E. E. Clive
Acting • Born 1879-08-26 – Died 1940-06-06
Biography
Edward Erskholme Clive was a Welsh stage actor and director who had a prolific acting career in Britain and America. He also played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood movies between 1933 and his death. E. E. Clive was born on 28 August 1879 in Blaenavon in Monmouthshire. Clive studied for a medical career, and had completed four years of medical studies at St Bartholomew's Hospital before switching his focus to acting at age 22. Touring the provinces for a decade, Clive became an expert at virtually every sort of regional dialect in the British Isles. He moved to the US in 1912, where after working in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit he set up his own stock company in Boston. By the 1920s, his company was operating in Hollywood; among his repertory players were such up-and-comers as Rosalind Russell. He also worked at the Broadway in several plays. E. E. Clive made his film debut as a village police constable in 1933's The Invisible Man with Claude Rains, then spent the next seven years showing up in wry supporting and bit parts, where he often portrayed comical versions of English stereotypes. He often played butlers, reporters, aristocrats, shopkeepers and cabbies during his short film career. Though his roles were often small, Clive was a well-known and prolific character actor of his time. Among his best-known roles was the incompetent Burgomaster in James Whale's horror classic Bride of Frankenstein (1935). He was a semi-regular as Tenny the Butler in Paramount Pictures' Bulldog Drummond B series, starring John Howard; he also played butlers in other movies like Bachelor Mother with David Niven and Ginger Rogers. In 1939, Clive appeared in The Little Princess as the lawyer Mr. Barrows, and the first two entries of the classic Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone. One of Clive's last roles was Sir William Lucas in the 1940 literature adaption Pride and Prejudice (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. E. E. Clive died on 6 June 1940, of a heart ailment, in his Hollywood home. He was survived by his wife Eleanor and their child. Clive was a member of the Euclid lodge of Freemasons in Boston.
Filmography
91 credits
Bride of Frankenstein
Movie • 1935
Burgomaster
The Invisible Man
Movie • 1933
Constable Jaffers
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Movie • 1936
Sir Harry Lorridaile
Dracula's Daughter
Movie • 1936
Sergeant Wilkes
Libeled Lady
Movie • 1936
Fishing Instructor
The Little Princess
Movie • 1939
Mr. Barrows
Charlie Chan in London
Movie • 1934
Det. Sgt. Thacker
The Gay Divorcee
Movie • 1934
Chief Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Arrest Bulldog Drummond
Movie • 1938
Tenny
Pride and Prejudice
Movie • 1940
Sir William Lucas
Rose of Washington Square
Movie • 1939
Barouche Driver
Personal Property
Movie • 1937
Cosgrove Dabney
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Movie • 1936
Sir Humphrey Harcourt
The Little Minister
Movie • 1934
Sheriff Greer
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back
Movie • 1937
Tenny
Bulldog Drummond Escapes
Movie • 1937
"Tenny" Tennison
Tarzan Escapes
Movie • 1936
Masters
Captain Blood
Movie • 1935
Clerk of the Court
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Movie • 1939
Inspector Bristol
Show Boat
Movie • 1936
Congo Maisie
Movie • 1940
Horace Snell
Lloyd's of London
Movie • 1936
Magistrate
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Movie • 1935
Sapsea
It's Love I'm After
Movie • 1937
First Butler
Isle of Fury
Movie • 1936
Dr. Hardy
Bulldog Drummond's Revenge
Movie • 1937
'Tenny' Tennison
Bulldog Drummond's Bride
Movie • 1939
Tenny
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Movie • 1937
Auctioneer
Love Before Breakfast
Movie • 1936
Yacht Captain (uncredited)
Bulldog Drummond in Africa
Movie • 1938
'Tenny' Tennison
Arsène Lupin Returns
Movie • 1938
Alf
The Earl of Chicago
Movie • 1940
Mr. Redwood
Bulldog Drummond's Peril
Movie • 1938
Tenny
Danger – Love at Work
Movie • 1937
Wilbur
Piccadilly Jim
Movie • 1936
London Gossip Editor Bill Mechan
Raffles
Movie • 1939
Barraclough
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Movie • 1934
London Bobbie
Cain and Mabel
Movie • 1936
Charles Fendwick
Live, Love and Learn
Movie • 1937
Mr. Palmiston
Trouble for Two
Movie • 1936
King
The Poor Rich
Movie • 1934
Lord Fetherstone
The Unguarded Hour
Movie • 1936
Lord Henry Hathaway
The Dark Hour
Movie • 1936
Foot, the Butler
Ticket to Paradise
Movie • 1936
Barkins
Long Lost Father
Movie • 1934
Spot Hawkins
Atlantic Adventure
Movie • 1935
McIntosh
Man About Town
Movie • 1939
Hotchkiss
Father Brown, Detective
Movie • 1934
Sergeant Dawes
We're in the Money
Movie • 1935
Jevons
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Movie • 1939
London Cabbie John Clayton
Palm Springs
Movie • 1936
Morgan
The First Hundred Years
Movie • 1938
Chester Blascomb
David Copperfield
Movie • 1935
Sheriff's Man (uncredited)
They Wanted to Marry
Movie • 1937
Stiles
Ready, Willing and Able
Movie • 1937
Sir Samuel Buffington
Beg, Borrow or Steal
Movie • 1937
Lord Nigel Braemer
Kind Lady
Movie • 1935
Grammaphone Man (uncredited)
Stars Over Broadway
Movie • 1935
Crane
Bachelor Mother
Movie • 1939
Butler
The White Angel
Movie • 1936
Dr. Smith (uncredited)
On the Avenue
Movie • 1937
Cabby
Page Miss Glory
Movie • 1935
Monogram Shirtmaker (uncredited)
Mr. Moto's Last Warning
Movie • 1939
Port Commandant General (uncredited)
Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
Movie • 1939
Tenny
Cheaters at Play
Movie • 1932
Steward
Kidnapped
Movie • 1938
Minister MacDougall
Submarine Patrol
Movie • 1938
Maid of Salem
Movie • 1937
Bilge
The Golden Arrow
Movie • 1936
Walker
All American Chump
Movie • 1936
Montgomery Brantley
All American Chump
Movie • 1936
. Montgomery Brantley
The Last Warning
Movie • 1938
Major Barclay
I'm from Missouri
Movie • 1939
Mr. Arthur, Duke of Cricklewood
Love Under Fire
Movie • 1937
Captain Bowden
Foreign Correspondent
Movie • 1940
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Gateway
Movie • 1938
Room Steward
Flowing Gold
Movie • 1940
Mr. Naismith (uncredited)
Remember Last Night?
Movie • 1935
Coroner's Photographer (uncredited)
Camille
Movie • 1936
Saint Gaudens (uncredited)
One More River
Movie • 1934
Chayne
Night Must Fall
Movie • 1937
Guide
The Widow from Monte Carlo
Movie • 1935
Lord Holloway
Gold Diggers of 1935
Movie • 1935
Thorpe's Chauffeur Westbrook (uncredited)
Adventure in Diamonds
Movie • 1940
Mr. MacPherson
Riptide
Movie • 1934
Major Mills (uncredited)
A Feather in Her Hat
Movie • 1935
Higgins - Pub Proprietor (uncredited)
3 Kids and a Queen
Movie • 1935
Coachman
The Big Parade of Comedy
Movie • 1964
Cosgrove Dabney in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)
Show Boat
Movie • 1936
Sir Arthur
A Tale of Two Cities
Movie • 1935
Judge in 'Old Bailey'
The Honeymoon's Over
Movie • 1939
Col. Shelby