Godfrey Cass
{{short description|Australian actor}}
{{Use Australian English|date=November 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Godfrey Cass
| image = File:Godfrey Cass (The Kelly Gang 1920).jpg
| caption = Godfrey Cass as Ned Kelly in the 1920 film The Kelly Gang.
| birth_date = {{Birth year|1867|}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1951|5|14|1867|}}
| father = John Buckley Castieau
}}
Godfrey Cass (1867 – 14 May 1951) was an Australian actor in the silent era. Between 1906 and 1935 he acted in nineteen film roles. He played Ned Kelly three times, and also had roles in a number of other bushranger movies including A Tale of the Australian Bush (1911) and Moondyne (1913).
Biography
The son of the Governor of Melbourne Gaol, John Buckley Castieau (1831–1885), Godfrey Cass was born Godfrey Castieau in 1867, one of seven children. As a child he spent a lot of time around the gaol and met Ned Kelly just before Kelly was hung.Mary Bateman, 'Godfrey Cass', Cinema Papers, June–July 1980 p 170
He began acting in late 1883 or 1884 for J. C. Williamson Ltd. He married Hilda Fraser, with whom he often appeared on stage, in 1894. His peak years as an actor were from 1903 to 1914, usually playing the villain in melodramas.Mary Bateman, 'Godfrey Cass', Cinema Papers, June–July 1980 p 171
Cass appeared in his first film in 1911 for the Australian Life Biography Company, and followed it with two more movies for the same company. Two years later he partnered with W. J. Lincoln to make films as Lincoln-Cass Films. The company survived for only one year, but in that time it made eight films, with Cass playing roles in six of them.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article165141932 |title=PICTURE FILM PRODUCTION,. |newspaper=The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889–1930) |location=Vic. |date=16 August 1913 |accessdate=18 June 2015 |page=5 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
He then returned to the stage appearing in Sealed Orders for J. C. Williamson Ltd.
Cass enlisted in the Army for World War I on 27 January 1915, dropping his age by eleven years, and was discharged on 25 August 1917, suffering from shell shock.[http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/nominal_rolls/first_world_war/page.asp?p=1657602 Army records of Cass's enlistment under the name of Castieau]{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74839334 |title=IN THE BARBER'S SHOP. |newspaper=The Prahran Telegraph (Vic. : 1889–1930) |location=Vic. |date=1 September 1917 |accessdate=26 October 2014 |page=6 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
He returned to theatre, working as an actor and director. He also appeared in several films, including playing as Ned Kelly in Harry Southwell's The Kelly Gang. He died in 1951.
Filmography
- A Tale of the Australian Bush (1911) – actor
- One Hundred Years Ago (1911) – actor
- A Ticket in Tatts (1911) – actor
- The Sick Stockrider (1913) – actor, producer
- Moondyne (1913) – actor, producer
- The Remittance Man (1913) – actor, producer
- Transported (1913) – actor, producer
- The Road to Ruin (1913) – actor, producer
- The Crisis (1913) – actor, producer
- The Reprieve (1913) – actor, producer
- The Wreck (1913) – actor, producer
- The Kelly Gang (1920) – actor
- The Hordern Mystery (1920) – actor
- The Dingo (1923) – actor
- When the Kellys Were Out (1923) – actor
- Jewelled Nights (1925) – actor
- Jungle Woman (1926) – actor
- The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1925) – actor
- The Rushing Tide (1927) – actor
- Tiger Island (1930) – actor
- Heritage (1935) – actor
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
- {{cite book|author=Fogarty, Peter A.D.|year=2004|title=The Screening of St Kilda: A History of St Kilda's Cinemas|url=http://www.skhs.org.au/SKHScinemas/Cinema.htm|location=Balaclava, Victoria|publisher=St Kilda Historical Society|isbn=0-9751060-1-5}}
- {{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0143899/|title=Godfrey Cass|work=Internet Movie Database (IMDb)|accessdate=9 June 2006}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cass, Godfrey}}
Category:Australian male silent film actors
Category:Male actors from Melbourne