Roy Russell

Biography

Roy Denbeigh Russell was an actor, born in Anerley, Surrey (now part of the London Borough of Bromley) in early 1893, the son of Arthur Lewis Russell and Florence Amelia Grace Russell. He served in the First World War, and worked as a Chartered Accountant Clerk, before becoming an actor and baritone singer. He often appeared on BBC Radio programmes as a singer. Russell is perhaps best-known to modern audiences as the singing guitarist in The Lady Vanishes (1938), a minor cameo appearance which sets the events in motion for the film's main narrative. Russell mainly played minor supporting roles in film and television, appearing in over 20 British films spanning 1928 to 1958. He also had a career as a stage actor, appearing in London's West End. In 1928, he married Joy Allan Jones in Victoria, Australia, who predeceased him. In 1931, Russell appeared in two London musical theatre productions, The Fountain of Youth, and Viktoria and Her Hussar. He made two commercial recordings from the latter, "Goodnight" (with American actress Margaret Carlisle) and "Only One Girl in the World For Me" (with Chorus), released by Columbia in Great Britain. In 1955, he appeared as the Abbott in Richard III (1955), directed by Laurence Olivier. Russell died in the New Cross General Hospital in New Cross, south London, on 13 January 1958, aged 64. His effects, according to the Probate Index, were £524 11s 11s (about £12,350.00 in 2021). The beneficiary was his son, Peter Denbeigh Russell (born 29 August 1929; died 7 April 2010), a company secretary who later worked as a theatre manager. Both Roy and his son Peter lived on Sutherland Avenue in Maida Vale, west London. After Roy's death, Peter lived with Roy's sister, Gwendolyn F. Russell, a teacher in elocution and drama. Another sister, Grace Denbeigh-Russell (1891-1969, d. aged 78), was also an actress and a stage manager.