Frank Permain Vosper (15 December 1899, in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

– 6 March 1937) was an English actor who appeared in both stage and film roles and a dramatist, playwright and screenwriter.

Stage

Vosper made his stage debut in 1919 and was best known for playing urbane villains. His extensive stage experience included appearing in his own play '' Love from a Stranger'' (1936), adapted from the short story " Philomel Cottage" by Agatha Christie. His screenplays included co-writing the comedy ''

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'' with ''

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'' (1933). He also co-wrote the adaptation of G.B. Stern's novel ''Debonair'' with the novelist which opened at the Lyric 23 April 1930. He also wrote ''People Like Us'', based on the case of

Edith Thompson Edith Jessie Thompson (25 December 1893 – 9 January 1923) and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters (27 June 1902 – 9 January 1923) were a British couple executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy. Their case became a ''cause c ...

and

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. Banned by the

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after a performance at the Strand Theatre featuring

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, it remained unperformed until 1948, when it premiered at

Wyndham's Theatre Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...

in London, with

Miles Malleson William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles i ...

, George Rose,

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and Kathleen Michael.

Death

Vosper drowned on 6 March 1937, when he fell from the ocean liner '' SS Paris''. His body was found several weeks later on 22nd March washed up on the shores near Beachy Head. The death was eventually ruled as accidental after considerable media speculation. Several newspapers reported that earlier in the evening Vosper had been attending a farewell party for Miss Muriel Oxford, "Miss Great Britain" of 1936, in her cabin, and that he had threatened suicide if she refused to marry him. Miss Oxford reported that her last conversation with Vosper was "quite normal" and that he never threatened suicide. According to the '' Daily Express'' Fiction Library edition of ''

Murder on the Second Floor ''Murder on the Second Floor'' is a 1932 British thriller film directed by William C. McGann and starring Pat Paterson, John Longden and Sydney Fairbrother. The screenplay concerns a novelist who imagines the murders of his fellow boarding- ...

'', Vosper fell from the French ocean liner '' SS Normandie'', while contemporary newspaper accounts and the evidence produced at the inquest stated it was the liner ''SS Paris''.

Filmography

Actor

Screenwriter

Plays

* '' The Combined Maze'' (1927) * ''

'' (1929) - later adapted by Vosper into a novel of the same name. * '' Debonair'' (1930) * '' Love from a Stranger'' (1936)

References

External links

* *
Portrait of the actor Frank Vosper by Thomas Staedeli
at www.cyranos.ch Short biography and photograph of Vosper. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vosper, Frank 1899 births 1937 deaths Deaths by drowning in the United Kingdom Accidental deaths from falls 20th-century British male actors British male stage actors British male film actors British male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century British male writers