Henry Vernon Esmond (30 November 1869 – 17 April 1922) was a British actor and playwright. Esmond was born Harry Esmond Jack in Hampton Court, Middlesex, the son of Richard George Jack, a physician and surgeon and his wife Mary Rynd. He was baptised on 22 February 1870 at the Church of St Mary, Hampton Court, Middlesex. He began his career as an actor in London in 1889 where he had several successes in comedies. He began writing plays, usually comedies, while in his early twenties. These plays were very popular and were also highly fashionable with their themes of light-hearted romance appealing to the audience of the day. He toured with a number of these plays and co-starred in them with his wife,

Eva Moore Eva Moore (9 February 1868 – 27 April 1955) was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement. In her 1923 book of reminiscences, ''Exits and Entrances'', she des ...

. His plays were also well received in the United States where nine of them were produced on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

between 1899 and 1907. For the next Broadway production, '' Eliza Comes to Stay'', Esmond travelled to New York to appear alongside his wife and the popular actor

Leslie Banks Leslie James Banks CBE (9 June 1890 – 21 April 1952) was an English stage and screen actor, director and producer, now best remembered for playing gruff, menacing characters in black-and-white films of the 1930s and 1940s, but also the Chor ...

. This proved to be the greatest success of his career. He continued writing, acting and touring until his sudden death in Paris caused by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. He is buried in the Old Cemetery of

Saint-Germain-en-Laye Saint-Germain-en-Laye () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Saint-Germanois'' or ''Saint-Ge ...

near Paris. He was the father of the actress

Jill Esmond Jill Esmond (born Jill Esmond Moore; 26 January 1908 – 28 July 1990) was an English stage and screen actress. She was the first wife of Laurence Olivier. Early life Esmond was born in London, the daughter of stage actors Henry V. Esmond and ...

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* * * English male stage actors 1869 births 1922 deaths 19th-century English male actors 20th-century English male actors 19th-century English writers 19th-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Deaths from pneumonia in France English male dramatists and playwrights 19th-century English male writers 20th-century English male writers {{UK-playwright-stub