Lauri de Frece

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Born in Liverpool, Lauri de Frece was one of four sons of Harry de Frece, of the Gaiety Music Hall, Liverpool, a prosperous theatrical manager and agent from a Jewish theatrical family. The four sons were well educated at the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, in the hope of keeping them out of the theatre. However, Frece's brother Jack became the manager of the Alhambra Wooden Theatre, Liverpool, his brother Isaac managed the Theatre Royal, Liverpool, and in 1890 his brother Walter gave up an apprenticeship with a Merseyside architect to marry Vesta Tilley, taking a job in the office of Warner's Theatrical Agency, and going on to become a leading theatrical impresario.[https://www.jewsfww.uk/sir-walter-de-frece-mp-1722.php Sir Walter de Frece MP], jewsfww.uk; accessed 26 March 2019.Frank Graham & G. J. Mellor, Northern Music Hall.

At the Liverpool Institute, de Frece was a contemporary of Albert Coates.

In 1910, de Frece appeared as Blatz in the musical The Balkan Princess. In 1912, he sang the part of Brissard in an Edinburgh production of Franz Lehár's operetta The Count of Luxembourg, when he was one of the five principals, together with Daisy Burrell, Phyllis Le Grand, Eric Thorne, and Robert Michaelis, collectively described by the Musical News as "all consummate artists in their own style".Musical News and Herald, vol. 42 (1912), p. 194

In 1914, after the death of the producer H. G. Pelissier, de Frece married his young widow Fay Compton,"Pelissier, Fay C. & Frece, Lauri de" in Register of Marriages for Maidenhead Registration District, vol. 2c (1914), p. 1,004 with whom he later starred in The Labour Leader (1917).

He died in August 1921, aged 41, from undisclosed causes, in Trouville-sur-Mer, Normandy. In February 1922 his widow remarried, to Leon Quartermaine.

Trewin, J. C., [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30957 "Compton, Fay (real name Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie; 1894–1978), actress"], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 February 2019. {{ODNBsub}}

In his Idols of the "Halls", Henry Chance Newton (1854–1931) recalled that "I knew many de Freces, both of the Liverpudlian, and of the London brand; for example, that wonderful old couple, Isaac and Maurice de Frece, Walter's brother Jack, a big variety agent, also that late fine comedian, poor Lauri de Frece, who was the second husband of that brilliant young actress, Fay Compton."Henry Chance Newton, Idols of the "Halls" (1975 reprint), p. 152

• The Balkan Princess (1910) as Blatz
• The Count of Luxembourg (1912) as Brissard[http://www.operascotland.org/person/8752/Lauri+de+Frece Lauri de Frece] at operascotland.org, accessed 26 March 2019
• To-Night's the Night (1914) as Henry[https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Lauri-De-Frece/ Lauri de Frece] at broadwayworld.com, accessed 26 March 2019
• The Happy Day (1916) as Walter
• The Maid of the Mountains as Tonio

:Incomplete list

• The Labour Leader (1917)
• Once Upon a Time (1918)
• All the Sad World Needs (1918)

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|0208455}}
• [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp120838/lauri-de-frece Lauri de Frece] at National Portrait Gallery, London
• [https://www.discogs.com/artist/4750966-Lauri-de-Frece Lauri de Frece] at discogs.com

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Category:1880 births

Category:1921 deaths

Category:English male film actors

Category:English male stage actors

Category:English male silent film actors

Category:English male musical theatre actors

Category:People educated at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys

Category:Male actors from Liverpool

Category:20th-century English male actors

Category:20th-century English singers

Category:20th-century English male singers