E. E. Clive

E. E. Clive

Edward Erskholme Clive was a Welsh stage actor and director who had a prolific acting career in Britain and America. He also played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood movies between 1933 and his death. E. E. Clive was born on 28 August 1879 in Blaenavon in Monmouthshire. Clive studied for a medical career, and had completed four years of medical studies at St Bartholomew's Hospital before switching his focus to acting at age 22. Touring the provinces for a decade, Clive became an expert at virtually every sort of regional dialect in the British Isles. He moved to the US in 1912, where after working in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit he set up his own stock company in Boston. By the 1920s, his company was operating in Hollywood; among his repertory players were such up-and-comers as Rosalind Russell. He also worked at the Broadway in several plays. E. E. Clive made his film debut as a village police constable in 1933's The Invisible Man with Claude Rains, then spent the next seven years showing up in wry supporting and bit parts, where he often portrayed comical versions of English stereotypes. He often played butlers, reporters, aristocrats, shopkeepers and cabbies during his short film career. Though his roles were often small, Clive was a well-known and prolific character actor of his time. Among his best-known roles was the incompetent Burgomaster in James Whale's horror classic Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He was a semi-regular as Tenny the Butler in Paramount Pictures' Bulldog Drummond B series, starring John Howard; he also played butlers in other movies like Bachelor Mother with David Niven and Ginger Rogers. In 1939, Clive appeared in The Little Princess as the lawyer Mr. Barrows, and the first two entries of the classic Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone. One of Clive's last roles was Sir William Lucas in the 1940 literature adaption Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. E. E. Clive died on 6 June 1940, of a heart ailment, in his Hollywood home. He was survived by his wife Eleanor and their child. Clive was a member of the Euclid lodge of Freemasons in Boston.

Acting

1964

The Big Parade of Comedy

Cosgrove Dabney in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)

1940

Flowing Gold

Mr. Naismith (uncredited)

1940

Foreign Correspondent

Mr. Naismith (uncredited)

1940

Pride and Prejudice

Sir William Lucas

1940

1939

1939

1939

I'm from Missouri

Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood

1939

The Hound of the Baskervilles

London Cabbie John Clayton

1939

1938

Kidnapped

Minister MacDougall

1937

Beg, Borrow or Steal

Lord Nigel Braemer

1937

1937

1937

Love Under Fire

Captain Bowden

1937

1937

Personal Property

Cosgrove Dabney

1937

Ready, Willing and Able

Sir Samuel Buffington

1937

1937

1936

Camille

Saint Gaudens (uncredited)

1936

1936

1936

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Sir Humphrey Harcourt

1936

Isle of Fury

Dr. Hardy

1936

Libeled Lady

Fishing Instructor

1936

Cain and Mabel

Charles Fendwick

1936

The White Angel

Dr. Smith (uncredited)

1936

1936

1936

Show Boat

Unknown

1936

Show Boat

Sir Arthur

1936

Dracula's Daughter

Sergeant Wilkes

1936

The Unguarded Hour

Lord Henry Hathaway

1936

Love Before Breakfast

Yacht Captain (uncredited)

1936

Little Lord Fauntleroy

Sir Harry Lorridaile

1935

Captain Blood

Clerk of the Court

1935

A Tale of Two Cities

Judge in 'Old Bailey'

1935

1935

1935

Remember Last Night?

Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)

1935

Page Miss Glory

Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)

1935

1935

1935

Gold Diggers of 1935

Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)

1935

1935

David Copperfield

Sheriff's Man (uncredited)

1934

The Little Minister

Sheriff Greer

1934

1934

The Gay Divorcee

Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)

1934

Charlie Chan in London

Det. Sgt. Thacker

1934

1933

The Invisible Man

Constable Jaffers

1932

Infos

Full Name
E. E. Clive
Gender
Male
Date of Birth
8/26/1879
Date of Death
6/6/1940
Also Known As

Edward Erskholme Clive

Edward E. Clive

E. E. Clive