Born Today January 26: Geoffrey Kerr

1895-1971

British stage actor, turned film actor, turned writer Geoffrey Kerr was born Geoffrey Kemble Grinham Keen on this date in London.  Geoffrey was the son of legendary character actor Frederick Kerr (it was his father who first used the surname "Kerr" as a stage name); the younger Kerr, however, did not appear on the stage until after college, after which he got his start in several of his old man's productions. All of this was cut short by the out break of World War I, which saw Geoffrey commissioned into service with the Shropshire Light Infantry. After being sent to the trenches, a frightened and miserable younger Kerr and a very worried older Kerr were fortunate enough to have an acquaintance from the theater to help to facilitate a transfer a the brand new Royal Flying Corp. In this capacity, he was wounded, but recovered enough to spend the rest of the war in the position of a gunnery instructor for troops. After the war ended, Kerr left for New York City, where he soon made his Broadway debut. From 1920 on, he spent his time divided between The States and his native UK.  During the 1920's, he had also had a film career of sorts in Britain. Despite that most of his film appearances came after his Broadway introduction, he did have a small part in a Meyrick Milton melodrama in 1917:  The Profligate, which marked his film debut. He next appeared with his father in the mystery melodrama 12:10 in 1919; directed by Herbrt Brenon, which marked the very first release of the British & Colonial Kimematograph Company. After this, he appeared in just six films produced in the United Kingdom, none of them of any significant note (unless you want to include The Great Day from 1920, which was the very first release of Famous Players-Lasky British Producers/Paramount British...that...and the fact that Alfred Hitchcock did the title designs). Kerr did not make an appearance in American film until 1926 (his last of the decade), making his last British film appearance in the 1922 melodrama The Man from Home; directed by George Fitzmaurice and sporting a screenplay by Ouida Bergère, it did have deep ties to the U.S. In between that time, he spent several successful years on the Broadway stage, even having one of his own plays--in which he appeared--produced. His American film debut came in the Richard Barthelmess romantic drama Just Suppose in 1926 directed by Kenneth Webb; the film was based on a stage play by A. E. Thomas in which he had appeared on Broadway (a copy of the film survives in the collections at UCLA Film archives). It was his last silent roll and his last acting role of the decade. Kerr did appear in the all sound 1929 short Night Club in a song and dance routine filmed in New York, featuring the likes of Fanny Brice, Pat Rooney, Ann Pennington and Percy Helton--all figures on Broadway, and directed by Robert Florey. Kerr picked up his film acting career again in 1931, with three film appearances that year, leaving off acting in motion pictures for good there after. The second of these three was the romantic comedy The Runaround (August 1931) in which he took the top bill opposite Mary Brian. His last film role came in Once a Lady (November 1931), a drama starring fellow Brit Ivor Novello in one of his attempts to take Hollywood by storm. Kerr's career in films however did not come to end with his retiring from acting, he started a whole new career as a writer that included screenplays.  He was responsible for the scenario adaptation of the Robert Donat comedy with horror elements The Ghost Goes West in 1935. In addition to working directly on screenplays, Kerr also had a number is plays adapted for the screen as well (see Cottage To Let aka Bombsight Stolen). His script directly for the screen was the 1949 adaptation for Fools Rush In, a comedy based on a Kenneth Horne play; and, his work first reached television, when one of his plays was adapted for the film The Monster of Killoon in 1952.  While he and fellow writer James Leasor provided script material for the now lost television series "My Husband and I" (1956). These represent the extent of his writing credits during his lifetime; but, in 2016 an ambitious student film entitled Kenopsia was produced that used one of Kerr's stories as source material. The film represents the only use of his writing as source material after his death. During his lifetime, Kerr also continued to act on the stage, especially Broadway, into the early 1950's. After he retired from acting altogether, he continued to write, producing one fantasy novel in 1954. Kerr eventually retired back to his native England, passing away in Aldershot (located in Hampshire) on the 1st of July in 1971 at the age of 76. There is no information about his memorial or burial, but there is a family tradition of cremation. Both his famous father and his son were cremated and his father has a memorial plaque at Golders Green Crematoria in Greater London. Kerr was married to actress June Walker; they had a son, John, who also became an actor. 

Kerr with Walker

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Born Today June 19: Meyrick Milton

1862-????

Meyrick Milton, a relatively unknown silent film director, was born on this day in the Streatham area of London, England.  He is known to have directed at least eight films (three of which he had a hand in writing) and directly producing one late silent film in 1928.  His first known direction comes on the 1917 picture that his own production company bank rolled: The Profligate--a film that he adapted from the writing of Arthur Pinero.  The fact that he was working through his own production company at this point, and given his age, it is reasonable to assume that he was involved with the British film industry before 1917.  It is also quite possible that his directing skills were first learned in the theater. The films that are currently listed that he directed, span the years 1917 through 1925, with Die heiratsfähige Puppe  being the last. That film was made for the German speaking market in Austria and similarly featured a cast that was mostly Austrian, but was again made for Milton Films (it was also another one of his own adaptations, sourced from a Maurice Ordonneau play).  His production credit dates from 1928 and was made through British Gaumont. His House in Order was directed by Randle Ayrton and starred Tallulah Bankhead (it was a remake of a 1920 film by the same name directed by Hugh Ford, and both were based on another Pinero play). Milton has no other credits after 1928. Additionally there is no information as to what became of him, no death records can even be discovered in the few British documents that I've had the chance to look at. It also appears that none of his films have survived either. 

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