obituary for him, such as in the Times archive
I am curious about him because of a handful of novels published in the late 1930s with the byline Cameron Carr. The name is not unusual but he is the only person of that name I can find in the GRO births records for the time. The novels have been linked to Evelyn Bradley (1883-1950) a theatrical manager from Sussex who wrote under other pseudonyms in the same period. But I am wondering if Carr himself was involved in writing the books.
I would be most grateful if anyone can help me find more biographical information on his life, especially where he was and was doing after 1934.

Thanks
John

CaptainWaggett

Not very helpful but I found this in the Daily Express 1st Feb 1936.

Janice Healey

I would love to know what Lionelle Howard's real name was and when he died as he appears to be very difficult person to find anything about.
Don't know what Cameron Carr was doing after he stopped appearing in films, he died 8/7/1944 Kingston Upon Thames, Surrey and was married.

penfold

"Guy Newall, Ivy Duke no longer in films" is interesting; by then divorced, Guy made a bit of a return with two leading roles in '36/37.....but both he and his ex-wife died - I assume coincidentally - in 1937 - he was 51, she 41.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

CaptainWaggett

It's the last reference to your avatar in the Express so clearly they didn't follow his career too closely...

Rob Compton

Captain - I know you have access to all sorts of information via the library, but what resource did you use to find this out, if I may be so nosy?

rgds
Rob

CaptainWaggett

I think we might, so far, be the only public library service to subscribe to the Mirror and Express - which means that any of our library members have free access to them too. PM me if you want more details.

As an aside, it's worth checking out the website of your local or nearby library services to see what's available. Lots of them now have the Times Digital Archive and most have the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography plus much more that would be of interest to any researcher. My library subscribes to material that would cost over £30,000 if you took out private subscriptions (as I tell new readers about 10 times a day)

Rob Compton

Thanks Cap! I do already subscribe (via Oxfordshire public libraries) to the ODNB, and get the "Life of the Day" emailed to me, as I know do a few others on this site. Really interesting, and I get to read about all kinds of lives that I would not have heard about otherwise. Recommended if your local library subscribes - most do, as the Captain says.

rgds
Rob

JohnHerrington

Thanks Janice for the date of death. Think I need to hunt for an obituary in the Surrey local press - though £12.00 per half hour search by Surrey local history library could be expensive. Why do some libraries charge excessively and others charge nothing?

The comments in the press cutting about actors no longer in films reminds me of Norman Harold Lee. I first knew of him as the pseudonymous author of several thrillers in the 1950s. But a bit of research showed he was the film director of that name in the 1920s to start of WW2. In his 1949 'Log of a film director' he wrote that having left the film industry because of the war he now found himelf forgotten by the industry and people he had worked with. I don't know the quality of his film work, but he died almost completely forgotten in 1964 - have been unable to trace even a local obituary for him. Sadly, out of sight, out of mind is very true.

John