DEATH OF FILM ACTOR.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20272, 14 August 1937, Page 17 (Supplement)

DEATH OF FILM ACTOR.

COLIN CLIVE’S DESPERATE FIGHT. EMBITTERED BY FAME. HOLLYWOOD, June 3. After doe tors had fought for hours with respirators and oxygen in a last despairing effort to save'his life, Colin Clive, of “Journey’s End” fame, died in the' Cedars of Lebanon Hospital hero 10-dav at the age of 37. Miss Iris Lancaster, who had kept constant virgil at his bedside, refusing to rest, was taken from the hospital on the verge of collapse. She had been one of his greatest friends. During his Illness—he was stricken with an Incurable lung disease —Colin Clive saw few people apart from Miss Lancaster, and it was to her that he always turned for companionship when he left the studios exhausted by the strain of the day. Doctors admitted that from the first they had regarded his case as hopeless. Anxiety of Friends. Friends in the film colony, among them Herbert Marshall and Rod la Rocque, have been telephoning the hospital almost, hourly. Clive had the traditional Englishman's “reserve," in fact he was regarded by many of his fellowcountrymen here as unapproachable. lie nevertheless had many real friends among these English people 1 . They would ring daily to hear the latest bulletin, explaining that "they liked Clive very much. but. not knowing him very well, did not care to telephone him while he was so gravely ill." “Journey’s End,” Sherriff’s noted war play, brought fame lo Colin Clive. Although he once said he would have loved lo play comedy parts, he was fated to appear before English and American audiences as a patient, self-tortured, romantic young man whose hollow checks and burning, dark eyes added their glamour to the words lie spoke. a? lhe explosive, hard-drinking young ! Captain Stanhope in “Journey's End." Hut probably Him lovers recall lhe famous actor heller In “Frankenstein.” Terrible Coughing. It was when he was making “ History was made at Night” that Mr Clive's serious condition first became i apparent, for be had Ills of terrible coughing. When ho was working on "Lance Corporal" lie had to give up work. On I lie set one day he walked over to his director, Cregorv Ratoff, saying: "1 shan't go on with this one. You had heller get my place filled.” He was taken at once to hospital and a few days later was lying helpless, every breath causing him pain. Cllvo never concealed the fact that to him 111 m fame was a rather empty thing. He loved acting far more than riches. lie would have been happier if he could have played more sympathetic, ! roles, bill Hull.'wood labelled him the "mo »dy. brooding l>pc" and to some 1 extent il was right. | Yet Waller Wander remarked one I day: "When Colin was working for us ion his lasi film everyone liked him. Hewas so courteous and considerate." i During the few veins lie spent in 1 Hollywood lie did HO| have the’ - J pany of Ins wife, Jeanne de Casalis. j whose staue interests kepi her mainly in London. He was seldom seen at gay Hollywood parties and lately was not s( on outside studio hours except by a very few friends.