1. Early life

2. Film career

3. Personal life

4. Filmography
    As actor  As director  As writer  As producer 

5. Sources

6. Notes

7. External links

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

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, England. He was the younger brother of Geoffrey Mander, the Liberal Member of Parliament. He was educated at Harrow School, Middlesex (The Grove House 1901- Easter 1903), Loretto School (in Canada)^[1] and McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 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 the First World War. He spent his twenties in New Zealand farming sheep, with his uncle, Martin Mander.^[2]

Film career

Miles Mander entered the British film industry as a writer, producer, and actor, often working with Adrian Brunel. In 1925 he appeared in two Gainsborough productions: The Prude's Fall (1925) and The Pleasure Garden (1926). The former was Alfred Hitchcock's last film as an assistant director to Graham Cutts. The latter was Hitchcock's directorial debut. In 1926–7 he made a series of pioneering sound films.^[3] Later he collaborated with Alma Reville, Hitchcock's wife, on the script of The First Born (1928), his feature debut as director, in which he co-starred with Madeleine Carroll. Carroll reappeared in his third film, Fascination (1931).

Mander 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. One of his meatiest performances came as a dual role in the 1939 serial Daredevils of the Red Circle, in which he played both a kindly industrialist and the ruthless villain who impersonates him (played "out of makeup" by Charles Middleton). Other famous film credits included Wuthering Heights (1939) 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 English version of G.W. Pabst's Don Quixote (1933), he played the Duke who invites Don Quixote and Sancho Panza to his castle, and in the original To Be or Not to Be (1942), 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, Prativa Devi, a princess of Cooch Behar, daughter of Maharaja Nripendra Narayan and Maharani Suniti Devi of Cooch Behar and paternal aunt of Gayatri Devi, Maharani of Jaipur. His second wife was Kathleen ('Bunty') French, of Sydney, Australia, with 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 Old Arm Chair (1920)
• The Rank Outsider (1920)
• The Temporary Lady (1920) .... Monckton
• The Road to London (1921) .... (uncredited)
• The Place of Honour (1921) .... Lt. Devereaux
• Half a Truth (1922) .... Marquis Sallast
• Open Country (1922) .... Honorable William Chevenix
• Lovers in Araby (1924) .... Derek Fare
• The Painted Lady (1925, ... a.k.a. Red Lips (UK))
• The Lady in Furs (1925, Short, ... a.k.a. Sables of Death (UK))
• The Pleasure Garden (1925, a.k.a. Irrgarten der Leidenschaft (Germany)) .... Levett
• The Prude's Fall (1925, a.k.a. Dangerous Virtue (USA)) .... Sir Neville Moreton
• Riding for a King (1926, Short) .... Lord Steerwell
• London Love (1926) .... Sir James Daring
• The Whistler (December 1926) .... short film made in Phonofilm sound-on-film system with Louise Maurel, John F. Hamilton, and Reginald Fox)
• As We Lie (1927, short dramatic film made in Phonofilm sound-on-film process) .... The Husband
• Tip Toes (1927) .... Rollo Stevens
• The Fake (1927) .... Honourable Gerald Pillick
• Parisiennes (1928, a.k.a. Doctors' Women (USA), Dr. Monnier und die Frauen (Germany), and Women of Paris (USA)) .... Armand de Marny
• The Joker (1928) .... Mr. Borwick
• The King of Carnival (1928) .... Borwick, ein heruntergekommener Notar
• The Physician (1928) .... Walter Amphiel
• Balaclava (1928, a.k.a. Jaws of Hell) .... Captain Gardner
• The First Born (1928) .... Sir Hugo Boycott
• Perjury (1929) .... Adolf Sperber
• The Crooked Billet (1929, a.k.a. International Spy (UK)) .... Guy Morrow
• Loose Ends (1930) .... Raymond Carteret
• Murder! (1930) .... Gordon Druce
• Mary (1931) .... Gordon Moore
• The Missing Rembrandt (1932, a.k.a. Sherlock Holmes and the Missing Rembrandt (USA)) .... Claude Holford
• Lily Christine (1932) .... Ambatriadi
• That Night in London (1932, a.k.a. Over-Night and Overnight) .... Harry Tresham
• Bitter Sweet (1933) .... Captain Auguste Lutte
• Don Quixote (1933, a.k.a. Adventures of Don Quixote) .... The Duke of Fallanga
• Loyalties (1933) .... Capt. Ronald Dancy, DSO
• The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) .... Wriothesley
• Matinee Idol (1933) .... Harley Travers
• The Four Masked Men (1934) .... Rodney Fraser
• The Battle (1934, a.k.a. Hara-Kiri ... a.k.a. Thunder in the East (USA)) .... Feize
• 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
• The Flying Doctor (1936) .... Spectator At Boxing Match (uncredited)
• 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, a.k.a. The Singing Musketeer (UK)) .... Cardinal Richelieu
• 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) .... Attorney General (uncredited)
• Laddie (1940) .... Mr. Charles Pryor
• The House of the Seven Gables (1940) .... Deacon Arnold Foster
• Road to Singapore (1940) .... Sir Malcolm Drake (uncredited)
• Primrose Path (1940) .... Homer Adams
• Babies for Sale (1940) .... Dr. Wallace Rankin
• Captain Caution (1940) .... Lt. Strope
• South of Suez (1940) .... Roger Smythe
• Free and Easy (1941) .... Solicitor (uncredited, scenes deleted)
• Shadows on the Stairs (1941, a.k.a. Murder on the Second Floor (USA)) .... Tom Armitage
• That Hamilton Woman (1941, a.k.a. Lady Hamilton (UK)) .... Lord Keith
• They Met in Bombay (1941) .... Doctor (uncredited)
• Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941, a.k.a. Mary Names the Day (UK)) .... Dr. John F. Lockberg
• Fly-By-Night (1942, a.k.a. Secrets of G32 (UK)) .... Prof. Langner
• A Tragedy at Midnight (1942) .... Dr Hilary Wilton
• Captains of the Clouds (1942) .... Winston S. Churchill (voice, uncredited)
• 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) .... German Agent on Radio (voice, uncredited)
• Somewhere I'll Find You (1942) .... Floyd Kirsten (uncredited)
• The War Against Mrs. Hadley (1942) .... Doctor Leonard V. Meecham
• Apache Trail (1942) .... James V. Thorne
• Lucky Jordan (1942) .... Kilpatrick
• Journey for Margaret (1942) .... Minor Role (uncredited)
• Secrets of the Underground (1942) .... Paul Panois
• Assignment in Brittany (1943) .... Col. Herman Fournier
• Five Graves to Cairo (1943) .... Col. Fitzhume (uncredited)
• First Comes Courage (1943) .... Col. Wallace (uncredited)
• Phantom of the Opera (1943) .... Pleyel
• Guadalcanal Diary (1943) .... Weatherby (copra plantation supervisor) (uncredited)
• The Return of the Vampire (1943) .... Sir Frederick Fleet
• Madame Curie (1943) .... Businessman (uncredited)
• Four Jills in a Jeep (1944) .... Col. Hartley (uncredited)
• The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944) .... Man (uncredited)
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) .... Major Loring at Hospital (uncredited)
• The Scarlet Claw (1944, a.k.a. Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw (USA: promotional title)) .... Judge Brisson
• The Pearl of Death (1944) .... Giles Conover
• Enter Arsene Lupin (1944) .... Charles Seagrave
• Murder, My Sweet (1944, a.k.a. Farewell My Lovely (UK)) .... Mr. Leuwen Grayle
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) .... Sir Robert Bentley
• The Brighton Strangler (1945) .... Chief Inspector W.R. Allison
• Crime Doctor's Warning (1945, a.k.a. Doctor's Warning (UK)) .... Frederick Malone
• Week-End at the Waldorf (1945) .... British Secretary
• Confidential Agent (1945) .... Mr. Brigstock
• The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) .... Lord Warrick
• The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946) .... Dr. Marko
• The Imperfect Lady (1947, a.k.a. Mrs. Loring's Secret (UK) and They Met at Midnight (USA)) .... Mr. Rogan (final film role)

As director

• The Whistler (December 1926) short made in DeForest Phonofilm
• The Sheik of Araby (December 1926) short made in Phonofilm
• Knee Deep in Daisies (December 1926) short made in Phonofilm
• The Fair Maid of Perth (December 1926) short made in Phonofilm
• False Colours (April 1927) short made in Phonofilm
• The Sentence of Death (April 1927) U. S. title His Great Moment, short made in Phonofilm
• Packing Up (April 1927) short made in Phonofilm
• As We Lie (April 1927) short film made in Phonofilm; also known as Lost One Wife
• 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) (known in the US as The Woman Decides)
• L'Atlantide (1932) directed by G. W. Pabst -- (English version known in the UK as The Mistress of Atlantis (1932) and in the US as The Lost Atlantis)
• The Lodger (1932) a.k.a. The Phantom Fiend (USA)
• The Morals of Marcus (1935)
• The Flying Doctor (1936)

As producer

• The Man Without Desire (1923)
• Knee Deep in Daisies (1926)
• The First Born (1928)
• The Flying Doctor (1936)
• Watchtower Over Tomorrow (1945) (uncredited)

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

Notes

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080228221217/http://www.owlpen.com/miles_mander.shtml Miles Mander biography]
• {{IMDb name|0541766}}
• {{Find a Grave|10347592}}

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