Austin Trevor

Northern Irish actor

Austin Trevor
in Death at Broadcasting House (1934)
Born	Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky^[1]^[2] (1897-10-07)7 October 1897 Belfast, Ireland
Died	22 January 1978(1978-01-22) (aged 80) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Years active	1930–1969

Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky (7 October 1897 – 22 January 1978) was an Irish actor who had a long career in film and television.^[3]

He played the parson in John Galsworthy's Escape at the world premiere in London's West End in 1926 and was the only member of the cast to transfer to New York City for the Broadway production a year later.^[4]^[5] He played Captain August Lutte in Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet during the long first run of the show in the West End from 1929 to 1931. He was the first actor to play Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot on screen in three British films during the early 1930s: Alibi (1931), Black Coffee (1931) and Lord Edgware Dies (1934). He subsequently turned up in a character part in a later Poirot adaptation The Alphabet Murders in 1965.^[6] He stated that he only got the Poirot role because he could speak with a French accent.^[7]^[8]

During the 1960s he worked largely in television, appearing in series such as The First Churchills in which he played Lord Halifax. He appeared in an episode of the legal drama The Main Chance.^[3]^[9]

He died in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Filmography

Film

The W Plan (1930) as Captain of Military Police
At the Villa Rose (1930) as Inspector Hanaud
Escape (1930) as Parson
The Man from Chicago (1930) as Inspector Drew
Alibi (1931) as Hercule Poirot
A Night in Montmartre (1931) as Paul deLisle
Black Coffee (1931) as Hercule Poirot
The Crooked Lady (1932) as Captain James Kent
The Chinese Puzzle (1932) as Paul Markatel
A Safe Proposition (1932) as Count Tonelli
On Secret Service (1933) as Captain Larco
The Broken Melody (1934) as Pierre Falaise
Lord Edgware Dies (1934) as Hercule Poirot
Death at Broadcasting House (1934) as Leopold Dryden
Inside the Room (1935) as Pierre Santos
Mimi (1935) as Lamotte
Royal Cavalcade (1935) as Captain Oates
The Silent Passenger (1935) as Inspector Parker
Parisian Life (1936) as Don Joao
La Vie parisienne (1936) as Don Joâo
The Beloved Vagabond (1936) as Count de Verneuil
As You Like It (1936) as Le Beau
Dusty Ermine (1936) as Swiss Hotelier-Gang Leader
Rembrandt (1936) as Marquis
Sabotage (1936) as Vladimir - Paymaster at Aquarium
Knight Without Armour (1937) as Dodctor Muller
Dark Journey (1937) as Colonel Adraxine
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) as Ralston
The Followers (1939, television film of the play by Harold Brighouse) as Colonel Redfern
The Lion Has Wings (1939) as Schulemburg - German Air Chief of Staff
Law and Disorder (1940) as Heinreks
Night Train to Munich (1940) as Captain Prada
Under Your Hat (1940) as Boris Vladimir
The Briggs Family (1940) as John Smith
The Seventh Survivor (1942) as Captain Hartzmann
The Big Blockade (1942) as German: U-boat Captain
The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) as French Registrar
The New Lot (1943) as Soldier Talking to Corporal
Heaven Is Round the Corner (1944) as John Cardew
Champagne Charlie (1944) as The Duke
Lisbon Story (1946) as Major Lutzen
Anna Karenina (1948) as Colonel Vronsky
The Red Shoes (1948) as Professor Palmer
So Long at the Fair (1950) as Police Commissaire
Father Brown (1954) as Herald
To Paris with Love (1955) as Leon de Colville
Tons of Trouble (1956) as Sir Hervey Shaw
Seven Waves Away (1957) as Edward Wilton
Dangerous Exile (1957) as Monsieur Petitval
The Naked Truth (1957) as Minister with Heart Attack
Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959) as Secretary General
Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) as Commissioner Wayne
Konga (1961) as Dean Foster
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) as Sir John Kelly
The Court Martial of Major Keller (1961) as Power
Never Back Losers (1961) as Colonel Warburton
The Alphabet Murders (1965) as Judson

Television

Whack-O! (1957-72, 5 episodes) as Various roles
Overseas Press Club – Exclusive! (1957, 1 episode) as Camp Commandant
Fair Game (1958, 1 episode) as Captain Cramner
East End, West End (1958, 1 episode) as Unknown role
Private Investigator (1958, 1 episode) as Sir Julian Waite
Boyd Q.C. (1958-61, 4 episodes) as Brigadier Boyd
Dixon of Dock Green (1958-59, 4 episodes) as Various roles
Charlesworth (1959, 2 episodes) as Lakington/Laporte
Hancock's Half Hour (1959, 1 episode) as Judge
The Third Man (1959, 1 episode) as Beaucald
The Invisible Man (1959, 1 episode) as Hugo
The Charlie Drake Show (1960, 2 episodes) as Various roles
Somerset Maugham Hour (1960, 1 episode) as Hon. Charles Pelling
Knight Errant Limited (1960, 1 episode) as Francis Froude
Interpol Calling (1960, 1 episode) as Dr. Martin
Yorky (1960-61, 3 episodes) as Mr Playford
No Hiding Place (1960-65, 2 episodes) as Silves/Sir Dudley Coniston
The Escape of R.D.7 (1961, 2 episodes) as Sir Charles Delman
Frontier Drums (1961, 2 episodes) as Lord Mulgrave
Spy-Catcher (1961, 1 episode) as Van der Hum
Top Secret (1962, 1 episode) as Manaleto
The Count of Monte Cristo (1964, 4 episodes) as Cavalcanti
Here's Harry (1965, 1 episode) as Various roles
Poison Island (1965, 5 episodes) as Dr. Beauregard
Foreign Affairs (1966, 6 episodes) as Sir Hugh Marriot
Sergeant Cork (1966, 1 episode) as Joseph Fitzroy
BBC Play of the Month (1967, 1 episode) as Dr. Coutras
The Forsyte Saga (1967, 2 episodes) as Boterill
Who Is Sylvia? (1967, 1 episode) as Unknown role
The Newcomers (1968, 2 episodes) as Rear-Admiral Grainger
World in Ferment (1969, 1 episode) as Various roles
W. Somerset Maugham (1969, 1 episode) as Gambler
The Main Chance (1969, 1 episode) as Judge
The First Churchills (1969, 4 episodes) as Lord Halifax

Selected stage credits

Fallen Angels by Noël Coward (1925)
Escape by John Galsworthy (1926)
Bitter Sweet by Noël Coward (1929)
Call It a Day by Dodie Smith (1935)
Her Excellency by Harold Purcell (1949)

References

^ Mark Campbell (2015). Agatha Christie: The Books, the Films and the Television Shows featuring Poirot, Miss Marple and More. Oldcastle Books. ISBN 978-1843444244.
^ Adrian Room (2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins (fifth ed.). McFarland. p. 481. ISBN 978-0786457632.
^ ^a ^b "Austin Trevor". BFI. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012.
^ The Magazine - Programme No.605, Grantley & Co.Ltd, 28 Leicester Square, London WC2
^ League, The Broadway. "Escape – Broadway Play – Original - IBDB". www.ibdb.com.
^ "The Alphabet Murders (1965) - Frank Tashlin - Cast and Crew - AllMovie". AllMovie.
^ Hal Erickson. "Austin Trevor - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
^ "Austin Trevor". TVGuide.com.
^ "Body and Soul (1969)". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 August 2015.