Alexander Mervyn Archdale (26 November 190513 May 1986) was a British actor, manager and theatre producer. He had a very long career in both the theatre and in film, stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s. He spent the latter part of his life and career in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Biography

He was born Alexander Mervyn Archdale in

Jhansi Jhansi (; Hindi: झांसी, Urdu: ) is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the region of Bundelkhand on the banks of the Pahuj River, in the extreme south of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative hea ...

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, to British parents Theodore Montgomery Archdale and Helen Alexandra Russell His younger sister was the educationalist and cricketer

Betty Archdale Helen Elizabeth Archdale (21 August 1907 – 1 January 2000) was an English-Australian sportswoman and educationalist. She was the inaugural Test captain of the England women's cricket team in 1934. A qualified barrister and Women's Royal Naval S ...

. In 1934 he was in a Broadway production of ''The Wind and the Rain'' at the Ritz Theatre,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1937 he acted in

Jeffrey Dell John Edward Flowers "Jeffrey" Dell (7 May 1899 – 24 February 1985) was a British writer, screenwriter, and film director. He is also remembered for his 1939 novel ''Nobody Ordered Wolves'', a satire on the British film industry. His other nove ...

's play ''Night Alone'' at the Embassy Theatre in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with Richard Bird,

Julian Somers John Julian Somers (12 November 1903 – 11 November 1976), known as Julian Somers, was a prolific English stage and screen actor. Career By 1934, Somers was appearing in rep at Croydon. In 1937, he was on stage in Jeffrey Dell's play '' Night Alo ...

, and Anna Konstam in the cast. In the same year he acted in

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

's play ''

Time and the Conways ''Time and the Conways'' is a British play written by J. B. Priestley in 1937 illustrating J. W. Dunne's Theory of Time through the experience of a moneyed Yorkshire family, the Conways, over a period of nineteen years from 1919 to 1937. Wide ...

'' at the

Duchess Theatre The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street near Aldwych. The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest West End theatres with a proscenium arch. It has 494 se ...

in London, with

Jean Forbes-Robertson Jean Forbes-Robertson (16 March 1905 – 24 December 1962) was an English actress. A versatile Shakespearean actress, she was often cast in boys' roles because of her slim build, playing Jim Hawkins in a stage version of ''Treasure Island'', Pu ...

Raymond Huntley Horace Raymond Huntley (23 April 1904 – 15 June 1990) was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s to the 1970s. He also appeared in the ITV period drama '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' as the pragmatic family so ...

Barbara Everest Barbara Everest (19 June 1890 – 9 February 1968) was a British stage and film actress. She was born in Southfields, Surrey, and made her screen debut in the 1916 film ''The Man Without a Soul''. On stage she played Queen Anne in the 1935 his ...

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, Helen Horsey,

Eileen Erskine Eileen Erskine (15 August 1914 – 8 November 1995) was an English actress from Nottingham who was active in film mainly in the 1940s when she appeared in ''This Happy Breed'' (1944) and '' Great Expectations'' (1946). Her theatre work include ...

, Wilfred Babbage, Molly Rankin, Rosemary Scott, and Irene Hentschel in the cast. He appeared in British films of the 1930s and 1940s, for instance '' Lucky Days'' and '' House of Darkness'' (with a young

Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...

) before going on to appear in TV series such as ''Ivanhoe'', ''No Hiding Place'' and ''Emergency Ward 10''. Later in his career he was a regular on

n television performing in ''Hunter'', '' Skippy'' and ''

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''. He was Sir Charles in ''

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'', a 1978 film directed by

Phillip Noyce Phillip Noyce (born 29 April 1950) is an Australian filmmaker. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama (''Newsfront'', ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'', ''The Quiet American''); thrillers (''Dead Cal ...

, which tells the story of rival companies making newsreels in the pre-television Australia of the late 1940s and 1950s. He played the part of retired Professor B. C. Simmonds in the 1981 Australian thriller ''

The Killing of Angel Street ''The Killing of Angel Street'' is a 1981 Australian thriller film loosely based on the Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) green bans against development in inner Sydney city waterside suburbs. It briefly touches on the real-life disappearance of ...

'', which won an Honourable Mention at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

in 1982. His last credited appearance was in ''Runaway Island'', which was set in 1830s Sydney. He died on 13 May 1986 at the age of 80 in Sydney.

Selected filmography

* '' Lucky Days'' (1935) * '' House of Darkness'' (1948) * ''

Floodtide ''Floodtide'' is a 1949 British romantic drama film directed by Frederick Wilson and starring Gordon Jackson, Rona Anderson, John Laurie and Jimmy Logan. The film was one of the four of David Rawnsley's films that used his "independent frame" ...

'' (1949) (as 2nd. Director) * ''

His Majesty O'Keefe ''His Majesty O'Keefe'' is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin and starring Burt Lancaster. The cast also included Joan Rice, André Morell, Abraham Sofaer, Archie Savage, and Benson Fong. The screenplay by Borden Chase and ...

'' (1954) * ''

The Scapegoat A scapegoat is a goat used in a religious ritual or the victim of scapegoating, the singling out of a party for unmerited blame. Scapegoat or The Scapegoat may also refer to: Places * Scapegoat Wilderness, a Wilderness Area in Montana ** Scapeg ...

'' (1959) * ''

Marriage of Convenience A marriage of convenience is a marriage contracted for reasons other than that of love and commitment. Instead, such a marriage is entered into for personal gain, or some other sort of strategic purpose, such as a political marriage. There are ...

'' (1960) * '' Village of the Damned'' (1960) * ''

Invasion Quartet ''Invasion Quartet'' is a 1961 British World War II comedy-drama film that was publicised as a parody of '' The Guns of Navarone''.Weiler, A. H. ''New York Times'' film review 11 December 1961 It was directed by Jay Lewis and starred Bill Traver ...

'' (1961) * ''

The Adventures of Barry McKenzie ''The Adventures of Barry McKenzie'' is a 1972 Australian comedy film directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Barry Crocker, telling the story of an Australian 'yobbo' on his travels to the United Kingdom. Barry McKenzie was originally a chara ...

'' (1972) * ''

The Night the Prowler ''The Night the Prowler'' (also known as ''Patrick White's The Night the Prowler'') is a 1978 Australian film written by Patrick White, produced by Anthony Buckley and directed by Jim Sharman. Ruth Cracknell was nominated in 1979 for an AFI A ...

'' (1978) * ''

'' (1981)

References

External sources

Alexander Archdale at the Internet Movie Database
* * Photos of
Alexander Archdale at Aveleyman
* A Who's who of Australian and New Zealand Film Actors: The Sound Er
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* Theatre Australia (un)limited: Australian Theatre Since the 1950
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* The importance of Marian Street Theatre - images of Alexander Archdale http://www.savemariansttheatre.com/a-brief-history/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Archdale, Alexander 1905 births 1986 deaths People from Jhansi English male film actors English male stage actors British emigrants to Australia Male actors from Sydney 20th-century English male actors British people in colonial India