Etienne Girardot

Etienne Girardot (22 February 1856 – 10 November 1939) was a stage and film actor of Anglo-French parentage who built a career spanning both the London and American stages as well as silent and sound film. Born in London, England, he was the son of French painter Ernest Gustave Girardot. He studied at an art school before leaving at the age of seventeen to pursue a life in the theater.

Girardot began by performing in the provinces before making his London stage debut at the Haymarket Theatre. He traveled to America in 1893, the same year he launched what would become a Broadway career lasting until 1932. Among his earliest and most prominent American stage successes was the 1893 production of Charley's Aunt, in which he played the role of Lord Fancourt Babberley for three years. His Broadway work also included starring in My Lady Peggy Goes to Town and appearances in On the Twentieth Century, The House of Doom, and I Love an Actress, among other productions.

In addition to his stage work, Girardot pursued a career in film, making his screen debut in 1911 in Intrepid Davy and working in both silent and sound pictures. He appeared in the 1934 screwball comedy Twentieth Century alongside John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, playing a harmless lunatic who believes himself to be a millionaire. He also portrayed a harassed coroner in three murder mystery films featuring William Powell as detective Philo Vance.

Girardot died following a brief hospitalization. He was survived by his wife, Dr. Violetta Shelton, who practiced as an eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist.