C. Aubrey Smith


Actor
C. Aubrey Smith

About

Also Known As
Charles Aubrey Smith, Sir C Aubrey Smith, Sir Aubrey Smith, Sir C. Aubrey Smith
Birth Place
London, England, GB
Born
July 21, 1863
Died
December 20, 1948

Biography

Tall, distinguished stage actor with memorable bushy eyebrows and thick moustache who entered films in 1915 but is best known for his numerous character roles for Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s; often cast as a crusty, blustery upper-class Brit....

Photos & Videos

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) - Lobby Cards
The Hurricane - Lobby Cards
The Bachelor Father - Lobby Card

Notes

He was received the Order of the British Empire in 1938.

Knighted in 1944.

Biography

Tall, distinguished stage actor with memorable bushy eyebrows and thick moustache who entered films in 1915 but is best known for his numerous character roles for Hollywood in the 1930s and 40s; often cast as a crusty, blustery upper-class Brit.

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

Little Women (1949)
Mr. [James] Laurence
High Conquest (1947)
Col. Hugh Banning
Unconquered (1947)
Lord Chief Justice
An Ideal Husband (1947)
Cluny Brown (1946)
Colonel Charles Duff-Graham
Rendezvous with Annie (1946)
Sir Archibald Clyde, also known as "The Old Duffer"
And Then There Were None (1945)
General Sir John Mandrake
Forever Yours (1945)
Grandfather
Scotland Yard Investigator (1945)
Sir James Collison
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
Colonel [Walter Forsythe]
Madame Curie (1944)
Lord Kelvin
Sensations of 1945 (1944)
Dan Lindsay
Secrets of Scotland Yard (1944)
Sir Christopher Pelt
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
Oxford Chancellor
Flesh and Fantasy (1943)
Dean of Chichester
Two Tickets to London (1943)
Fairchild
Forever and a Day (1943)
Admiral [Eustace] Trimble
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941)
The bishop
Maisie Was a Lady (1941)
Walpole
Free and Easy (1941)
The Duke
A Bill of Divorcement (1940)
Dr. Alliot
Rebecca (1940)
Colonel Julyan
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
The Duke
City of Chance (1940)
The judge
Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
Allan Chadwick
Queen of Destiny (1940)
The Duke of Wellington
A Little Bit of Heaven (1940)
Grandpa
Five Came Back (1939)
Professor [Henry] Spengler
The Sun Never Sets (1939)
Sir John Randolph
Balalaika (1939)
General Karagin
East Side of Heaven (1939)
Cyrus Barrett Sr.
Another Thin Man (1939)
Colonel MacFay
Eternally Yours (1939)
Gramps [Bishop Hubert Peabody]
The Four Feathers (1939)
General Burroughs
The Underpup (1939)
Grandpa
Four Men and a Prayer (1938)
Colonel [Loring] Leigh
Kidnapped (1938)
Duke of Argyle
The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
Colonel Zapt
Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
Colonel Williams
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937)
Sir Peter Calverton
The Hurricane (1937)
Father Paul
Romeo and Juliet (1936)
[Lord] Capulet
Lloyd's of London (1936)
Old "Q"
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
The Earl of Dorincourt
The Garden of Allah (1936)
Father J. Roubier
China Seas (1935)
Sir Guy [Wilmerding
The Right to Live (1935)
Major Liconda
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Major Hamilton
Clive of India (1935)
Prime minister
Transatlantic Tunnel (1935)
Lloyd
The Florentine Dagger (1935)
Dr. [Gerard] Lytton
Jalna (1935)
Uncle Nicholas
The Gilded Lily (1935)
Lloyd Granville
The Crusades (1935)
The Hermit
One More River (1934)
General Charwell
Cleopatra (1934)
Enobarbus
Caravan (1934)
Baron von Tokay
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
Inspector Neilsen
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Prince August
The Firebird (1934)
Police inspector [Miller]
Gambling Lady (1934)
Peter [Madison]
The House of Rothschild (1934)
Duke of Wellington
We Live Again (1934)
Prince Kortchagin
Luxury Liner (1933)
Edward Thorndyke
Queen Christina (1933)
Aage
They Just Had to Get Married (1933)
Aubrey Hampton
Morning Glory (1933)
[Robert Harley] Hedges
The Barbarian (1933)
Cecil [Harwood]
Curtain at Eight (1933)
Jim Hanvey
The Monkey's Paw (1933)
Sergeant Major Tom Morris
Secrets (1933)
Mr. [William] Marlowe
Adorable (1933)
Von Heynitz
Bombshell (1933)
Mr. Middleton
Love Me Tonight (1932)
Duke d'Artelines
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Giron
No More Orchids (1932)
[Jerome] Cedric
But the Flesh Is Weak (1932)
Florian [Clement]
Polly of the Circus (1932)
Rev. James Northcott
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932)
James Parker
The Perfect Alibi (1931)
Arthur Hilton
Guilty Hands (1931)
Rev. Hastings
The Phantom of Paris (1931)
Bourrelier
Son of India (1931)
Dr. Wallace
The Bachelor Father (1931)
Sir Basil Winterton
Just a Gigolo (1931)
Lord George Hampton
Surrender (1931)
Count Reichendorf
Never the Twain Shall Meet (1931)
Mr. Pritchard
The Man in Possession (1931)
Mr. Dabney
Daybreak (1931)
General von Hartz
The Rejected Woman (1924)
Peter Leslie
Bohemian Girl (1922)
Jaffery (1916)
Jaffery
The Witching Hour (1916)
Jack Brookfield
The Builder of Bridges (1915)
Edward Thursfield
John Glayde's Honor (1915)
John Glayde

Cast (Short)

Things You Never See on the Screen (1935)
Himself

Life Events

1892

Stage debut

1915

Screen debut, "Builder of Bridges"

Photo Collections

The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) - Lobby Cards
Here are a few Lobby Cards from The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), starring Ronald Colman. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.
The Hurricane - Lobby Cards
The Hurricane - Lobby Cards
The Bachelor Father - Lobby Card
Here is a Lobby Card from MGM's The Bachelor Father (1931), starring Marion Davies. Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.

Videos

Movie Clip

Four Feathers, The (1939) -- (Movie Clip) If We Were Free London, 1895, Harry (John Clements) discovers his miscalculation, wife Ethne (June Duprez) not welcoming his resignation from the army, her father (C. Aubrey Smith) just returned from seeing off his comrades, who have sent a message, a pivotal moment in Zoltan Korda's The Four Feathers, 1939.
Beyond Tomorrow (1940) -- (Movie Clip) The Soul Of Man Is Immortal Quote from Benjamin Franklin, a city montage and the introduction of Harry Carey as Melton, C. Aubrey Smith as Major Chadwick, then joined by their more festive housemate and partner in their prosperous engineering firm, Charles Winninger as O’Brien, in Beyond Tomorrow, 1940, produced by the acclaimed cinematographer Lee Garmes.
Beyond Tomorrow (1940) -- (Movie Clip) It Rarely Seemed Like Christmas We’ve learned that housekeeper Tanya (Maria Ouspenskaya) is a refugee Russian noble, long part of the unrelated family household comprised of prosperous engineering-firm partners and roommates Chadwick (C. Aubrey Smith), Melton (Harry Carey) and O’Brien (Charles Winninger), on Christmas Eve, in Beyond Tomorrow, 1940.
Beyond Tomorrow (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Somebody Here Lose A Wallet? Alone for Christmas Eve dinner, New York engineering-firm partners and bachelor roommates Melton, O’Brien and Chadwick (Harry Carey, Charles Winninger, C. Aubrey Smith) tried a bet to see who would return deliberately lost wallets containing ten dollars cash, producing first Richard Carlson, then Jean Parker, in Beyond Tomorrow, 1940.
Scarlet Empress, The (1934) -- (Movie Clip) To Become The Bride... Medieval imaginings of Russia from director Josef von Sternberg, in the mind of young Princess Sophia, who will appear on a giant flowery swing as grown-up Marlene Dietrich, the title character, who will become Catherine The Great, summoned by her parents (C. Aubrey Smith, Olive Tell) in The Scarlet Empress, 1934.
Scarlet Empress, The (1934) -- (Movie Clip) Open, A Little Princess Credits and opening from Josef von Sternberg's 1934 Marlene Dietrich vehicle The Scarlet Empress, with Dietrich's daughter, Maria Sieber (billed as Maria Riva) as the young Catherine the Great, C. Aubrey Smith and Olive Tell her Prussian parents, Jane Darwell and Clyde David as servants.
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) -- (Movie Clip) Any Boy Would Love His Grandfather The first meeting between Ceddie (Freddie Bartholomew, title character) and his grandfather the Earl (C. Aubrey Smith), who’s brought him to England to claim his title, and, unbeknownst to the boy, has scorned his widowed mother for being American, in Little Lord Fauntleroy, 1936.
Cluny Brown (1946) -- (Movie Clip) Why Girls Leave Home Cluny (Jennifer Jones) parts with Uncle Arn (Billy Bevan) for her new domestic service job then meets Colonel Duff-Graham (Sir C. Aubrey Smith) on the journey in Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown, 1946.
China Seas (1935) -- (Movie Clip) The Whole Dirty Picture Captain Gaskell (Clark Gable) and refined widow Sybil (Rosalind Russell) join his ex, China (Jean Harlow), and Jamesy (Wallace Beery), who have become kind-of partners in a scam, C. Aubrey Smith as the ship line owner, finishing with a scolding, in China Seas, 1935, directed by Tay Garnett.
Five Came Back (1939) -- (Movie Clip) Don't Argue! Shortly after the crash, worries in the control room, Pilot Bill (Chester Morris), Professor and Mrs. Spengler (C. Aubrey Smith, Elisabeth Risdon), convict Vasquez (Joseph Calleia), Peggy (Lucille Ball) and marshal Crimp (John Carradine) arguing, in John Farrow's Five Came Back, 1939.
And Then There Were None (1945) -- (Movie Clip) The Place For Nursery Rhymes Director Rene Clair is still cycling through Agatha Christie's ten island guests, Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald, Mischa Auer on the piano, Richard Haydn playing the record, when the gimmick is revealed, to C. Aubrey Smith, Judith Anderson, June Duprez, Louis Hayward, Roland Young and Queenie Leonard, early in And Then There Were None, 1945.
And Then There Were None (1945) -- (Movie Clip) What A Quiet Place Director Rene Clair wastes not a word introducing Agatha Christie's characters, Louis Hayward, June Duprez, Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, C. Aubrey Smith, Roland Young, Judith Anderson, Mischa Auer and Harry Thurston joining Queenie Leonard and Richard Haydn on the island, opening And Then There Were None, 1945.

Trailer

Five Came Back - (Original Trailer) Lucille Ball plays the ultimate game of Survivor after a jungle plane crash in the thriller Five Came Back (1939).
Gambling Lady - (Original Trailer) Barbara Stanwyck is Lady Lee, Gambling Lady (1934), in love with accused murderer Joel McCrea.
Firebird, The - (Original Trailer) A young girl's secret romance is exposed when her lover is murdered in The Firebird (1934) starring Ricardo Cortez.
Waterloo Bridge (1940) - (Re-issue Trailer) Vivien Leigh is the ballerina-turned-streetwalker after her fiance Robert Taylor is apparently killed in World War I in Waterloo Bridge (1940), directed by Mervyn LeRoy.
Little Women (1949) - (Original Trailer) June Allyson is Jo and Elizabeth Taylor, Amy, seen here in the original theatrical trailer for the first color version of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, 1949, delivered by co-stars Peter Lawford and Janet Leigh.
Lives of a Bengal Lancer, The - (Re-issue trailer) Three British soldiers in India fight invaders when not fighting each other in The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935) starring Gary Cooper and Franchot Tone.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) - (Original Trailer) A British lord raised by apes kidnaps a beautiful noblewoman exploring Africa with her father in Tarzan, the Ape Man (1932) starring Johnny Weissmuller.
Lloyd's of London - (Wide-release Trailer) The fanciful story of the founding of Britain's most famous insurers, Lloyd's of London (1937).
Queen Christina - (Original Trailer) MGM goes for the momentous angle in this original trailer for Queen Christina, 1933, starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, directed by Rouben Mamoulian.
Adventures of Mark Twain, The - (Original Trailer) Fredric March plays the great American humorist in his life story The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944).
Free And Easy (1941) - (Original Trailer) Nigel Bruce and Robert Cummings play father-and-son con artists out to wed wealthily in Free And Easy (1941).
China Seas - (Re-issue Trailer) A sea captain caught in a romantic triangle has to fight off modern-day pirates in China Seas (1935) starring Clark Gable and Jean Harlow.

Bibliography

Notes

He was received the Order of the British Empire in 1938.

Knighted in 1944.