Gerald Hamer

Biography

Gerald Hamer (born Geoffrey Earl Watton) the Anglo-American movie and television character actor, was born in Llandudno , Wales in November 1886 to parents John Watton and Evelyn Clara Earl. Hamer learned his craft on stage in the United Kingdom, appearing as a professional from 1916 in Shakespeare and such venerable theatrical warhorses as "The Admirable Chrichton". He appeared in British film, but moved to the U.S. in 1935, where he made his debut in an uncredited role in George Stevens classic Astaire-Rogers musical Swing Time (1936). Hamer appeared mostly in small and bit roles in B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s. Hamer is best remembered for playing the psychopath in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie The Scarlet Claw (1944). He also appeared in four other entries in the Holmes series: Pursuit to Algiers (1945), Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943), Terror by Night (1946), and Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943). He began appearing on TV in the 1950s. Gerald Hamer died on July 6, 1972 in Hollywood, California after suffering a heart attack. He was 88 years old.