| Frederick Kerr | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frederick Grinham Keen October 11, 1858 London, England, UK |
| Died | May 3, 1933 (aged 74) London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actor/Theatrical Manager |
| Years active | 1882–1930 |
| Spouse | Lucy Dowson |
Frederick Kerr (1858–1933) was a British actor who appeared on stage in both New York City and London, and in British and American films; he also worked as a major theatrical manager in London.
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Frederick Grinham Keen was born October 11, 1858, in London, England, United Kingdom. As a youth just out of Cambridge, he came to New York City around 1880 and worked as a sketch artist, when sheer chance turned him into an actor. He was living in a boarding house on 7th Avenue, where a number of theatrical people also lived (among them, Henry Miller, who eventually became Kerr's manager). Osmond Tearle, an actor living there, heard from his own producer that an Englishman was needed for a production of The School for Scandal -- Tearle recruited Frederick, who got the part in January 1882 (which is also likely the moment he took the stage name of Frederick Kerr). Kerr appeared in several more plays in New York City that year, but left for England to appear in a London play in December 1882. Over the next fifty years, he travelled back and forth across the Atlantic several times for theatrical work both in New York City and in London.[1]
He appeared in 19 films between 1916 and 1933. He is best known as old Baron Frankenstein in Frankenstein (1931).
He also acted on stage, becoming actor-manager of the Vaudeville Theatre in London in 1895[2] and later managing the Royal Court Theatre;[3] his roles included the titular pirate in George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion.[4]
His memoirs were published in 1930 under the title Recollections of a Defective Memory.[2][5]
Frederick Kerr's wife was Lucy Dowson — they had one son, Geoffrey Kerr, who followed in his father's theatrical footsteps. Frederick Kerr died in London on May 3, 1933.