Anglo-American actor
Edgar Norton
Born (1868-08-11 ) August 11, 1868London, England
Died February 6, 1953(1953-02-06) (aged 84)Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation Actor Years active 1916–1948
Phoebe Carlo as Alice, Edgar Norton as Hare, Dorothy D'Alcourt as Dormouse and Sydney Harcourt as Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (1886)
Edgar Norton, Boris Karloff , Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Edgar Norton (born Harry Edgar Mills; August 11, 1868 – February 6, 1953) was an English-born American character actor.
Early years
Norton was born in Islington in London, England, on August 11, 1868, as Harry Edgar Mills , one of eight children of Jane Anne née Fleming and Frederic Mills, a clerk in the Home Office department of the Civil Service .[ 1] [ 2]
Career
Norton was active on both stage and screen, his theater performances were on both the London and Broadway stages,[ 3] and his film career spanned both the silent and "talkie" eras in Hollywood. Aged 18, he appeared as the Hare in the original production of Alice in Wonderland in London in 1886, with the production being under the guidance of Lewis Carroll , who saw the musical five times.[ 4]
During his thirty-year film career, he appeared in at least ninety films.[ 5] Many consider his most memorable role to be that of Poole, the butler to Dr. Jekyll in the 1931 classic, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde — a role he had been playing on-stage since 1898, opposite Richard Mansfield as Jekyll.[ 6]
Personal life and death
Norton moved permanently to the United States in 1889, and was naturalised as an American citizen in 1927. He married his Detroit-born wife Lillian Mable née Hubbard in Ontario in Canada in 1890, and with her had a son, Edgar Norton Mills.[ 7]
He died in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles in February 1953.
Filmography
(Per AFI database)[ 5]
The Ocean Waif (1916) - Valentine Borroyer
The Beautiful Adventure (1917) - Valentine Borroyer
The Amazons (1917) - Lord Tweenways
A Pair of Cupids (1918) - Martin
The New York Idea (1920) - Thomas
The Light in the Dark (1922) - Peters
Woman-Proof (1923) - Cecil Updyke
Broadway After Dark (1924) - The Old Actor
The Fast Set (1924) - Archie Wells
The Female (1924) - Clyde Wiel
Men (1924) - The baron
Tiger Love (1924) - Don Victoriano Fuentes
The Wolf Man (1924) - Sir Reginald Stackpoole
Enticement (1925) - William Blake
The King on Main Street (1925) - Jensen
Learning To Love (1925) - Butler
Lost: A Wife (1925) - Baron Deliguières
The Marriage Whirl (1925) - Dick Mayne
A Regular Fellow (1925) - Valet
The Boy Friend (1926) - (uncredited)
Diplomacy (1926) - British embassy servant
The Lady from Hell (1926) - Hon. Charles Darnely
Marriage License? (1927) - Beadon
Fast and Furious (1927) - Englishman
Singed (1927) - Ernie Whitehead
My Friend from India (1927) - Jennings, a butler
The Man Who Laughs (1928) - Lord High Chancellor
Oh, Kay! (1928) - Lord Braggot
The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1928) - Lutz
The Love Parade (1929) - Master of ceremonies
The Girl Said No (1930) - Butler
The Man From Blankley's (1930) - Dawes
One Romantic Night (1930) - Colonel Wunderlich
The Runaway Bride (1930) - Williams
The Lady of Scandal (1930) - Morton
Monte Carlo (1930) - Minor Role (uncredited)
A Lady Surrenders (1930) - Butler
Charley's Aunt (1930) - Spettigue's Lawyer
Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930) - Renal
East Is West (1930) - Thomas
The Bachelor Father (1931) - Bolton
The Lady Refuses (1931) - Dobbs
Meet the Wife (1931) - Williams
Compromised (1931) - Tipton
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) - Poole
The Man Called Back (1932) - Secretary
Love Me Tonight (1932) - Valet
A Lady's Profession (1933) - Crotchett
Sing, Sinner, Sing (1933) - Roberts the butler
The Big Brain (1933) - Butler
The Worst Woman in Paris? (1933) - Valet
Only Yesterday (1933) - George, the butler
Imitation of Life (1934) - Butler
We Live Again (1934) - Judge
The Richest Girl in the World (1934) - The butler, Binkley
Sons of Steel (1934) - Higgins
Thirty Day Princess (1934) - Baron Passeria
Million Dollar Ransom (1934) - Meigs
Stingaree (1934) - Governor's first aide
The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935) - Butler
When a Man's a Man (1935) - Gibbs
Vagabond Lady (1935) - Chauffeur
East of Java (1935) - Resident
Give Me Your Heart (1936) - Servant
August Weekend (1936) - Grimsby
Dracula's Daughter (1936) - Hobbs
The Bohemian Girl (1936)
45 Fathers (1937) - Van Brunt
You Can't Buy Luck (1937) - Rivers
Maytime (1937) - Secretary
Stage Door (1937) - Minor Role (uncredited)
Bill Cracks Down (1937) - Jarvis
The Big Broadcast of 1938 (1938) - Secretary to T. F. Bellows
Son of Frankenstein (1939) - Thomas Benson
Captain Fury (1939) - Governor's aide
Rulers of the Sea (1939) - Mr. McKinnon
The Mad Empress (1939) - (uncredited)
A Chump at Oxford (1940) - Professor Witherspoon
Brother Orchid (1940) - Meadows
The House of the Seven Gables (1940) - Phineas Weed
Rings on Her Fingers (1942) - Paul
Happy Go Lucky (1943) - Captain of waiters
Practically Yours (1944) - Harvey, butler
Are These Our Parents (1944) - Butler
The Suspect (1944) - Frazer
Captain Kidd (1945) - Nobleman
Doll Face (1945) - Soho, the butler
Kitty (1946) - Earl of Campton
Devotion (1946) - Club member
Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946) - Butler
Bob, Son of Battle (1947) - Parson Leggy Hornbut
The Woman in White (1948) - Night clerk
References
^ [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7619/images/LNDRG10_301_305-0039?pId=11511020 1871 England Census for Harry E Mills
London, Islington: Ancestry.com (subscription required) ]
^ [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7572/images/LNDRG11_242_246-0450?pId=14217276 1881 England Census for Henry E. Mills
London, Islington: Ancestry.com (subscription required) ]
^ "Edgar Norton Biography" . Fandango. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2014 .
^ Cohen, Morton N. (ed.)The Selected Letters of Lewis Carroll , Palgrave (1982) Google Books, p. 163
^ a b "Edgar Norton" . American Film Institute. Retrieved October 22, 2014 .
^ "Edgar Norton" . AllMovie.com. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved October 22, 2014 .
^ Harry Edgar Mills in the U.S., Naturalization Records, 1840-1957 (1927): Ancestry.com {{subscription{{
External links