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The term "Hollywood Raj" has traditionally been applied to that group of British actors who quietly invaded Hollywood during its golden age in the late 1920s and 1930s. It was personified by such stalwart greats as Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Olivia  de Havilland, Donald Crisp, Flora Robson, Claude Rains, Ronald Colman,

C. Aubrey Smith (who was captain of the Hollywood Cricket Club) and Victor McLaglen.

Here the term will be used regardless of the actual nationality of the actors involved or whether the film in question was shot in Hollywood, Great Britain, or on location somewhere in the wide expanses of the former British Empire.

In most cases, these photographs will depict actors playing parts for which the actual events occurred long before they were born though in some instances - such as Victor McLagen  - actors who did indeed serve in Queen Victoria's forces before being seconded to the very different world of the silver screen.

Montegu Love.png

The 1910s

Art Before Acting

"...An artist before he was an actor." are the words used by Marjorie Love the widow of the late Montagu Love to
describe him in a 1946 letter to a fan of the actor.

Probably best known to modern audiences for roles such as that of Colonel Weed in Gunga Din or as the traitorous Bishop of the Black Canons in The Adventures of Robinhood, Love's film acting career dated back to 1914 with his stage career beginning in the very early 1900s.

 

What is not so well known but alluded to in Marjorie's letter is that prior to acting Montagu Love made a living as an artist of military subjects and always considered this his true vocation with acting a convenient, entertaining, and lively way of paying the bills.

According to most sources Montagu Love was born Harry Montagu Love (his name is often seen incorrectly spelled as "Montague") on 15 March 1880 at Portsmouth, Hampshire, England the son of Harry an estate agent
and Fanny Louisa Love.

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Production Still

Unknown South African Production

c. 1915

The 1920s

Cyril MacLaglan Balaclava.png

Cyril McLaglen
as
John Kennedy
Balaclava (Jaws of Hell)
1928

Richard Arlen Fay Wray 4 Feathers 29.png

Richard Arlen as Lt. Harry Faversham
&
Fay Wray as Ethne Eustace
The Four Feathers
1929

Von Eltz 4 Feathers 29.png

Theodor Von Eltz

as

Lieutenant Castleton
The Four Feathers
1929

Victor McLaglen Black Watch.png

Victor McLaglen
as
Captain Donald Gordon King
The Black Watch
1929

Gary Cooper
as
Lieutenant Alan McGregor
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
1935

The 1930s

Gary Cooper.png
Erroll Flynn Light Brigade.png

Errol Flynn
as
Major Geoffrey Vickers
The Charge of the Light Brigade
1936

Douglas Scott .png

Douglas Scott
as
Drummer Boy Mott
Wee Willie Winkie
1937

Fairbanks Gunga Din.png

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
as
Sergeant Tommy Ballantine
Gunga Din
1939

Cary Grant Victor McLaglen Gunga Din.png

Cary Grant
as
Sergeant Archibald Cutter

&

Victor McLaglen

as

Sergeant 'Mac' MacChesney
Gunga Din
1939

Ian Hunter Little Princess.png

Ian Hunter
as
Captain Crewe
The Little Princess
1939

Spencer Tracy.png

Spencer Tracy
as
Henry Morton Stanley
Stanley and Livingstone
1939

Ronald Coleman Light that Failed.png

Ronald Colman
as
Dick Heldar
The Light That Failed
1939

Sam Jaffe

as
Regimental Bisti Gunga Din
Gunga Din
1939

Victor McLaglen Lost Patrol.png

Victor McLaglen
as
The Sergeant
The Lost Patrol
1934

Helen Hayes Queen Victoria.png
Anna Neagle Queen Victoria.png

Helen Hayes
as
Queen Victoria
Victoria Regina
1935

Anna Neagle
as
Queen Victoria
Victoria the Great
1937

Stan Laurel
as
Pte Stanley MacLaurel

&

Oliver Hardy

as

Pte. Ollie Hardy
Bonnie Scotland
1939

Sam Jaffe.png
Desmond Tester The Drum.png

Desmond Tester

as
Drummer Bill Holder
The Drum
1938

(Signed)

Drummer William Quinnell
and the filming of
The Four Feathers

Showcased here is a remarkable archive of 45 photographs taken from a photo album once owned by William Quinnell of the East Surrey Regiment which recorded the 1938 filming of Zoltan Korda’s classic production of The Four Feathers. None of these images have been published before to the best of my knowledge. 

Zoltan Korda’s production of A.E.W. Mason’s 1904 novel The Four Feathers was the fourth of seven films versions of the book made between 1915 and 2002. Korda’s version differs from the novel and other filmed versions by having its action take place during Kitchener’s Omdurman Campaign of 1896 instead of the Nile Campaign of 1884-5. Korda’s version is noted for its historical accuracy and most of the extras who portrayed British soldiers in the film were actually members of the 2/East Surreys who were stationed in Khartoum at the time of the filming. This explains the remarkably soldierly appearance...

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Drummer William Quinnell

1/2 East Surrey Regiment

Shanghai, China

1939

The 1940s

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David Niven
as
General Sir Roland Dane
Enchantment
1948

Robert Preston

as

Constable Ronnie Logan

North West Mounted Police

1940

Preston Foster NWMP.png

Preston Foster

as

Sergeant Jim Brett

North West Mounted Police

1940

The 1950s

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Robert Newton
as
Private Bill Sykes
Soldiers Three
1951

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Stewart Granger
as
Private Archibald Ackroyd
Soldiers Three
1951

Pidgeon Soldiers 3.png

Walter Pidgeon
as
Colonel Brunswick
Soldiers Three
1951

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Tyrone Power
as
Constable Duncan MacDonald
Pony Soldier
1952

Power King of Khyber Rifles.png

Tyrone Power
as
Captain Alan King
King of the Khyber Rifles
1953

Peter Lawford Rouges March.png

Peter Lawford
as
Capt. Dion Lenbridge/

Pte. Harry Sims
Rouge's March
1953

Torin Thatcher Bengal Brigade.png

Torin Thatcher
as
Colonel Morrow
Bengal Brigade
1954

Cyril Cussack.png

Cyril Cusack
as
Private Dennis Malloy
Soldiers Three
1951

Robert Ryan
as
Inspector William Gannon
The Canadians
1961

The 1960s

Robert Ryan The Canadians 2.png
Richard Todd Hellions.png

Richard Todd
as
Sergeant Sam Hargis
The Hellions
1961

Richard Haydn.png

Richard Haydn
as
General Sir Henry Vining
Five Weeks in a Balloon

1962

Niven 55 Days.png

David Niven
as
Sir Arthur Robertson
55 Days at Peking
1963

Stanley Baker Zulu.png

Stanley Baker
as
Lt. John Rouse Merriott Chard
Zulu
1964

Michael Caine Zulu.png

Michael Caine
as
Lt. Gonville Bromhead
Zulu
1964

Edward Underdowm Khartoum.png
Charleton Heston Khartoum.png
Richard Johnson Khartoum.png

Edward Underdown
as
Col. William "Billy" Hicks
Khartoum
1966

Charlton Heston
as
Gen. Charles "Chinese" Gordon
Khartoum
1966

Richard Johnson
as
Col. J.D.H. Stewart
Khartoum
1966

Gert van den Bergh Naked Prey.png
Brian Kieth Rare Breed.png

Gert van den Bergh
as
Man #2
The Naked Prey
1966

Brian Keith
as
Lt. Col. Alexander Bowen
The Rare Breed
1966

Peter Sellers
as
Hrundi V. Baskhi
The Party
1968

David Hemmings
as
Captain Lewis Nolan
The Charge of the Light Brigade
1968

Lionel Jeffries Pott.png

Lionel Jeffries
as
Grandpa Potts
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
1968

David Hemmings Light Brigade.png
Trevor Howard.png

Trevor Howard
as
Lord Cardigan
The Charge of the Light Brigade
1968

John Fraser - Lt Robert Fitch.png

John Fraser
as
Lieutenant Robert Fitch
Waltz of the Toreadores
1962

Peter Selllers The Party.png

The 1970s

Malcom McDowell.png

Malcolm McDowell
as
Captain Harry Flashman
Royal Flash
1975

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Christopher Plummer
as
Major Alistair Wimbourne, VC
Conduct Unbecoming
1975

Robert Powell.png

Robert Powell
as
Captain Jack Durrance
The Four Feathers
1977

Peter OToole Zulu Dawn.png

Peter O'Toole
as
Lord Chelmsford
Zulu Dawn
1979

Said Jaffrey Billy Fish.png

Saeed Jaffrey
as
Rifleman Majendra Bahadur Gurung

(Billy Fish)
The Man Who Would Be King
1975

The 1980s

Bo Derek.png

Bo Derek
as
Jane Parker
Tarzan, the Ape Man
1981

Eric Idle.png

Eric Idle
as
Wounded British Private
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
1983

Ben Cross.png

Ben Cross
as
Ashton Pelham-Martyn
The Far Pavilions
1984

Lewis  Fitz-Gerald

as

Lt. George Witton

Breaker Morant

1980

Bryan Brown

as

Lt. Peter Handcock

Breaker Morant

1980

The 1990s

Patrick Bergin.png
Val Kilmer.png
Aiden Quinn.png

Patrick Bergin
as
Capt. Sir Richard Francis Burton
Mountains of the Moon
1990

Val Kilmer
as
Colonel John Patterson
The Ghost and the Darkness
1997

Aidan Quinn
as
Henry Morton Stanley
Forbidden Territory: Stanley's Search for Livingstone
1997

The 2000s

Wes Bentley
as
Captain Jack Durrance
The Four Feathers
2002

Wes Bentley Four Feathers 2002.png
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