Lawrence Grossmith

Lawrence Randall Grossmith (29 March 1877 – 21 February 1944) was an English actor whose Broadway career spanned from 1900 to 1936. Born in London, he was the son of George Grossmith, celebrated for his roles in the Savoy Operas, and Emmeline Rosa Noyce. His elder brother was the actor-manager George Grossmith Jr., and his uncle was the actor Weedon Grossmith. He received his education at St Paul's College, Stony Stratford, London University School, and Shrewsbury School, and was originally intended to pursue engineering before following his father, uncle, and brother into the theatre.

Grossmith made his stage debut in 1896 playing Robert in Mam'zelle Nitouche at the Court Theatre. In 1901 he took on the title role in a stage adaptation of Struwwelpeter, a departure from the flâneur roles with which he later became identified. He went on to appear in West End productions including The White Chrysanthemum in 1905 and The Girl Behind the Counter in 1906. That same year, at the invitation of Lew Fields, Grossmith traveled to New York alongside his wife, the Edwardian musical comedy star Coralie Blythe, whom he had married in 1904, and her brother, the dancer Vernon Castle. The three appeared together at the Herald Square Theatre on Broadway in the musical revue About Town. Grossmith returned to London afterward, appearing in Havana in 1908 and Are You There? in 1913, and in 1913 he took over the management of the Savoy Theatre.

In 1915 Grossmith and Blythe appeared together on Broadway in the Reubens and Kern musical comedy Nobody Home, which transferred to the Princess Theatre in 1916. He remained in New York for several years before touring Australia and New Zealand, not returning to England until 1924. During this period he appeared in the musical comedies Flora Bella in 1916 and Love o' Mike in 1917, and took the role of Major Lowndes in Somerset Maugham's Too Many Husbands, the American version of Maugham's Home and Beauty. After his return, he resumed his stage career in both England and America, appearing on Broadway in The Cat and the Fiddle in 1931 and Call It a Day in 1936, as well as in A Slight Case of Murder among other productions.

Alongside his stage work, Grossmith pursued a film career. He appeared in the silent film The Brass Bottle in 1914, and from 1933 until his death he acted in a series of talking pictures, taking significant roles in Counsel's Opinion (1933), Tiger Bay (1934), Sing As We Go (1934), Everything in Life (1936), Silver Blaze (1937), The Girl in the Taxi (1937), and No Time for Comedy (1940). Grossmith died on 21 February 1944 in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 66, and was buried beside his wife in Woodlawn Cemetery in New York City.