Gerald Case

(Thomas) Gerald Case (1905 – 22 May 1985) was a British stage, film and television character actor, known, amongst others, for his role in the 1976 Wodehouse Playhouse episode, Strychnine in the Soup.

Case was born at Horton Hall, the son of Captain Thomas Elphinstone Case of the Coldstream Guards and Evelyn Ruby, daughter of Adolphus Ferguson and Minnie Byron, a Mezzo Soprano celebrated for her stage roles in variety and Victorian burlesques. At the age of 6, his father died and Case himself moved into Horton Hall,[a] with his 10-year-old aunt.[b] Case's widowed mother subsequently married the England cricketer and gold medal-winning Olympic boxer J. W. H. T. Douglas.

At the age of eighteen, Case was encouraged to join his step-father's family business in the timber industry, travelling to Finland as the company agent.[c] Finland in the mid-1920s had recently won independence from Russia, resulting in civil war. Case learnt to speak Finnish and served in the Finnish White Army but is unlikely to have seen active service. Case returned to England in 1928 convinced that the timber trade was not for him and announced that he wanted to go on stage, which he did, for more than 50 years.

It is unknown whether Case actually attended drama school, but his first stage appearance was in 1929 at Camberwell Palace playing any small part that he could find. He claimed that he hated minor roles at the outset but every small part that he performed, he made sure that he was good in it, which gradually created his brand. Case got his first real break in October when he joined Jack Denton’s theatre company who were touring with a domestic drama Stop the Wedding!. Case played the part of the villain 'Dudley Cliffstone', which he continued until 1930,[10][11][12] when he changed touring company to play 'Paul Cairns' in the crime drama Sexton Blake opposite Erica Tozer.[13][14][15] In April 1931, Case and Tozer moved to a new repertory company working out of the Kings Theatre, Southsea and the Royal County Theatre, Reading.[16] They were married 7 months later, playing opposite each other in The Fake.[17][d] A few weeks later, they appeared together on stage as a married couple in a farcical whodunnit called The Barton Mystery, in which Case dreams that he has murdered his wife, reportedly performed by both to dramatic effect.[18]

Case continued to work on stage throughout the 1930s with,[19] or without his wife, in rep or the West End,[20] sometimes in leading roles,[21] but more often supporting.[22] Case began working in feature films appearing first in 1933, initially in uncredited minor roles (e.g. Sorrell and Son, Action for Slander and Dark Journey).[23][24] His first starring role was at Pinewood Studios, Paramount's Museum Mystery,[e] in which he appeared alongside Elizabeth Inglis. The film was not a great success with the critics but as war in Europe approached, Case's stage and screen persona found a place in propaganda films, such as The Lion Has Wings. Case was exempt from conscription in 1939, working in collaboration with the Ministry of Information, where he worked with Noel Coward on In Which We Serve, a British patriotic war film.[25] Case went on a 25-week tour (1942 - 1943) with Coward around wartime Britain playing to home troops, bringing the West End to the provinces with premier performances of This Happy Breed and Present Laughter, as well as a revival of Blythe Spirit. The tour advertised collectively as "Noel Coward in his Play Parade".[26] After playing in twenty-two towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales, the tour ended with a six-week run at the Haymarket.[27]

In 1943, Case focused more on his film career playing Westmoreland in Laurence Olivier's epic film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V.[f] The following year he made a brief appearance in Gabriel Pascal's Caesar and Cleopatra and for the next 18 years, he appeared in 2-3 films a year, some uncredited, mostly in supporting roles in features but also starring in B movies,[g] or films for television[h] (below). Case continued working on the stage,[i] but he was defined by his screen roles as a character actor, playing calm, trustworthy and dependable contemporary characters, characteristically senior police detectives with the occasional doctor, military officer or vicar. His screen persona crossed over into television which really took off in the 1960s, making guest appearances in all the major shows of the day from Dr. Finlay's Casebook to Morecambe and Wise.[j] Case had always played comic roles from his earliest days on stage with Noel Coward and later on screen sending up characters he was most respected for in familiar drama roles.[k] His prolific screen visibility meant that he was rarely out of work in fifty years of acting,[l] but his last big screen performance was in 1980 in The Elephant Man.[24]

Case acted in an era when ephemeral stage performances transferred to permanent film or television media. Despite a substantial body of stage work, many on tour, Case will be remembered for his prolific film and television appearances.[m] His was the face that everyone knew in post-war Britain, but may have had difficult putting a name to.

Case lived with his wife Erica at Mayfield, Windlesham, Surrey, where he died on 22 May 1985.[35]