Biography
Edward Erskholme Clive was a Welsh stage actor and director who had a prolific acting career in Britain and America. He also played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood movies between 1933 and his death. E. E. Clive was born on 28 August 1879 in Blaenavon in Monmouthshire. Clive studied for a medical career, and had completed four years of medical studies at St Bartholomew's Hospital before switching his focus to acting at age 22. Touring the provinces for a decade, Clive became an expert at virtually every sort of regional dialect in the British Isles. He moved to the US in 1912, where after working in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit he set up his own stock company in Boston. By the 1920s, his company was operating in Hollywood; among his repertory players were such up-and-comers as Rosalind Russell. He also worked at the Broadway in several plays. E. E. Clive made his film debut as a village police constable in 1933's The Invisible Man with Claude Rains, then spent the next seven years showing up in wry supporting and bit parts, where he often portrayed comical versions of English stereotypes. He often played butlers, reporters, aristocrats, shopkeepers and cabbies during his short film career. Though his roles were often small, Clive was a well-known and prolific character actor of his time. Among his best-known roles was the incompetent Burgomaster in James Whale's horror classic Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He was a semi-regular as Tenny the Butler in Paramount Pictures' Bulldog Drummond B series, starring John Howard; he also played butlers in other movies like Bachelor Mother with David Niven and Ginger Rogers. In 1939, Clive appeared in The Little Princess as the lawyer Mr. Barrows, and the first two entries of the classic Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone. One of Clive's last roles was Sir William Lucas in the 1940 literature adaption Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. E. E. Clive died on 6 June 1940, of a heart ailment, in his Hollywood home. He was survived by his wife Eleanor and their child. Clive was a member of the Euclid lodge of Freemasons in Boston.
Acted in 89
1960s
- 1964
The Big Parade of Comedy
Cosgrove Dabney in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)
1940s
- 1940
Flowing Gold
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Adventure in Diamonds
Mr. MacPherson
Congo Maisie
Horace Snell
1930s
- 1939
The Honeymoon's Over
Col. Shelby
Raffles
Barraclough
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Inspector Bristol
Bulldog Drummond's Bride
Tenny
Bachelor Mother
Butler
Man About Town
Hotchkiss
Rose of Washington Square
Barouche Driver
I'm from Missouri
Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
Tenny
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
Port Commandant General (uncredited)
- 1938
The Last Warning
Major Barclay
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Tenny
Submarine Patrol
Movie
Bulldog Drummond in Africa
'Tenny' Tennison
Gateway
Room Steward
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
Tenny
The First Hundred Years
Chester Blascomb
Arsène Lupin Returns
Alf
- 1937
Beg, Borrow or Steal
Lord Nigel Braemer
Live, Love and Learn
Mr. Palmiston
Danger – Love at Work
Wilbur
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back
Tenny
Love Under Fire
Captain Bowden
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Auctioneer
Night Must Fall
Guide
Personal Property
Cosgrove Dabney
Ready, Willing and Able
Sir Samuel Buffington
On the Avenue
Cabby
Maid of Salem
Bilge
They Wanted to Marry
Stiles
- 1936
Lloyd's of London
Magistrate
All American Chump
. Montgomery Brantley, Montgomery Brantley
Isle of Fury
Dr. Hardy
Cain and Mabel
Charles Fendwick
Piccadilly Jim
London Gossip Editor Bill Mechan
The White Angel
Dr. Smith (uncredited)
Ticket to Paradise
Barkins
Palm Springs
Morgan
Trouble for Two
King
The Golden Arrow
Walker
Show Boat
Sir Arthur
Dracula's Daughter
Sergeant Wilkes
The Unguarded Hour
Lord Henry Hathaway
Love Before Breakfast
Yacht Captain (uncredited)
The Dark Hour
Foot, the Butler
- 1935
Captain Blood
Clerk of the Court
The Widow from Monte Carlo
Lord Holloway
Kind Lady
Grammaphone Man (uncredited)
Stars Over Broadway
Crane
Remember Last Night?
Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)
A Feather in Her Hat
Higgins - Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
3 Kids and a Queen
Coachman
Page Miss Glory
Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)
Atlantic Adventure
McIntosh
We're in the Money
Jevons
Gold Diggers of 1935
Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Sapsea
David Copperfield
Sheriff's Man (uncredited)
- 1934
The Little Minister
Sheriff Greer
Father Brown, Detective
Sergeant Dawes
The Gay Divorcee
Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Charlie Chan in London
Det. Sgt. Thacker
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
London Bobbie
One More River
Chayne
The Poor Rich
Lord Fetherstone
Long Lost Father
Spot Hawkins
- 1933
- 1932
Cheaters at Play
Steward
