Michael Shepley

Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith was born on 29 September 1907 in Plymouth, Devon, and died on 28 September 1961, one day before his fifty-fourth birthday. Working professionally under the name Michael Shepley, he built a career across theatre, film, and television that spanned more than three decades.

Shepley made his screen debut in Black Coffee, a 1931 production from Twickenham Studios, and went on to accumulate more than sixty film appearances over the course of his career. His final film, Don't Bother to Knock, was released in 1961, the same year he died. In television, he took the role of Inspector Stark in the 1957 series Dick and the Duchess.

His stage career ran from 1929 through at least 1952 and included a range of productions on both sides of the Atlantic. His Broadway credits included The Middle Watch, Night Must Fall, and Edwina Black, with his Broadway activity documented between 1929 and 1950. Among his London stage appearances, Night Must Fall, written by Emlyn Williams, opened in 1936, and he returned to Emlyn Williams material in 1944 with The Druid's Rest. Other notable stage productions included The Chiltern Hundreds by William Douglas-Home in 1947, His Excellency by Campbell Christie and Dorothy Christie in 1950, and The Happy Marriage by John Clements in 1952. Earlier credits included The Midshipmaid in 1931, Orders Are Orders in 1932, A Present from Margate in 1933, The Man in Half Moon Street in 1939, Love in a Mist in 1941, and Escort in 1942.

Before his professional career, Shepley was an opening batsman for Westminster, playing from 1923 to 1926 and serving as captain in his final year. In 1925 he recorded a batting average of 33.11, the highest on the team that season, and scored 88 runs against Malvern. He also appeared in the Oxford Freshmen's match in 1927.