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Gareth Hughes

{{short description|British actor}}

{{other people}}

{{EngvarB|date=December 2017}}

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{{Infobox person

| name = Gareth Hughes

| image = File:Garethhughes.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birthname = William John Hughes

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1894|8|23}}

| birth_place = Dafen, Carmarthenshire, Wales

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1965|10|01|1894|08|23}}

| death_place = Motion Picture Country Home, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

| othername =

| occupation = Stage actor, silent screen actor, missionary

| yearsactive = 1920s–1944

| spouse =

| domesticpartner =

| website =

}}

File:Gareth Hughes in Picture-Play.jpg

Gareth Hughes (born William John Hughes; 23 August 1894 – 1 October 1965) was a Welsh stage and silent screen actor.{{cite book|first=John A.|last=Willis|title=Screen World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MczAQAAIAAJ|year=1983|publisher=Crown Publishers|page=237|isbn=9780819603074}} Usually cast as a callow, sensitive hero in Hollywood silent films, Hughes got his start on stage during childhood and continued to play youthful leads on Broadway.

Biography

{{more citations needed section|date=November 2019}}

Born William John Hughes into a working-class family in Dafen, Carmarthenshire, after working with a number of UK touring companies he joined a group of Welsh players. The group took a tour to the United States, and although not successful Hughes was spotted in Chicago, and stayed in America to pursue his acting career. By the end of 1915, he had become successful on Broadway. This, in turn, led to his involvement in the motion picture business.

= Film career =

Hughes's earlier screen work was with Clara Kimball Young in Eyes of Youth (1919) and with Marguerite Clark in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1920). He was teamed with Viola Dana in The Chorus Girl's Romance (1920). He signed with Metro Pictures and was loaned to Famous Players Lasky for Sentimental Tommy (1921), probably his best film role.{{According to whom|date=November 2019}}

Even though he had already appeared in many films before this, he regarded Sentimental Tommy as his favourite and most successful. He made forty-five films from 1918 to 1931. He was also the Welsh dialect coach on The Corn Is Green (1945) starring Bette Davis. Cecil B. DeMille called him "a young idealist", and Fulton Oursler described him as "the charm boy to end all charm boys".

= Return to theatre =

In 1929, like many others, he lost his fortune in the Wall Street crash and was left penniless, but he carried on making films until 1931 when he appeared in Scareheads. He then decided to leave the world of film and return to theatre, which had always been his first love. His final role ran for 18 weeks at the Hollywood Playhouse in 1938, where he starred as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.

= Missionary =

In the early 1940s, Hughes experienced a religious calling. Adopting the name of Brother David, in 1944, he became a Christian missionary to the Paiute Indians on the Pyramid Lake Reservation of Nevada. Hughes spent almost 14 years with his "children", as he called them.

= Later years and death =

In 1958, Hughes returned to Llanelli to spend his final years. But he longed for the sunshine of the West Coast, and after five months he returned to California. Later, Hughes moved into the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills where he had his own cottage. He baptised silent film actress Clara Kimball Young prior to her death.

He died in 1965 of complications from byssinosis, a lint-born respiratory disease he contracted from years of sorting donated clothing at Pyramid Lake, and his cremated remains were buried at the Masonic Memorial Gardens cemetery in Reno, Nevada.{{cite web|last=Davis|first=Lisa Fagin|title=A Welshman in Reno|url=http://manuscriptroadtrip.wordpress.com/2014/01/03/manuscript-road-trip-a-welshman-in-reno/|work=Manuscript Road Trip|access-date=4 January 2014|date=3 January 2014}}

Legacy

In 2000, the first TV documentary on Hughes's life was produced by Nant Films in collaboration with Stephen Lyons, Hughes's biographer. The programme, in Welsh, was broadcast on S4C. In 2008, his relative Kelvin Guy made a film In Search of Gareth Hughes, which has received only limited release. The film has been neither broadcast nor made available for public viewing.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7577151.stm|title=Tribute to 'forgotten' film star|publisher=BBC Wales|date=22 August 2008}}

In 2000, a bronze plaque to Hughes's memory was mounted in Parc Howard Museum (Llanelli) by Stephen Lyons and Hughes's niece; later the same year, a blue plaque at Hughes's boyhood dwelling on Princess Street in Llanelli was unveiled by members of his family. Stephen Lyons, Llanelli Community Heritage also relative Kelvin Guy are responsible for these tributes to this star of the silent film.{{cite web|url=http://www.intothelonging.com/memorial.html|title=Bronze Plaque}}

The National Library of Wales has designated biographer Stephen Lyons's web site as part of Wales's documentary heritage.{{cite web|last=Lyons|first=Stephen|title=Gareth Hughes: The First Welsh Film Star|access-date=4 January 2014 |url=http://www.intothelonging.com/ |archive-url=https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20110306010017/http://www.intothelonging.com/|archive-date=6 March 2011}}

Filmography

See also

The Play of Everyman

References

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External links

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  • {{URL|intothelonging.com}} – Site run by official biographer Stephen Lyons
  • {{IMDb name|0400611}}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070911202220/http://www.desertpadre.co.uk/ Brother David] – A site set up by Kelvin Guy, a relative of Gareth Hughes
  • [http://www.llanellich.org.uk/files/13-william-john-hughes-a-forgotten-welsh-hero William John Hughes a forgotten Welsh hero] – Llanelli Community Heritage
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20151222112938/http://dewey.library.unr.edu/xtf/view?docId=ead%2FNC803-ead.xml A Guide to the Gareth Hughes Papers] – Special Collections, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Reno.

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Category:Male actors from Carmarthenshire

Category:Welsh male stage actors

Category:Welsh male silent film actors

Category:1894 births

Category:1965 deaths

Category:Welsh Christian missionaries

Category:20th-century Welsh male actors

Category:Christian missionaries in the United States

Category:Welsh expatriate male actors in the United States