E. E. Clive

Birthday:

08/26/1879

Place of birth:

Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK:

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.



Credits

The Big Parade of Comedy (1964)
(archive footage)
Flowing Gold (1940)
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Sir William Lucas
Adventure in Diamonds (1940)
Mr. MacPherson
Congo Maisie (1940)
Horace Snell
The Earl of Chicago (1940)
Mr. Redwood
Raffles (1939)
Barraclough
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Inspector Bristol
Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939)
Tenny
Bachelor Mother (1939)
Butler
Man About Town (1939)
Hotchkiss
Rose of Washington Square (1939)
Barouche Driver
I'm from Missouri (1939)
Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939)
Tenny
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
London Cabbie John Clayton
The Little Princess (1939)
Mr. Barrows
Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939)
Port Commandant General (uncredited)
The Last Warning (1938)
Major Barclay
Submarine Patrol (1938)
Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1938)
Tenny
Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938)
'Tenny' Tennison
Gateway (1938)
Room Steward
Kidnapped (1938)
Minister MacDougall
Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938)
Tenny
The First Hundred Years (1938)
Chester Blascomb
Arsène Lupin Returns (1938)
Alf
Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937)
'Tenny' Tennison
Beg, Borrow or Steal (1937)
Lord Nigel Braemer
Live, Love and Learn (1937)
Mr. Palmiston
It's Love I'm After (1937)
First Butler
Danger – Love at Work (1937)
Wilbur
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937)
Tenny
Love Under Fire (1937)
Captain Bowden
The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937)
Auctioneer
Night Must Fall (1937)
Guide
Personal Property (1937)
Cosgrove Dabney
Ready, Willing and Able (1937)
Sir Samuel Buffington
On the Avenue (1937)
Cabby
Maid of Salem (1937)
Bilge
They Wanted to Marry (1937)
Stiles
Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937)
"Tenny" Tennison
Camille (1936)
Saint Gaudens (uncredited)
Lloyd's of London (1936)
Magistrate
Tarzan Escapes (1936)
Masters
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
Sir Humphrey Harcourt
All American Chump (1936)
. Montgomery Brantley
All American Chump (1936)
Montgomery Brantley
Isle of Fury (1936)
Dr. Hardy
Libeled Lady (1936)
Fishing Instructor
Cain and Mabel (1936)
Charles Fendwick
Piccadilly Jim (1936)
London Gossip Editor Bill Mechan
The White Angel (1936)
Dr. Smith (uncredited)
Ticket to Paradise (1936)
Barkins
Palm Springs (1936)
Morgan
Trouble for Two (1936)
King
The Golden Arrow (1936)
Walker
Show Boat (1936)
Show Boat (1936)
Sir Arthur
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
Detective Sergeant Wilkes
The Unguarded Hour (1936)
Lord Henry Hathaway
Love Before Breakfast (1936)
Yacht Captain (uncredited)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Sir Harry Lorridaile
The Dark Hour (1936)
Foot, the Butler
Captain Blood (1935)
Clerk of the Court
A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Judge in 'Old Bailey'
The Widow from Monte Carlo (1935)
Lord Holloway
Kind Lady (1935)
Grammaphone Man (uncredited)
Stars Over Broadway (1935)
Crane
Remember Last Night? (1935)
Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)
A Feather in Her Hat (1935)
Higgins - Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
3 Kids and a Queen (1935)
Coachman
Page Miss Glory (1935)
Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)
Atlantic Adventure (1935)
McIntosh
We're in the Money (1935)
Jevons
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Burgomaster
Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935)
Mayor Thomas Sapsea
David Copperfield (1935)
Sheriff's Man (uncredited)
The Little Minister (1934)
Sheriff Greer
Father Brown, Detective (1934)
Sergeant Dawes
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in London (1934)
Det. Sgt. Thacker
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
London Bobbie
One More River (1934)
Chayne
Riptide (1934)
Major Mills (uncredited)
The Poor Rich (1934)
Lord Fetherstone
Long Lost Father (1934)
Spot Hawkins
The Invisible Man (1933)
Constable Jaffers
Cheaters at Play (1932)
Steward