Frank Harvey

Biography

Jersey’s winter of 1885 delivered Frank Harvey on 22 December, and the island’s salt-stung air seems to have followed him into every story he touched. Before the cameras rolled on Clara Gibbings, The Streets of London and Heritage, Harvey had already sharpened his pen and tested his voice on stage, slipping between playwright, screenwriter and actor as though the titles were interchangeable costumes. In 1934 alone he book-ended the year with two film releases, then capped the trilogy in 1935, proving the talkies had room for his crisp, street-smart dialogue. Off-set he shared his life with Rosamund McMillan; together they traded Europe’s fog for Australia’s sun, settling in Sydney. Harvey’s final curtain fell there on 10 October 1965, leaving behind a slate of inter-war films that still crackle with the energy of a man who once ferried stories from a tiny Channel island to the world.