Eric Blore Sr. (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appeared in variety.
In the 1930s Blore acted mostly in Broadway productions. He made his last London appearance in 1933 in the Fred Astaire hit Gay Divorce.
Between 1930 and 1955 he made more than 60 Hollywood films, becoming particularly well known for playing butlers and other superior domestic servants. He co-starred with Fred Astaire in six movies, Flying Down to Rio (1933), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), The Sky's the Limit (1943).
He retired in 1956 for health reasons, and died in Hollywood in 1959 at the age of 71.
Life and career
Early years
Blore was born in Finchley, a north London suburb, on 23 December 1887, to Henry Blore and his wife Mary, née Newton. He was educated at Mills School, Finchley,
He was drawn to a theatrical career, and in 1908 he made his debut on the stage at the Spa Theatre, Bridlington in the musical comedy The Girl from Kays. He also appeared at the Empire in Bovill's and P.G. Wodehouse's revue Nuts and Wine (1914).
During the First World War, Blore enlisted and served in the South Wales Borderers and later joined the Royal Flying Corps, before being assigned to run the 38th Divisional Concert Party in France ("The Welsh Wails") (1917–1919).
West End and Broadway
In the early 1920s Blore toured in variety and appeared in the West End in Angel Face (1922), a "musical farce" with music by Victor Herbert, heading a cast that included Sylvia Cecil and the young Miles Malleson, and The Cabaret Girl, joining the cast in mid-run.
In August 1923 Blore appeared for the first time on Broadway, playing the Hon. Bertie Bird in Little Miss Bluebeard, and on his return to London he appeared in the same part at Wyndham's Theatre. After the death of his first wife, Violet (née Winter), Blore married Clara Macklin in 1926. Blore remained in the US for the next seven years; his Broadway roles were Reggie Ervine in Mixed Doubles, Sir Calverton Shipley in Just Fancy, Sir Basil Carraway in Here's Howe, the King of Arcadia in Angela, Captain Robert Holt in Meet the Prince, Lieutenant Cooper in Roar China, Bertie Capp in Give Me Yesterday and Roddy Trotwood in Here Goes the Bride.
Gay Divorce ran for 248 performances, closing in July 1933, to allow Astaire and Luce to go to London to play in the piece at the Palace Theatre. Blore and Erik Rhodes from the Broadway cast also appeared in the London production, which ran for five months. This was Blore's last London stage show. and made his final stage appearance at Los Angeles in September 1945, playing Charles Mannering in the unsuccessful Tchaikovsky-based musical Song Without Words. He was survived by his widow, Clara, a son, Eric Jr., and one grandchild.