Bruce Belfrage
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Bruce Belfrage (30 October 1900 – August 1974) was an English actor and BBC radio newsreader.[1] He was casting director at the BBC between 1936 and 1939, and founded the BBC Repertory Company in 1939.[2]
Early life
Bruce Belfrage was born in Marylebone, London, the son of Sydney Henning Belfrage and Frances Grace (née Powley).[1] His younger brother was the author and journalist Cedric Belfrage.[3] He was educated at Gresham's School before taking an honours degree in modern languages at St John's College, Oxford.[4]
Career
Belfrage is reported as performing on stage in London with The Strolling Players in February 1923.[5] He played in a notable triumph—A Sleeping Clergyman—with Robert Donat in 1933 and in BBC radio plays in 1934.[6] He appeared in his first film in 1932.[2] He was a broadcaster in the early days of 2LO at Savoy Hill, and in 1935 joined the BBC as a casting director and later became a news reader and announcer.[1][7]
In a famous incident on 15 October 1940, the BBC's Broadcasting House took a direct hit from a delayed-action German bomb, which eventually exploded during the nine o'clock radio news read by Belfrage.[1][8] Seven people were killed, and Belfrage, covered with plaster and soot, carried on reading the news as if nothing had happened.[1][8] Listeners at home heard just a dull thud.[8] He enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve in 1942, and was demobilized with the rank of lieutenant-commander.[1]
Belfrage was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate for the South Buckinghamshire division at the 1950 general election.[9] He polled 16.5%, and never contested another election.[1]
Migration to Australia
In September 1958, for health reasons, Belfrage migrated to Australia with his second wife Joyce, a TV producer.[10] They lived in Melbourne for seven months and transferred to Sydney in 1959.[11] Joyce Belfrage quit the ABC in 1962 to work in the advertising industry and initiate a programme of media studies at Macquarie University.[12]
Death
Bruce Belfrage died in Sydney at the age of 73.[1] He was married to the actress Joan Henley, with whom he had a son, Julian Rochfort Belfrage.[13] After his divorce from Henley, Belfrage married Joyce Belfrage.[14]Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
Filmography
- C.O.D.. (1932) - Philip[15]
- The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - Pitt[16]
- Too Many Millions (1934)[17]
- Full Circle (1935) - Clyde Warren[18]
- War Front (1941) - Newspaper editor[19]
- Hue and Cry (1947) - BBC announcer[20]
- Man on the Run (1948) - BBC Newscaster[21]
- I Killed the Count (1948) - Viscount Sorrington[22]
- Corridor of Mirrors (1948) - Sir David Conway[23]
- Black Magic (1949) - Crown Prosecutor[24]
- Warning to Wantons (1949) - Archimandrite[25]
- Ten Little Niggers (1949) - Sir Lawrence Wargrave[26]
- The Case of Charles Peace (1949) - Prosecution Counsel[27]
- Miss Pilgrim's Progress (1950) - Manager[28]
- Mister Drake's Duck (1951) - Air Vice Marshal[29]
- Home to Danger (1951) - Solicitor[30]
- The Galloping Major (1951) - Himself/Radio Commentator[31]
- Never Look Back (1952) - Judge[32]
Publication
One Man In His Time, by Bruce Belfrage. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1951[33]
References
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- ↑ a b c d e f g h Obituary in The Times, Mr Bruce Belfrage, 17 August 1974, p.14
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- ↑ Sitsky, Bob. Extract of interview by Graham Shirley, Joyce Belfrage Talks about the ABC, at website of ABC TV, Gore Hill.
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External links
- Bruce Belfrage at the National Portrait Gallery
- Template:Trim/ Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
- Audio of Bruce Belfrage reading the news
- Pages with script errors
- 1900 births
- 1974 deaths
- Male actors from London
- English male stage actors
- English male film actors
- People educated at Gresham's School
- Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
- Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
- 20th-century English male actors
- Royal Navy officers of World War II
- Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II
- Royal Naval Reserve personnel