E. E. Clive
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.
Known For
Burgomaster
Bride of Frankenstein
Constable Jaffers
The Invisible Man
Sir Harry Lorridaile
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Sergeant Wilkes
Dracula's Daughter
Fishing Instructor
Libeled Lady
Mr. Barrows
The Little Princess
Det. Sgt. Thacker
Charlie Chan in London
Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
The Gay Divorcee
Tenny
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Sir William Lucas
Pride and Prejudice
Barouche Driver
Rose of Washington Square
Cosgrove Dabney
Personal Property
Sir Humphrey Harcourt
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Sheriff Greer
The Little Minister
Tenny
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back
"Tenny" Tennison
Bulldog Drummond Escapes
Masters
Tarzan Escapes
Clerk of the Court
Captain Blood
Inspector Bristol
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Show Boat
Horace Snell
Congo Maisie
Magistrate
Lloyd's of London
Mayor Thomas Sapsea
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
First Butler
It's Love I'm After
Dr. Hardy
Isle of Fury
'Tenny' Tennison
Bulldog Drummond's Revenge
Tenny
Bulldog Drummond's Bride
Auctioneer
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Yacht Captain (uncredited)
Love Before Breakfast
'Tenny' Tennison
Bulldog Drummond in Africa
Alf
Arsène Lupin Returns
Mr. Redwood
The Earl of Chicago
Tenny
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
Wilbur
Danger – Love at Work
London Gossip Editor Bill Mechan
Piccadilly Jim
Barraclough
Raffles
London Bobbie
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Charles Fendwick
Cain and Mabel
Mr. Palmiston
Live, Love and Learn
King
Trouble for Two
Lord Fetherstone
The Poor Rich
Lord Henry Hathaway
The Unguarded Hour
Foot, the Butler
The Dark Hour
Barkins
Ticket to Paradise
Spot Hawkins
Long Lost Father
McIntosh
Atlantic Adventure
Hotchkiss
Man About Town
Sergeant Dawes
Father Brown, Detective
Jevons
We're in the Money
London Cabbie John Clayton
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Morgan
Palm Springs
Chester Blascomb
The First Hundred Years
Sheriff's Man (uncredited)
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger
Stiles
They Wanted to Marry
Sir Samuel Buffington
Ready, Willing and Able
Lord Nigel Braemer
Beg, Borrow or Steal
Grammaphone Man (uncredited)
Kind Lady
Crane
Stars Over Broadway
Butler
Bachelor Mother
Dr. Smith (uncredited)
The White Angel
Cabby
On the Avenue
Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)
Page Miss Glory
Port Commandant General (uncredited)
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
Tenny
Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
Steward
Cheaters at Play
Minister MacDougall
Kidnapped
Submarine Patrol
Bilge
Maid of Salem
Walker
The Golden Arrow
Montgomery Brantley
All American Chump
. Montgomery Brantley
All American Chump
Major Barclay
The Last Warning
Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
I'm from Missouri
Captain Bowden
Love Under Fire
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Foreign Correspondent
Room Steward
Gateway
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Flowing Gold
Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)
Remember Last Night?
Saint Gaudens (uncredited)
Camille
Chayne
One More River
Guide
Night Must Fall
Lord Holloway
The Widow from Monte Carlo
Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)
Gold Diggers of 1935
Mr. MacPherson
Adventure in Diamonds
Major Mills (uncredited)
Riptide
Higgins - Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
A Feather in Her Hat
Coachman
3 Kids and a Queen
Cosgrove Dabney in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)
The Big Parade of Comedy
Sir Arthur
Show Boat
Judge in 'Old Bailey'
A Tale of Two Cities
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
90
Gender
Male
Birthday
1879-08-26
Place of Birth
Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, Wales, UK
Also Known As
Edward Erskholme Clive