Jack Buchanan

Walter John Buchanan, known professionally as Jack Buchanan, was born on 2 April 1890 in Helensburgh, near Glasgow, Scotland, and died on 20 October 1957. A performer of wide-ranging abilities, he worked throughout his career as an actor, singer, dancer, producer, and director in both theatre and film.

Buchanan was the son of Walter John Buchanan, a prosperous auctioneer, and his wife Patricia, née McWatt. His father's death in 1902 left the family in reduced financial circumstances, and Buchanan was educated at the Glasgow Academy rather than Fettes College, the Edinburgh private school originally intended for him. After briefly attempting to enter the auctioneering profession, he tried his hand as a music hall comedian under the name Chump Buchanan, making a disastrous debut in 1911. He subsequently relocated to London to pursue a performing career.

His West End debut came on 7 September 1912 at the Apollo Theatre, where he appeared as M. Deschamps in the comic opera The Grass Widows, billed on opening night as Jack Buchanan. Between 1912 and 1917 he built his career through chorus work and small parts in musical comedies. When he attempted to enlist for military service at the outbreak of the First World War, he failed his medical examination. He subsequently joined a touring production of The Cinema Star, understudying Jack Hulbert, before being cast by actor-manager George Grossmith Jr. in the leading role of a touring production of To-Night's the Night. Grossmith, who had himself played the part on Broadway and in London, provided Buchanan with guidance on performing. The tour ran for two years.

In 1915 Buchanan married Saffo Arnau, a singer professionally known as Drageva. The marriage was annulled in 1920, and Buchanan did not publicly acknowledge it, preferring to maintain his image as an eligible bachelor.

His first starring role in the West End came in 1917 in André Charlot's revue Bubbly, where he replaced Jack Hulbert, who was about to be conscripted. He co-starred with Phyllis Monkman in Bubbly and in Charlot's subsequent revue Tails Up in 1918. Buchanan achieved front-rank West End stardom with Charlot's 1921 revue A to Z. He also moved into theatrical management during this period, co-directing and choreographing Battling Butler, which opened at the New Oxford Theatre in 1922 and ran for 243 performances, followed by the musical farce Toni, which opened in May 1924 and ran for 250 performances.

Charlot revised A to Z for the American stage as André Charlot's Revue of 1924, which opened at the Times Square Theatre in January of that year. Buchanan co-starred with Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie, marking the beginning of his Broadway career, which spanned from 1924 to 1948. He returned to Broadway in the Charlot Revue, and later starred in the musicals Between the Devil and Wake Up and Dream. His Broadway appearances also included the plays Don't Listen, Ladies and Harvey, as well as other productions.

Among the leading ladies with whom Buchanan appeared in West End and Broadway productions were Binnie Hale, Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie, Jessie Matthews, Phyllis Monkman, and Elsie Randolph, the partner with whom he was most closely associated. He directed, choreographed, and produced numerous productions over the course of his career, and also ran theatres and a film studio.

Buchanan appeared in several British films, many of them adaptations of his stage work. His most prominent film role came in the Hollywood musical The Band Wagon in 1953. For more than three decades he was regarded as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George Grossmith Jr., and The Times described him as the last of the knuts.