Miles Mander

Miles Mander (May 14, 1888 – February 8, 1946), born Lionel Henry Mander (and sometimes credited as Luther Miles), was a well-known and versatile English character actor of the early Hollywood cinema, also a film director and producer, and a playwright and novelist.

Early life

Miles Mander was the second son of Theodore Mander, builder of Wightwick Manor, of the prominent Mander family, industrialists and public servants of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, in Midland England. He was the younger brother of Sir Geoffrey Mander, the Member of Parliament. He was educated at Harrow School, Loretto School and McGill University. But he soon broke away from the predictable mould of business and philanthropy. He was an early aviator, a captain in the Royal Army Service Corps in World War I. He spent his 20s in New Zealand farming sheep, with his uncle, Martin Mander.

Film career

He achieved success as Sir Hugh Boycott in The First Born (1928) which he directed and acted in, and which was based on his own novel and play. He is better remembered for his character portrayals of oily villains, many of them English gentlemen or upper-crust cads - such as Cardinal Richelieu in the musical film The Three Musketeers (1939), a spoof in which the Ritz Brothers played lackeys who substituted for the real Musketeers. In his Hollywood debut, he had portrayed King Louis XIII in the much more serious 1935 version of that same Alexandre Dumas, père classic. Other famous film credits included Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, in which he played Mr. Lockwood, the new tenant at the Grange, who is told the story of Cathy and Heathcliff. In the 1933 English version of G.W. Pabst's Adventures of Don Quixote, he played the Duke who invites Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to his castle, and in the original To Be or Not to Be, he was one of the two British officers to whom Robert Stack first reveals his suspicions about the treacherous Professor Siletsky (Stanley Ridges).

Personal life

His first wife was an Indian princess, Princess Prativa Devi, the daughter of the Maharajah Nripendra Narayan of Cooch Behar. His brother Alan married her sister, Princess Sudhira. His second wife was Kathren ('Bunty') French, of Sydney, Australia, by whom he had a son, Theodore. He wrote a book of memoirs and advice to him, To My Son—in Confidence (1934). He died suddenly of a heart attack at the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, aged 57.

Filmography

As actor

• Testimony (1920)
• The Temporary Lady (1920) .... Monckton
• The Rank Outsider (1920)
• The Old Arm Chair (1920)
• The Place of Honour (1921) .... Lt. Devereaux
• The Road to London (1921) (uncredited)
• Open Country (1922) .... Honorable William Chevenix
• Half a Truth (1922) .... Marquis Sallast
• Lovers in Araby (1924) .... Derek Fare
• The Prude's Fall (1924) .... Sir Neville Moreton ... aka Dangerous Virtue (USA)
• The Painted Lady (1925) ... aka Red Lips (UK)
• The Lady in Furs (1925) ... aka Sables of Death (UK)
• The Pleasure Garden (1925) .... Levett ... aka Irrgarten der Leidenschaft (Germany)
• Riding for a King (1926) .... Lord Steerwell
• London Love (1926) .... Sir James Daring
• The Fake (1927) .... Honourable Gerald Pillick
• As We Lie (1927) .... The Husband
• Tiptoes (1927) .... Rollo Stevens ... aka Tip Toes
• The Physician (1928) .... Walter Amphiel
• Faschingskönig, Der (1928)
• Balaclava (1928) .... Captain Gardner ... aka Jaws of Hell
• Parisiskor (1928) .... Armand de Marny ... aka Doctors' Women (USA), Dr. Monnier und die Frauen (Germany), and Women of Paris (USA)
• The First Born (1928) .... Sir Hugo Boycott
• Meineid (1929) ... aka Perjury (International: English title)
• The Crooked Billet (1929) .... Guy Morrow ... aka International Spy (UK)
• Loose Ends (1930) .... Raymond Carteret
• Murder! (1930) .... Gordon Druce
• Mary (1931) .... Gordon Moore
• Frail Women (1932) .... Registrar
• The Missing Rembrandt (1932) .... Claude Holford ... aka Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Rembrandt (USA)
• Lily Christine (1932) .... Ambatriadi
• That Night in London (1932) .... Harry Tresham ... aka Over-Night and Overnight
• Matinee Idol (1933) .... Harley Travers
• Loyalties (1933) .... Capt. Ronald Dancy, DSO
• Bitter Sweet (1933) .... Captain Auguste Lutte
• The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) .... Wriothesley
• Don Quixote (1933) .... The Duke aka Adventures of Don Quixote
• The Four Masked Men (1934) .... Rodney Fraser
• The Battle (1934) .... Feize ... aka Hara-Kiri ... aka Thunder in the East (USA)
• The Case for the Crown (1934) .... James L. Barton
• Death Drives Through (1935) .... Garry Ames
• Here's to Romance (1935) .... Bert
• The Three Musketeers (1935) .... King Louis XIII
• Lloyd's of London (1936) .... Jukes
• Slave Ship (1937) .... Corey
• Wake Up and Live (1937) .... James Stratton
• Youth on Parole (1937) .... Sparkler (gang leader)
• Kidnapped (1938) .... Ebenezer Balfour
• The Mad Miss Manton (1938) .... Mr. Fred Thomas
• Suez (1938) .... Benjamin Disraeli
• The Three Musketeers (1939) .... Cardinal Richelieu ... aka The Singing Musketeer (UK)
• The Little Princess (1939) .... Lord Wickham
• Wuthering Heights (1939) .... Lockwood
• Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939) .... Horace Granville
• The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) .... Aramis
• Stanley and Livingstone (1939) .... Sir John Gresham
• Tower of London (1939) .... King Henry VI
• The Earl of Chicago (1940) (uncredited) .... Attorney General
• Laddie (1940) .... Mr. Pryor
• The House of the Seven Gables (1940) .... Deacon Arnold Foster
• Road to Singapore (1940) (uncredited) .... Sir Malcolm Drake
• Primrose Path (1940) .... Homer Adams
• Babies for Sale (1940) .... Dr. Rankin
• Captain Caution (1940) .... Lt. Strope
• South of Suez (1940) .... Roger Smythe
• Free and Easy (1941) (scenes deleted) .... Solicitor
• Shadows on the Stairs (1941) .... Tom Armitage ... aka Murder on the Second Floor (USA)
• That Hamilton Woman (1941) .... Lord Keith ... aka Lady Hamilton (UK)
• They Met in Bombay (1941) (uncredited) .... Doctor
• Dr Kildare's Wedding Day (1941) .... Dr. John F. Lockberg ... aka Mary Names the Day (UK)
• Fly-By-Night (1942) .... Prof. Langner ... aka Secrets of G32 (UK)
• A Tragedy at Midnight (1942) .... Dr Hilary Wilton
• Secrets of the Underground (1942) .... Paul Panois
• Captains of the Clouds (1942) (voice) (uncredited) .... Winston S. Churchill
• To Be or Not to Be (1942) .... Maj. Cunningham
• Fingers at the Window (1942) .... Dr. Kurt Immelman
• This Above All (1942) .... Major
• Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942) .... Portmaster
• Mrs. Miniver (1942) (uncredited) .... German Agent's Voice
• The War Against Mrs Hadley (1942) .... Doctor Leonard V. Meecham
• Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) (uncredited) .... Floyd Kirsten
• Apache Trail (1942) .... James V. Thorne
• Journey for Margaret (1942) (uncredited)
• Lucky Jordan (1942) .... Kilpatrick
• Secrets of the Underground (1942) .... Paul Panois
• Assignment in Brittany (1943) .... Col. Herman Fournier
• Five Graves to Cairo (1943) (uncredited) .... Col. Fitzhume
• First Comes Courage (1943) (uncredited) .... Col. Wallace
• Phantom of the Opera (1943) .... Pleyel
• Guadalcanal Diary (1943) (uncredited) .... Weatherby (copra plantation supervisor)
• Madame Curie (1943) (uncredited) .... Businessman
• The Return of the Vampire (1944) .... Sir Frederick Fleet
• Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) (uncredited) .... Col. Hartley
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) (uncredited) .... Man
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) (uncredited) .... Major Loring at Hospital
• The Scarlet Claw (1944) .... Judge Brisson ... aka Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw (USA: promotional title)
• The Pearl of Death (1944) .... Giles Conover
• Enter Arsene Lupin (1944) .... Charles Seagrave
• Murder, My Sweet (1944) .... Mr. Grayle ... aka Farewell My Lovely (UK)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) .... Sir Robert Bentley
• The Brighton Strangler (1945) .... Chief Inspector W.R. Allison
• Crime Doctor's Warning (1945) .... Frederick Malone ... aka Doctor's Warning (UK)
• Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) .... British Secretary
• Confidential Agent (1945) .... Mr. Brigstock
• The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) .... The Sheriff
• The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946) .... Dr. Marko
• The Imperfect Lady (1947) .... Mr. Rogan ... aka Mrs. Loring's Secret (UK) and They Met at Midnight (USA)

As director

• The Whistler (1926) short made in Phonofilm
• The Sheik of Araby (1926) short made in Phonofilm
• Knee Deep in Daisies (1926) short made in Phonofilm
• The Fair Maid of Perth (1926) short made in Phonofilm
• False Colours (1927) short made in Phonofilm
• The Sentence of Death (1927) U. S. title His Great Moment, short made in Phonofilm
• Packing Up (1927) short made in Phonofilm
• As We Lie (1927) short film made in DeForest Phonofilm
• The First Born (1928)
• The Woman Between (1931) U.S. title The Woman Decides
• Fascination (1931)
• Youthful Folly (1934)
• The Morals of Marcus (1935)
• The Flying Doctor (1936)

As writer

• Lovers in Araby (1924)
• As We Lie (1927) (story)
• The First Born (1928)
• The Woman Between (1931/I) aka The Woman Decides (USA)
• The Mistress of Atlantis (1932) aka The Lost Atlantis (USA)
• The Lodger (1932) aka The Phantom Fiend (USA)
• The Morals of Marcus (1935)
• The Flying Doctor (1936)

As producer

• Watchtower Over Tomorrow (1945) (uncredited)
• Knee Deep in Daisies (1926)
• The First Born (1928)
• The Flying Doctor (1936)

External links

• Miles Mander biography
• Miles Mander at the Internet Movie Database

Sources

• Miles Mander, To my Son—in Confidence, Faber, 1934
• Miles Mander, Gentleman by Birth, 1933
• Sir Geoffrey Le Mesurier Mander (ed), The History of Mander Brothers, Wolverhampton. 1955
• C. Nicholas Mander, Varnished Leaves: a biography of the Mander Family of Wolverhampton, 1750-1950, Owlpen Press, 2004
• Patricia Pegg, A Very Private Heritage: the private papers of Samuel Theodore Mander, 1853-1900, Malvern, 1996