Terence de Marney

Biography

Gaunt, emaciated-looking British character actor who enjoyed a lengthy career on the stage, both as an actor and as a director. By the age of 19, he was already a noted writer and producer of plays. De Marney made his theatrical debut in London in 1923. His first major role was as Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island". For the next eight years, he went on tour with "The Last of Mrs. Cheyney", "Journey's End" and "The Lady of the Camelias". In 1931, he started to direct plays at the Connaught Theatre in Worthing and in the following year co-founded the Independent Theatre Club (formerly the Kingsway Theatre) with his brother Derrick De Marney, as an outlet for works banned for various reasons by the Lord Chamberlain. His next important part was that of Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Open Air Theatre in 1934 which marked the beginning of a tendency towards villainous, or, at least, antagonistic portrayals. In the 1930's, he acted in a variety of thrillers and Victorian mysteries, ranging from Agatha Christie's "Dear Murderer" to Daphne Du Maurier's "Trilby" . He also co-wrote (in conjunction with Percy Robinson) several mystery plays, the most successful of which, "The Crime of Margaret Foley", ran for 210 performances at the Comedy Theatre in 1947 (with De Marney himself in the cast). Another, Wanted for Murder (1946), was later filmed, starring Eric Portman and Dulcie Gray. De Marney was also the very first actor to portray 'the Saint' (Simon Templar) in a radio serial of 1940. After one of his plays flopped in 1953, De Marney went to Hollywood to try his luck on the screen. By the time he returned to England in 1962, he had notched up an impressive portfolio of credits as a TV guest star. This even included a recurring role in the western series Johnny Ringo (1959). For the better part of his remaining years, De Marney would relish the sinister and the macabre. Several of his outings into the horror genre have not travelled well : they include the abysmal Pharaoh's Curse (1957) and the poorly scripted H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Die, Monster, Die! (1965). On the other side of the ledger is a rather decent B-production, Beast of Morocco (1968), a vampire tale shot on location in Morocco. The film has style and atmosphere to boot (though the sound mixing is of variable quality) and De Marney's performance as the maniacal Omar (henchman to the vampire queen Aliza Gur) is quite memorable. Terence De Marney died tragically when he fell under a tube train at the High Street Kensington Underground Station in London on May 25th 1971. Though he had always looked considerably older than his years, he was only 63.