Owen Nares
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| Owen Nares | |
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 Owen Nares |
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| Born | Owen Ramsay Nares 11 August 1888 Berkshire England |
| Died | 30 July 1943 (aged 54) Wales |
| Spouse(s) | Marie Pollini |
Owen Ramsay Nares (11 August 1888 in Maiden Erlegh, Berkshire, England - 30 July 1943, Brecon, Wales.) had a long stage and film career and, for most of the 1920s, was Britain's favourite matinée idol and silent film star. Besides his acting career, he was the author of Myself, and Some Others, a book published in 1925.
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[edit] Early life
Educated at Reading School, Nares was encouraged by his mother to become an actor, and in 1908 he received his training from actress, Rosina Filippi. The following year, he was playing bit parts in West End productions, including the St. James’s Theatre and the Pinero’s Mid Channel. Over the next few years, as his reputation grew, he performed with many of the outstanding actors of the era including Beerbohm Tree, Constance Collier and Marion Terry.
[edit] Career
In 1914, Nares appeared in Dandy Donovan, the first of the twenty-five silent films he was to make, and the early 1920s was his golden period. He was the male lead, playing opposite such luminaries as Gladys Cooper, Fay Compton, Madge Titheradge and Ruby Miller. His stage career also continued to flourish. In 1915, he played Thomas Armstrong in Edward Sheldon's Romance at the Lyric Theatre, and in 1917, he starred with Lily Elsie at the Palace Theatre in the musical comedy Pamela. Nares continued to star in popular West End shows, almost without pause, until 1926, when he then took a break and set off with his own company for a tour of South Africa.
[edit] Later years
With the advent of talkies, his considerable stage experience meant that, in the early days, he was still much in demand and starred in four films. He was, however, too mature to be the handsome star he had been a decade earlier. In the last six films he made, he played supporting roles. In 1942, he appeared in a revival of Robert E. Sherwood’s The Petrified Forrest, and afterwards he went on tour with the play to the North of England and Wales.
[edit] Family
Nares married actress, Marie Pollini in the spring of 1910, and had two sons, David and Geoffrey Nares.
[edit] Death
During tour through Wales he visited Brecon, and The Shoulder of Mutton (now The Sarah Siddons public house), the birthplace of actress Sarah Siddons. While he was in the very room where Siddons had been born, Nares had a heart-attack and died a half hour later, at the age of fifty-five.
[edit] Filmography
- 1941 The Prime Minister
- 1938 The Loves of Madame Dubarry
- 1937 The Show Goes On
- 1936 Head Office
- 1935 Regal Cavalcade
- 1934 The Private Life of Don Juan
- 1933 There Goes the Bride
- 1933 One Precious Year
- 1933 Discord
- 1932 The Love Contract
- 1932 Woman in Bondage
- 1932 Where is This Lady?
- 1932 Aren't We All?
- 1932 The Woman Decides
- 1932 Frail Women
- 1932 The Impassive Footman
- 1931 The Office Girl
- 1931 The Woman Between
- 1930 The Middle Watch
- 1930 Loose Ends
- 1927 This Marriage Business
- 1926 The Sorrows of Satan
- 1924 Miriam Rozella
- 1924 Young Lochinvar
- 1923 The Indian Love Lyrics
- 1922 Brown Sugar
- 1920 The Last Rose of Summer
- 1920 All the Winners
- 1919 Edge O'Beyond
- 1919 Gamblers All
- 1918 Onward Christian Soldiers
- 1918 The Man Who Won
- 1917 One Summer's Day
- 1917 The Labour Leader
- 1917 Flames
- 1916 Just A Girl
- 1916 Milestones
- 1914 Danny Donovan, the Gentleman Cracksman
