Guy Duncan Kingsford (September 30, 1911 – November 9, 1986) was an English-born American film, television, and radio actor.
Biography
Born in
Redhill, Surrey
Redhill () is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The ...
in the United Kingdom, he was the son of British actor
Walter Kingsford
Walter Kingsford (born Walter Pearce; 20 September 1882 – 7 February 1958) was an English stage, film and television actor.
Early years
Kingsford was born in Redhill, Surrey, England.
Career
Kingsford began his acting career on the Lo ...
who moved with his wife to New York City.
In 1938 he was in the theatrical production Once is Enough.
He was in the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. He performed in a
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
-style variety show at
Camp Sibert Camp Sibert was a U.S. Army chemical weapons training facility in Etowah County, Alabama, and St. Clair County, Alabama, during the World War II era. Covering 32,000 acres, it was acquired by the Army in 1942. The site has been redeveloped, includi ...
alongside other enlisted industry professionals. According to
Sidney Skolsky
Sidney Skolsky (2 May 1905 – 3 May 1983) was an American writer best known as a Hollywood gossip columnist. He ranked with Hedda Hopper (with whom he shared a birthday) and Louella Parsons as the premier Hollywood gossip columnists of the first ...
, when Kingsford was traveling in Berlin, Germany that same year as part of a touring company, the Reich Film Chamber tried to recruit him to act in a
propaganda film
A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...
. In the role, he would have portrayed a "so-called "patriot" who would turn over United States military secrets to the German High Command." Kingsford was offered $3,000 up front and an additional $15,000 upon completion of the film. Kingsford sarcastically asked the recruiter from the Chamber if he had checked with the American Embassy prior to recruiting American actors for the film. The recruiter left and never contacted Kingsford again.
In the 1940s he was a voice actor in
Lux Radio Theater
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...
shows. He also owned a home, with his sister, in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
along the
Saar River
The Saar (; french: Sarre ) is a river in northeastern France and western Germany, and a right tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Vosges mountains on the border of Alsace and Lorraine and flows northwards into the Moselle near Trier. It h ...
. In 1943, he co-starred in ''Silk Hat Harry'' at the
Music Box Theater
The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspir ...
in Los Angeles. That same year, while filming ''
Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
'', he was almost injured by a
bayonet
A bayonet (from French ) is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon.Brayley, Martin, ''Bayonets: An Illustr ...
but was protected by a package of
war bond
War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...
s in his shirt. He appears on a
lobby card
A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. The ...
promoting the film ''
Escort Girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
''.
In 1953, he played a Roman soldier in '' Salome''.
He retired in 1960 and died in Encino, California, in 1986.
Filmography
*''
The Headline Woman
''The Headline Woman'' is a 1935 American crime film directed by William Nigh and starring Heather Angel and Ford Sterling.
The film is also known as ''The Woman in the Case'' in the United Kingdom.
Cast
* Heather Angel as Myrna Van Buren
*R ...
'' (1935), as a taxi driver
*'' Happy Go Lucky'' (1936)
*''
Escort Girl
A call girl or female escort is a sex worker who (unlike a street walker) does not display her profession to the general public, nor does she usually work in an institution like a brothel, although she may be employed by an escort agency.< ...
'' (1941)
*''
That Hamilton Woman
''That Hamilton Woman'', also known as ''Lady Hamilton'', is a 1941 black-and-white historical film drama produced and directed by Alexander Korda for his British company during his exile in the United States. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, th ...
Texas to Bataan
''Texas to Bataan'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Robert Emmett Tansey. The film is the seventeenth in Monogram Pictures' "Range Busters" series, and it stars John "Dusty" King as Dusty, "Davy" Sharpe and Max "Alibi" Terhune, ...
'' (1942)
*''
Law of the Jungle
"The law of the jungle" (also called jungle law) is an expression that has come to describe a scenario where "anything goes". The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines the Law of the Jungle as "''the code of survival in jungle life'', now usual ...
'' (1942)
*''
House of Errors
''House of Errors'' is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Bernard B. Ray and written by Ewart Adamson and Eddie Davis. The film stars Harry Langdon, Charley Rogers, Marian Marsh, Ray Walker, Betty Blythe and John Holland. The film was ...
'' (1942)
*''
Sahara
, photo = Sahara real color.jpg
, photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972
, map =
, map_image =
, location =
, country =
, country1 =
, ...
The Phantom
''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...
The Lone Wolf in London
''The Lone Wolf in London'' is a 1947 American crime film directed by Leslie Goodwins and starring Gerald Mohr, Nancy Saunders and Eric Blore. The picture features the fictional Scotland Yard detective the Lone Wolf who travels to London, and ...
'' (1947)
*''
Elephant Stampede
''Elephant Stampede'' is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Ford Beebe and starring Johnny Sheffield, Donna Martell and Edith Evanson. It was the sixth in the 12-film Bomba, the Jungle Boy series. The film's sets were designed by the a ...
'' (1951)
*''
Fort Vengeance
''Fort Vengeance'' (aka ''Royal Mounted Police'') is a 1953 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and starring James Craig, Rita Moreno and Keith Larsen.Moonfleet'' (1955)
*''
The Night Holds Terror
''The Night Holds Terror'' is a 1955 American crime film noir based on a true incident, written and directed by Andrew L. Stone and starring Vince Edwards, John Cassavetes and Jack Kelly.
Plot
Family man Gene Courtier picks up hitchhiker Victor ...
'' (1955)
*''
Teen-Age Crime Wave
''Teen-Age Crime Wave'' (aka ''Teenage Crime Wave'') is a 1955 American juvenile delinquency film noir crime film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Tommy Cook (actor), Tommy Cook and Molly McCart. It was released by Columbia Pictures. The pl ...
'' (1955)
*''
Inside Detroit
''Inside Detroit'' is a 1956 American film noir crime film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Dennis O'Keefe, Pat O'Brien and Tina Carver.
''Inside Detroit'' is centered on corruption within the United Auto Workers union and is loosely ...