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Gerald Case

{{Short description|British actor (1905–1985)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Thomas Gerald CaseWalford's County Families of the United Kingdom, 1908, p. 188 (26 Jan 1905 – 22 May 1985) was a British stage, film and television character actor, known, amongst others, for his role in the 1976 Wodehouse Playhouse episode, Strychnine in the Soup.{{Cite web |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/96077 |title=BFI | Film & TV Database | CASE, Gerald |access-date=2011-06-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023195557/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/96077 |archive-date=2012-10-23 |url-status=dead }}

Early life

Case was born at Horton Hall,{{cite news |last1=HMSO |title=England & Wales Births 1837-2006: Thomas Gerald Case in 1905|agency=HMSO |issue=Hardingstone, Northamptonshire, England |page=36 |publisher=© brightsolid online publishing ltd |date=1905}} the son of Captain Thomas Elphinstone Case of the Coldstream Guards and Evelyn Ruby,{{cite news |last1=HMSO |title=England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975: Thomas Gerald Case in 1905|agency=HMSO |issue=Horton, Northamptonshire, England |publisher=© brightsolid online publishing ltd |date=18 April 1905}} daughter of Adolphus Ferguson and Minnie Byron, a Mezzo Soprano celebrated for her stage roles in variety and Victorian burlesques.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Our Illustrations - Miss Minnie Byron|agency=Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News|date= 22 July 1882 |page=20 |issue= |publisher=Image © Illustrated London News Group}}{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Miss Minnie Byron|agency=The Era|date= 12 February 1887 |page=2 |issue= |publisher=The British Library Board}} At the age of 6, his father died and Case himself moved into Horton Hall,{{efn|Thomas and Evelyn Case lived at The Temple in Horton Park, which was in the gift of Evelyn’s step-father George Harold Winterbottom}} with his 10-year-old aunt.{{cite news |last1=HMSO |title=Census of England and Wales, 1911: Horton Hall |agency=HMSO |issue=1911 |publisher=Northamptonshire Archives and Heritage Service |date=1911}}{{efn|Case and his half-aunt Betty Winterbottom were young companions in the vast corridors of Horton, creating a bond that was to last for the rest of their lives (Betty's mother Minnie Byron was Case's grandmother)}} Case's widowed mother subsequently married the England cricketer and gold medal-winning Olympic boxer J. W. H. T. Douglas.The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, vol. 86, 1917, p. 132

At the age of eighteen, Case was encouraged to join his step-father's family business in the timber industry, travelling to Finland as the company agent.{{efn|There was no conscription in the United Kingdom in the 1920s but Case had an association with the officers of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, which was lasting.{{cite book |last1=Lemmon |first1=David |title=Johnny Won't Hit Today |date=1983 |publisher=George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd. |location=London |isbn=0-04-796076-0 |page=}}}} Finland in the mid-1920s had recently won independence from Russia, resulting in civil war. Case learnt to speak Finnish and served in the Finnish White Army but is unlikely to have seen active service. Case returned to England in 1928 convinced that the timber trade was not for him and announced that he wanted to go on stage, which he did, for more than 50 years.

Acting career

It is unknown whether Case actually attended drama school, but his first stage appearance was in 1929 at Camberwell Palace playing any small part that he could find. He claimed that he hated minor roles at the outset but every small part that he performed, he made sure that he was good in it, which gradually created his brand. Case got his first real break in October when he joined Jack Denton’s theatre company who were touring with a domestic drama Stop the Wedding!. Case played the part of the villain 'Dudley Cliffstone', which he continued until 1930,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=The Provinces - Gravesend|agency=The Stage|date= 3 October 1929 |page=21 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=The Provinces - Exmouth|agency=The Stage|date= 24 October 1929 |page=25 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Local News – Palace Theatre|agency=Wells Journal|date= 10 January 1930 |page=5 |issue= |publisher= Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.}} when he changed touring company to play 'Paul Cairns' in the crime drama Sexton Blake opposite Erica Tozer.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=New Tours – Sexton Blake at the New, Crewe|agency=The Stage|date= 30 October 1930 |page=18 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Advertisement|agency=The Stage|date= 12 February 1931 |page=23 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Tunbridge Wells Opera House|agency=Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser|date= 13 March 1931 |page=7 |issue= |publisher= Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.}} In April 1931, Case and Tozer moved to a new repertory company working out of the Kings Theatre, Southsea and the Royal County Theatre, Reading.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Chit Chat - Interchangeable Repertory|agency=The Stage|date= 16 April 1931 |page=13 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} They were married 7 months later, playing opposite each other in The Fake.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=A Romance of the Stage - Actors in "The Fake" married in London.|agency=Reading Standard|date= 2 May 1931 |page=6 |issue= |publisher= THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}{{efn| Case and Tozer were married in London with a luncheon reception to give them time to return to Reading in the afternoon to perform "The Fake" at 7:30 the same evening. Case exchanged the clothing of the bridegroom in life with those of the bridegroom on stage in the same day. Their marriage was far from fake however, as they remained together for the rest of their lives.}} A few weeks later, they appeared together on stage as a married couple in a farcical whodunnit called The Barton Mystery, in which Case dreams that he has murdered his wife, reportedly performed by both to dramatic effect.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Stage and Screen - The County Theatre - The Barton Mystery|agency=Reading Standard|date= 30 May 1931 |page=9 |issue= |publisher= THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}

Case continued to work on stage throughout the 1930s with,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=The Blue Gate|agency=The Stage|date= 4 May 1933 |page=5 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} or without his wife, in rep or the West End,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=London Theatres - The Queen's - "Evensong"|agency=The Stage|date= 7 July 1932 |page=12 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} sometimes in leading roles,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title="French without Tears"|agency=The Stage|date= 12 August 1937 |page=7 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} but more often supporting.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=London Theatres - Victoria Palace - "Young England"|agency=The Stage|date= 13 September 1934 |page=10 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} Case began working in feature films appearing first in 1933, initially in uncredited minor roles (e.g. Sorrell and Son, Action for Slander and Dark Journey).{{cite web |last1=Anon |title=Filmography - Case, Gerald |url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/96077?view=credit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223081453/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/96077?view=credit |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-02-23 |website=Film & TV database |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=12 September 2023}} His first starring role was at Pinewood Studios, Paramount's Museum Mystery,{{efn|called Museum Peace pre-production}} in which he appeared alongside Elizabeth Inglis. The film was not a great success with the critics but as war in Europe approached, Case's stage and screen persona found a place in propaganda films, such as The Lion Has Wings. Case was exempt from conscription in 1939, working in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, where he worked with Noël Coward on In Which We Serve, a British patriotic war film.{{cite news |last1=Collier |first1=Lionel |title=Films - Released January 2 - In Which We Serve|agency=Picturegoer|date= 26 December 1942 |page=13 |issue= |publisher= THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} Case went on a 25-week tour (1942 - 1943) with Coward around wartime Britain playing to home troops, bringing the West End to the provinces with premier performances of This Happy Breed and Present Laughter, as well as a revival of Blythe Spirit. The tour advertised collectively as "Noël Coward in his Play Parade"."Opera House", The Manchester Guardian, 15 October 1942, p 1 After playing in twenty-two towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales, the tour ended with a six-week run at the Haymarket.Mander and Mitchenson, pp. 345–346

In 1943, Case focused more on his film career playing Westmoreland in Laurence Olivier's epic film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V.{{efn|Henry V was propaganda film partly funded by the Government made as a morale-booster for British troops fighting World War II and was released to coincide with the Allied invasion of Normandy and push into France.{{Cite web|url=https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/churchill-shakespeare-and-agincourt/|title=Churchill, Shakespeare, and Agincourt|last=Lyons|first=Justin D.|date=2015-10-24|website=The Churchill Project – Hillsdale College|access-date=2 June 2023}}}} The following year he made a brief appearance in Gabriel Pascal's Caesar and Cleopatra and for the next 18 years, he appeared in 2-3 films a year, some uncredited, mostly in supporting roles in features but also starring in B movies,{{efn|most notably playing Inspector Carron in The Candlelight Murder and The Night Plane to Amsterdam, which ran for years in cinemas around Britain}} or films for television{{efn|like Captain Maitland in The Middle Watch (although he played a different role in the stage version in 1973), or Captain Woolcot in the BBC mini-series Seven Little Australians.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title='Middle Watch' is still hilarious|agency=The Bracknell Times|date= 12 April 1973 |page=9 |issue= |publisher= Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}}} (below). Case continued working on the stage,{{efn|Case worked at the Q Theatre in 1949,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title="Q" Theatre|agency=Richmond Herlad|date= 8 January 1949 |page=7 |issue= |publisher= THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} playing in a revival of his earlier role in Noël Coward's Present Laughter (without Noël Coward this time).{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Q Theatre|agency=The Richmond Herald |date= 8 January 1949 |page=7 |issue= |publisher= THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} Following a period in rep at Windsor and Southsea,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Windsor Premiere "The Old Indispensible"|agency=The Stage|date= 1 October 1953 |page=10 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} Case worked again with Noël Coward in 1954 performing Coward's favourite Blithe Spirit,{{cite news |last1=Anon |title=Chit Chat - 'Blithe Spirit'|agency=The Stage|date= 23 September 1954 |page=8 |issue= |publisher= The Stage Media Company Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}} continuing to appear on stage intermittently until 1973.{{cite news |last1=Anon |title='Middle Watch' is still hilarious|agency=Bracknell Times|date= 12 April 1973 |page=9 |issue= |publisher= Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD}}}} but he was defined by his screen roles as a character actor, playing calm, trustworthy and dependable contemporary characters, characteristically senior police detectives with the occasional doctor, military officer or vicar. His screen persona crossed over into television which really took off in the 1960s, making guest appearances in all the major shows of the day from Dr. Finlay's Casebook to Morecambe and Wise.{{efn|Case made guest appearances in 86 television shows between 1951 and 1982.{{cite web |last1=IMDb |title=Actor - Gerald Case (1905-1985) |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0143207/ |website=IMDb.com, Inc. |publisher=Amazon |access-date=3 September 2023}}}} Case had always played comic roles from his earliest days on stage with Noël Coward and later on screen sending up characters he was most respected for in familiar drama roles.{{efn|e.g. The Navy Lark, Doctor in Charge and Bernie}} His prolific screen visibility meant that he was rarely out of work in fifty years of acting,{{efn|"They always send for me when somebody’s getting married in Crossroads and they need a vicar".}} but his last big screen performance was in 1980 in The Elephant Man.

=Partial Credited Filmography=

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Legacy

Case acted in an era when ephemeral stage performances transferred to permanent film or television media. Despite a substantial body of stage work, many on tour, Case will be remembered for his prolific film and television appearances.{{efn|Case performed in around 80 films, with even more television appearances}} His was the face that everyone knew in post-war Britain, but may have had difficult putting a name to.

Case lived with his wife Erica at Mayfield, Windlesham, Surrey, where he died on 22 May 1985.Wills and probate records, search parameters 'surname': Case, 'year of death': 1985 URL= https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk Date accessed= 2 October 2018

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0143207}}

Notes and references

=Notes=

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= References =

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Category:1905 births

Category:1985 deaths

Category:British male film actors

Category:20th-century British male actors