Aubrey Smith

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For other persons of the same name, see Charles Smith.
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C. Aubrey Smith
England (Eng)
C. Aubrey Smith
Batting style Right-handed batsman (RHB)
Bowling type Right-arm fast (RF)
Tests First-class
Matches 1 143
Runs scored 3 2986
Batting average 3.00 32.06
100s/50s 0/0 0/10
Top score 3 85
Balls bowled 154 17964
Wickets 7 346
Bowling average 8.71 22.34
5 wickets in innings 1 10
10 wickets in match 0 0
Best bowling 5/19 7/16
Catches/stumpings 0/0 97/0

Test debut: 12 March 1889
Last Test: 13 March 1889
Source: [1]

Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (known as Sir Aubrey Smith, or to movie-goers simply as C. Aubrey Smith), KBE (born 21 July 1863 in London, England, died 20 December 1948 in Beverly Hills) was an English cricketer and actor. He was knighted in 1944 for services to Anglo-American amity.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Smith was educated at Charterhouse School, a famous English private school, and Cambridge University[1] and settled in South Africa to prospect for gold in 1888-89. While there he developed pneumonia and was wrongly pronounced dead by doctors. He married Isabella Wood in 1896.

[edit] Cricket career

As a cricketer he had the nickname "Round the Corner Smith". He was a bowler and played for Cambridge University 1882-85 and for Sussex at various time between 1882-92[2]. While in South Africa he captained the Johannesburg English XI[3]. He captained England to victory in his only Test match, against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 1888-89. In 1932 he founded the Hollywood Cricket Club and created a pitch with imported English grass and played alongside fellow expats such as David Niven and Boris Karloff and local American players. Decades after his cricket had ended, when he had long been a famous face in films, Sir Aubrey was spotted in the pavilion on a visit to Lord's. "That man over there seems familiar", remarked one member to another. "Yes", said the second, seemingly oblivious to Hollywood fame, "Chap called Smith. Used to play for Sussex."

[edit] Acting career

Smith began acting on the London stage in 1895. His first major role was in The Prisoner of Zenda the following year, playing the dual lead roles of king and look alike. Forty-one years later, he appeared in the most acclaimed film version of the novel, this time as the wise old advisor. Later in life, he quipped that he had probably played every male character in the story in numerous productions throughout his career.

Smith later went to Hollywood where he had a successful career as a character actor playing either officer or gentleman roles. He was also regarded as being the unofficial leader of what would become known as the Hollywood Raj, a select group of British actors who were seen to be colonising the capital of the movie business in the 1930s. Other movie stars considered to be "members" of this select group were David Niven (whom Smith treated like a son), Ronald Coleman and Patric Knowles. Smith became infamous for expecting his fellow countrymen to report for regular duty at his Hollywood Cricket Club, and any who refused was known to "incur his displeasure". Fiercely patriotic, Smith became openly critical of the British actors of enlistment age who did not return to fight after the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Smith loved playing on his status as Hollywood's "Englishman in Residence". His bushy eyebrows, beady eyes, handlebar moustache and a height of 6'4" made him one of the most recognisable faces in Hollywood. He starred alongside such screen legends as leading ladies Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Vivien Leigh, and actors Clark Gable, Laurence Olivier and Gary Cooper. His films include such classics as The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) mentioned above and The Four Feathers (1939).

Commander McBragg in the TV cartoon Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales is a parody of him and the character also appears in The Simpsons episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story".

Sir Aubrey has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1933, he was on the first board of the Screen Actors Guild.

Sir Aubrey died from pneumonia in Beverly Hills in 1948. His body was cremated and nine months later, in accordance with his wishes, his ashes were returned to his beloved England and interred in his mother's grave at St Lawrence churchyard in Hove, East Sussex.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Anglo-African Who's Who
  2. ^ Anglo-African Who's Who, p337
  3. ^ Anglo-African Who's Who
  • Wills, Walter H., 1907. The Anglo-African Who's Who, Jeppestown Press, United Kingdom. ISBN 0-9553936-3-9

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
W. G. Grace		 English national cricket captain
1888/9		 Succeeded by
Monty Bowden