Ian Hunter — He Was Once Neglected (1937) 🇬🇧
Nearly ten years ago, in April, 1928, to be exact, there appeared in Picturegoer a full plate of a good-looking, typical Englishman with the following caption beneath it "A few more film successes like 'The Ring' and 'His House In Order' may induce the studios to woo this sound and pleasant young man from the West End stage."
But unfortunately the studios were not so astute as the writer of that caption and it is only recently that the "pleasant young man" has won the recognition he deserved. And as is far too frequently the case, it was Hollywood that gave him the opportunity which had been denied him in British studios.
As a matter of fact it was Irving Asher, the manager of Warner-First National British Studios who first discovered that there was "something" in this very likeable and capable South African.
He had appeared in three very good little British films and after that he was offered a contract with Warner in Hollywood.
The films were "Church Mouse," in which he appeared with Asher's wife, Laura La Plante, the "tom-boy" of the silent screen, "No Escape" and "Something AIways Happens" and I remember at the time that these were hailed as being a good deal better than many more pretentious and publicised films.
Ian Hunter started his screen career in 1928, but it was not until 1934 that he really became one of the leading male players which rather inclines one to doubt the perspicacity of our movie moguls.
Soon after his discharge from the Army — he joined up in 1917 — he decided to follow his brothers' example and go on the stage.
He did well and gained a good measure of popularity.
In 1928 Alfred Hitchcock cast him in "The Ring," a boxing picture which did much to build up the director's prestige even if it did not bring Hunter into a blaze of limelight.
Thereafter he divided his time between stage and screen — always an unsatisfactory arrangement— until he appeared in the picture I have mentioned above and got his chance to go to America.
His first role was that of a drunken lawyer in "Men on her Mind" in which Bette Davis made her starring debut, and he gave such a brilliant performance that he practically stole the picture.
It was largely due to this success that he was chosen by Max Reinhardt to appear in his elaborate picturisation of A Midsummer Night's Dream and as Thesus he once again stood out and made producers realise that here was an actor who had a fine sense of characterisation and also a very strongly individual personality.
Actually he had been to America before this when he acted in two stage plays The School for Scandal and Olympia, but he does not seem to have attracted a lot of notice at that time.
I think it was really in "To Mary — With Love," a picture that had a fine delicacy of sentiment and was notable for the all round excellence of the acting, that he made his first big success.
He played, you remember, the friend who stifled his own feelings for the heroine in order that she could be happy with the man of her choice.
He brought to the role a wonderful tenderness and a sincerity that was particularly moving. He followed it up with another self-effacing role in The White Angel, but the part did not allow any really big opportunity.
Before this he played opposite Kay Johnson in "Jalna" and with Kay Francis in "I Found Stella Parrish."
It seems to be that he has much of the same sort of appeal as Owen Moore, the same sort of gentleness when necessary not unmixed with a certain reserve and shyness.
He is also typically British with a similar attraction in that respect to Ronald Ronald. But added to these he had a complete individuality all his own which is even present when he sinks it for the benefit of the characterisation he happens to be giving.
It was particularly noticeable, I think, in "The Devil Takes the Count," a picture which did not appeal very strongly to me as a whole but in which "once again" the British actor scored an individual success.
In "Call it a Day" he has another role to which he is admirably suited and which adds still further to his prestige. He is cast as the father of an English family whose love affairs and domestic troubles generally cause him a great deal of worry.
And so, at last, Ian Hunter has won through after a lot of hard work and not much help in the way of luck.
However, he has probably enjoyed the struggle for he is of an adventurous disposition.
He was born near Cape Town, South Africa, on June 13, 1900 — incidentally he does not blame his natal date for any setbacks he has had, he is not at all superstitious.
He was educated at St. Andrews College, Grahamstown, South Africa, until, at the age of fourteen, he sailed in his own twenty-four foot sloop Etain to England arriving in the early days of the war after a voyage which held the menace of submarines as well as the ordinary dangers of a voyage in such a small boat.
He went to school at Aldenham in Hertfordshire and proceeded to show a decided preference for athletics.
As soon as he could he joined the Army and served throughout the war during which he was twice wounded.
It was during his convalescence periods that he first tried his hand at theatricals, appearing in regimental concerts on several occasions.
Hunter did not, as some of our stars have done, become famous overnight. His first engagement was a "walking on" part and he had to fight every inch of his way up the ladder of success.
Perhaps it is that very fact which gives him a sense of strength and reliability, two predominant characteristics in his personality make-up.
Basil Dean gave this young actor his first real chance and he appeared in several London successes with such well-known artistes as the late Sir Gerald du Maurier, Gladys Cooper, Herbert Marshall, Leslie Banks and Edna Best.
Herbert Marshall certainly got a good start on him but I think Ian Hunter is rapidly making up the leeway he lost.
He could easily be cast in a Marshall role since there are similar qualities in both artistes.
Ian Hunter may be a little breezier in his love-making but he too can convince one as a "faithful lover," ready to sacrifice himself for the object of his affections.
He has not, as yet, expressed preference for any of the roles in which he has appeared on the screen but he does confess that he enjoyed playing Captain Hook in Peter Pan as much as anything he has done on the stage.
British actors in Hollywood have a reputation of being well-dressed, but Ian Hunter, while he is always well turned out, never takes any great interest in his clothes except in so far as they affect the character he happens to be playing in the studio.
I do not think he will ever be labelled as one of the screen's best dressed men which certainly would not be in keeping with the quiet, unobtrusive rugged ness inseparable from his character.
He is married and has two children. His wife is Casha Pringle, an actress, and his two sons are called Jolyon George, aged 10 and Robin Fan, aged 7.
His elder son's name, Jolyon, is a tribute to the late John Galsworthy for whose work Ian Hunter has the deepest admiration.
He is a voracious reader and when he is not sailing his cutter or playing golf he can always be found with a book. And his choice of literature is another indication to his character. He lists as his favourite The Forsyte Saga, by Galsworthy, Belloc's Cruise of the Nona, Dorothy Parker's Laments for the Living, Sir Percy Fitzpatrick's Jock o the Bushveld and all Ernest Thompson Seton's animal stories.
An open-air man, six foot one inch tall and likely to become even more popular in the near future than he is at present if he continues to get the breaks he deserves and has worked so hard to obtain.
The star in character for the role of a middle-aged family man as he appears in his latest picture, "Call It a Day."
Collection: Picturegoer Magazine, July 1937