Frank Cellier

Frank Cellier, born François Cellier on 23 February 1884 in Surbiton, Surrey, was an English actor who worked across stage and film for more than four decades until his death on 27 September 1948. The only son of the conductor François Cellier and his wife Clara, née Short, he had five sisters and received his education at Cranleigh School. Following his schooling, he spent three years working in business before committing to a career on the stage.

His first professional appearance came in 1903, when he played Clement Hale in Arthur Wing Pinero's Sweet Lavender at the Town Hall in Reigate. That same autumn he joined William Poel's company on tour in Doctor Faustus, and subsequently toured in Shakespearean roles alongside Ian Maclaren. He broadened his range further through extensive touring with the actress Florence Nellie Glossop-Harris, daughter of the actor-manager Augustus Harris, whom he married in 1910; she divorced him in 1925. The couple had a daughter, Antoinette, who herself became an actress. His touring years took him through Britain, Germany, the West Indies, America, and South Africa. He did not make his London debut until 1914, when he appeared under his own management in Cheer, Boys, Cheer, and did not return to the London stage until 1920.

Once established in the West End, Cellier built a career that balanced commercial productions — including farce and murder drama — with classical work. His favourite role was Hamlet, and his Shakespearean credits encompassed Apemantus in Timon of Athens, the title role in Henry IV, Part 2, Cassio in Othello, Touchstone in As You Like It, Angelo in Measure for Measure, Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Kent in King Lear. He was particularly celebrated for his portrayals of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night. In addition to acting, he directed a number of West End productions in which he also performed.

Among his notable West End roles, Cellier played the Nobleman in The Man with a Load of Mischief in 1925, one of Marie Tempest's suitors in Noël Coward's The Marquise in 1927, Sir Peter Teazle in The School for Scandal in 1929, and the King in The Improper Duchess in 1931. He starred in The Duchess of Dantzic in 1932 and appeared as the Marquis D'Arcy in The Mask of Virtue in 1935, a production adapted by Ashley Dukes from Carl Sternheim's Die Marquise von Arcis, which marked Vivien Leigh's West End debut. That same year he appeared in Walter Hackett's Espionage at the Apollo Theatre. His Broadway credit came in 1926, when he appeared in the play Mozart. His final stage appearance was as the father in Terence Rattigan's The Winslow Boy in 1946, a role he performed to considerable acclaim in London; ill-health prevented him from taking the production to America as planned.

Beginning in the 1930s, Cellier also pursued a film career, appearing in more than three dozen pictures. Among his screen roles were Sheriff Watson in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps in 1935 and Monsieur Barsac in the comedy film The Guv'nor, also released in 1935.

Cellier died in London in 1948 at the age of 64. He was survived by his second wife, the actress Phyllis Shannaw, and their son, the actor Peter Cellier.