I recently came across the arresting photo above while looking through the Pinterest boards. Hello, said I, this face begs further scrutiny. Clicking through, I discovered that this is the English actor Basil Gill (1877 - 1955) and s further search through Google Images led me to the discovery that I'd already pinned another photo of Mr. Gill to my board Absolutely Fabulous. In that photo (below) Mr. Gill resembles nothing so much as the quintessential English Dandy.
Searching the web for concrete facts about Basil Gill turned up not much more than bare bones credits for roles he'd played, until I found a site called a site called Shakespeare - The Players, which provided the following information.
"Basil Gill's first stage appearance was in Wilson Barrett's The Sign of the Cross. After touring in Australia and the United States, he had his chance to play Shakespeare when he joined Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company in 1903. He stayed with Tree until 1907, and during those years he played in Richard II, Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Ferdinand in The Tempest, Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing, Horatio in Hamlet, Richard II, Brutus in Julius Caesar, Orsino in Twelfth Night, Florizel in The Winter's Tale, and Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra. This range of parts offered Gill do not occur often in an actor's life.
"After he left Tree Gill still performed
in many of Shakespeare's plays; there were so many that it is simpler just to list
them: 1908, Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice; 1910, Henry VIII,
A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Julius Caesar; 1911, Malcolm in
Macbeth; 1912, he played in revivals of many of the parts he had played
before; 1913, Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice with Johnston
Forbes-Robertson; Twelfth Night, and Julius Caesar; 1914, Henry
IV; 1915, Henry VIII; 1916, played in Julius Caesar for the
Shakespeare Tercentenary at the Drury Lane Theatre; 1616, Romeo; 1920, Julius
Caesar; 1926 and 1928, Macbeth; 1932, he twice played Brutus in Julius
Caesar; 1933, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and
Twelfth Night; 1934, Henry VIII, Julius Caesar, and The
Merchant of Venice; 1935, The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth;
1936, Richard II and the ghost in Hamlet.
"Gill was a handsome leading man, something of a matinee idol, so he played
romantic parts in many modern and "popular" plays as well, but he was best known
as one of the theatre's leading performers of Shakespeare for almost four
decades.
He also played in thirty-five films during his career. His first part was in
1911 when he played Buckingham with Sir Henry Beerbohm Tree as Wolsey in
Henry VIII; his last film was in 1939 and it was in the late 30's he
played in two popular movies, Journey's End and The Citadel."
Gill died at his home in Hove, Sussex. If you know anything else
regarding Basil Gill, pleasae let me know.
Labels: A Pinterest Post, Kristine Hughes
