| Derrick De Marney | |
|---|---|
| Born | 21 September 1906 London, England |
| Died | 18 February 1978 (aged 71) London, England |
| Occupation | Stage and film actor, producer |
Derrick De Marney (21 September 1906, London, England – 18 February 1978, London, England) was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry.
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On the London stage from 1922 and films from 1928. It was his performance of "Young Mr Disraeli" at the Kingsway and Piccadilly Theatres that brought him an offer of a long term film contract from Alexander Korda. He is perhaps best known for his starring role as Robert Tisdall, wrongly accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937). Other early film roles include Benjamin Disraeli (a role he also played on stage in Young Mr. Disraeli) in Victoria the Great (1937), and its sequel, Sixty Glorious Years (1938).
After Young and Innocent, he alternated between leading roles and supporting parts in films. In 1947, he had another memorable part with the title role of Uncle Silas; a character part in which he played an evil old fortune hunter plotting against a young woman played by Jean Simmons. After a couple of more leads in self-produced films, he tended to concentrate on the theatre, only taking small roles in film and television thereafter. His last role was in the horror film The Projected Man (1966).
With his brother, the actor Terence De Marney, he formed Concanen Productions and produced a number of wartime documentaries on the Polish air force, including The White Eagle and Diary of a Polish Airman (both 1942), as well as Leslie Howard's film The Gentle Sex (1943). He also produced and starred in the thrillers Latin Quarter (1945), She Shall Have Murder (1950), Meet Mr. Callaghan (1954), a role he had created on stage, and No Way Back (1949), which he also wrote, and which starred his brother Terence.
He directed the documentary shorts Malta G.C. and London Scrapbook in 1942.
Actor