Evan Thomas (actor)

{{Short description|British actor (1891–1982)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Evan Thomas

| image = Actor_Evan_Thomas.jpg

| caption = in North West Mounted Police (1940)

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1891|2|17}}

| birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

| death_date = 1982

| death_place = Kent, England, UK

| birthname = Elystan Owen Evan Thomas

| occupation = Actor

| yearsactive = 1916–1965}}

Evan Thomas (February 17, 1891 – 1982), also known as Peter Evan Thomas was a Canadian-born British character actor, whose career spanned both the silent and sound film eras. He began his career in England, in Lady Windermere's Fan, written by Oscar Wilde.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ae754eb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713040231/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ae754eb|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2012|publisher=British Film Institute|title=Lady Windermere's Fan|accessdate=21 December 2014}}

Born Elystan Owen Evan Thomas on 17 February 1891 in Vancouver, where his father, Owen Grant Evan Thomas (1861)-1942) was the manager of the Opera House until 1896. The family were in England by the time of the 1911 census, but his parents' marriage ended shortly afterwards, and his father remarried twice. On 27 November 1922 at St Martin-in-the-Fields Elystan married Sylvia Ward (div. 1940), at a time when they were both appearing in plays in London theatres. The bride was the daughter of the famous caricaturist Sir Leslie Ward (1851-1922).

Elystan appeared in silent films in Great Britain and beginning in 1930 worked in both Hollywood and England, before returning permanently to the British film industry after 1946. Over his fifty-year career, he would appear in dozens of films, usually in small roles, although he did have several featured performances, as in 1928's Warned Off,{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ba3b1d4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713125021/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ba3b1d4|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2012|publisher=British Film Institute|title=Warned Off|accessdate=21 December 2014}} and 1935's Lend Me Your Husband.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6aeb77ea|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714042036/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6aeb77ea|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 July 2012|publisher=British Film Institute|title=Lend Me Your Husband|accessdate=21 December 2014}} He died on 13 July 1982 at Tunbridge Wells.