Herbert Bunston

Biography

At age 23, the year 1897, Herbert began a long experience of his career towards acting on the British Theater. During that time the theater was still owned by the eminent Thomas Alva Edison. As a classically trained British actor he began by acting in small parts on screen and off. Fans will probably remember his most as the ineffectual Dr. Seward in the classic Universal Pictures film Dracula (1931). In fact Herbert essayed the part both in the film and the stage. When the 1927 stage play of Dracula was released he played the very same role of Dr. Seward on the play, as did another British actor, Edward Van Sloan who played Professor Van Helsing both on the play and on screen. After many years with the British stage he moved on to play parts in Broadway. A very capable actor with his versatile tie and cultured masculinity. By the late 1930s, Herbert became an older gentlemen in his late fifties and continued both on stage and screen to play authoritative supporting roles mostly of which were film versions of classic literature novels and plays. By 1935, his career was tragically cut short of a heart attack. He died at sixty-one.