Austin Trevor

{{Short description|Northern Irish actor (1897–1978)}}

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{{Infobox person

| name = Austin Trevor

| image = Austin_Trevor_(actor).jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = in Death at Broadcasting House (1934)

| birth_name = Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky{{Cite book|title=Agatha Christie: The Books, the Films and the Television Shows featuring Poirot, Miss Marple and More|author=Mark Campbell|publisher=Oldcastle Books|date=2015|isbn=978-1843444244}}{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins|edition=fifth|author=Adrian Room|publisher=McFarland|date=2010|isbn=978-0786457632|page=481}}

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|10|7|df=y}}

| birth_place = Belfast, Ireland

| death_date = {{death date and age|1978|1|22|1897|10|7|df=y}}

| death_place = Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England

| occupation = Actor

| nationality = Irish

| 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.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9eeb3296|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711152435/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9eeb3296|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 July 2012|title=Austin Trevor|work=BFI}}

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.The Magazine – Programme No.605, Grantley & Co.Ltd, 28 Leicester Square, London WC2{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/escape-10472|title=Escape – Broadway Play – Original – IBDB|first=The Broadway|last=League|website=www.ibdb.com}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-alphabet-murders-v1715/cast-crew|title=The Alphabet Murders (1965) – Frank Tashlin – Cast and Crew – AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} He stated that he only got the Poirot role because he could speak with a French accent.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/austin-trevor-p71757|title=Austin Trevor – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos – AllMovie|author=Hal Erickson|work=AllMovie}}{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/austin-trevor/credits/140966/|title=Austin Trevor|work=TVGuide.com}}

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.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b86835130|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150802060851/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b86835130|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 August 2015|title=Body and Soul (1969)|work=BFI}}

He died in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Filmography

=Film=

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=Television=

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Selected stage credits

References