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3 | Sir Charles Aubrey Smith, [[UsefulNotes/BritishHonours CBE]] (21 July 1863 – 20 December 1948), usually known as C. Aubrey Smith, was an English [[UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}} cricketer]] who later became a stage and film actor. |
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5 | As a cricketer, he was a fast bowler and lower order batsman who played for Cambridge University and Sussex between 1882 and 1896. In 1889 while on a tour of UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica, he captained an English XI against a South African side at Port Elizabeth which was retrospectively classified as a Test match -- the first involving the host country [[note]] At the time it was not unknown for cricket matches between representative sides to be classified as Test matches years later; in Smith's case, this was his only Test match and, as his side won, it gives him a 100% success rate as captain of his country[[/note]]. |
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7 | He started acting on stage in 1895, notably playing both lead roles in a [[Platform/BroadwayAndTheWestEnd West End]] adaptation of ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' the following year. He moved onto films in 1915, initially in Britain but by 1930 he had [[LimeyGoesToHollywood moved to Hollywood]]. |
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9 | By now in his late 60s, he was invariably {{typecast}} in "elderly [[BritishStuffiness stuffy British]] [[OfficerAndAGentleman Officer]] or GentlemanAdventurer" roles. He was, for a while, the apotheosis of StiffUpperLip and would often wear a HighClassGlass. |
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11 | Off-screen, Smith was a key figure in the British expat community in Hollywood during its [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood Golden Age]]. In 1932, he founded the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Cricket_Club Hollywood Cricket Club]], a focal point for many Hollywood-based Brits -- Creator/BorisKarloff, Creator/DavidNiven, Creator/LaurenceOlivier and Creator/NigelBruce (among others) all turned out for the side, which played its home games at Griffith Park. HCC exists to this day and is credited with having played a leading role in the development of cricket in California. |
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13 | As a result of his acting career, Smith is the only former England cricket captain to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. |
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15 | !!Selected filmography: |
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17 | * ''Film/PollyOfTheCircus'' (1932) as Bishop Northcott |
18 | * ''Film/TarzanTheApeMan1932'' (1932) as James Parker |
19 | * ''Film/TheBarbarian'' (1933) as Cecil |
20 | * ''Film/QueenChristina'' (1933) as Aage |
21 | * ''Film/{{Secrets|1933}}'' (1933) as William Marlowe |
22 | * ''Film/{{Cleopatra|1934}}'' (1934) as Enobarbus |
23 | * ''Film/TheScarletEmpress'' (1934) as Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst |
24 | * ''Film/TheLivesOfABengalLancer'' (1935) as Major Hamilton |
25 | * ''Film/WeeWillieWinkie'' (1937) as Colonel Williams |
26 | * ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' (1937) as Colonel Zapt [[note]]He also played the two Rudolfs on stage in 1896[[/note]] |
27 | * ''Film/AnotherThinMan'' (1939) as Colonel Burr [=MacFay=] |
28 | * ''Film/{{Rebecca|1940}}'' (1940) as Colonel Julyan |
29 | * ''Film/{{And Then There Were None|1945}}'' (1945) as General Sir John Mandrake |
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31 | !!Tropes in his work: |
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33 | * StiffUpperLip: Pretty much for the whole decade of the 1930s, if you wanted a stern but honorable Englishman to play an authority figure, you called him. |
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