E. E. Clive
Acting
Biography
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.
Born: August 26, 1879
Place of Birth: Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK
Known For
Filmography
as Cosgrove Dabney in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)
as Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
as Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
as Sir William Lucas
as Mr. MacPherson
as Horace Snell
as Mr. Redwood
as Barraclough
as Inspector Bristol
as Tenny
as Butler
as Hotchkiss
as Barouche Driver
as Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
as Tenny
as London Cabbie John Clayton
as Mr. Barrows
as Port Commandant General (uncredited)
as Major Barclay
as Tenny
as Room Steward
as 'Tenny' Tennison
as Minister MacDougall
as Tenny
as Chester Blascomb
as Alf
as 'Tenny' Tennison
as Lord Nigel Braemer
as Mr. Palmiston
as First Butler
as Wilbur
as Tenny
as Captain Bowden
as Auctioneer
as Guide
as Cosgrove Dabney
as Sir Samuel Buffington
as Cabby
as Bilge
as Stiles
as "Tenny" Tennison
as Saint Gaudens (uncredited)
as Magistrate
as Masters
as Sir Humphrey Harcourt
as Montgomery Brantley
as . Montgomery Brantley
as Dr. Hardy
as Fishing Instructor
as Charles Fendwick
as London Gossip Editor Bill Mechan
as Dr. Smith (uncredited)
as Barkins
as Morgan
as King
as Walker
as Sir Arthur
as Sergeant Wilkes
as Lord Henry Hathaway
as Yacht Captain (uncredited)
as Sir Harry Lorridaile
as Foot, the Butler
as Clerk of the Court
as Judge in 'Old Bailey'
as Lord Holloway
as Grammaphone Man (uncredited)
as Crane
as Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)
as Higgins - Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
as Coachman
as Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)
as McIntosh
as Jevons
as Burgomaster
as Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)
as Sapsea
as Sheriff's Man (uncredited)
as Sheriff Greer
as Sergeant Dawes
as Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
as Det. Sgt. Thacker
as London Bobbie
as Chayne
as Major Mills (uncredited)
as Lord Fetherstone
as Spot Hawkins
as Constable Jaffers
as Steward