Harvey Braban

Harvey Braban, born George William Chapman on 19 May 1883 in Brighton, Sussex, was a British stage and film actor who performed under the name Harvey Braban throughout his career. His parents were George Chapman and Anne Braban. He died on 6 August 1943 in Sussex.

Braban built his stage career primarily in West End productions while also making periodic appearances on Broadway between 1912 and 1940. His Broadway credits included Oedipus Rex, Geneva, and The New Sin. In 1914 he married actress Lilian Christine Smith.

Beginning in 1920, Braban expanded his work to include silent films produced by prominent British studios, among them Stoll Pictures and the Ideal Film Company. His screen credits from this period include The Prey of the Dragon (1921), The Yellow Claw (1921), Gwyneth of the Welsh Hills (1921), The Prince and the Beggarmaid (1921), and several productions from 1922 and 1923, including Shirley, Bentley's Conscience, Man and His Kingdom, Diana of the Crossways, and The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots. He continued appearing in films through the 1920s and into the sound era, with credits including A Girl of London (1925), Alibi (1931), The Girl in the Night (1931), The Callbox Mystery (1932), Easy Money (1934), The Path of Glory (1934), Boomerang (1934), Bulldog Jack (1935), Keep Your Seats, Please (1936), Darby and Joan (1937), and Thank Evans (1938).

Among his most noted screen appearances was the role of the Chief Inspector in Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929), after which he frequently took on roles as policemen and other figures of official authority. His film work concluded with Sixty Glorious Years (1938), in which he portrayed the Victorian Prime Minister Lord Salisbury.