John Longden

Quality 0.50 · 3 views · Updated 2 months ago

English actor (1900–1971)

title: "John Longden" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1900-births", "1971-deaths", "british-expatriates-in-the-british-west-indies", "20th-century-english-male-actors", "british-male-silent-film-actors", "british-emigrants-to-australia", "people-educated-at-kingswood-school,-bath"] description: "English actor (1900–1971)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Longden" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English actor (1900–1971) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameJohn Longden
imageJohn Longden (cropped) - The Picture Show Annual, 1931.jpg
captionLongden in 1931
birth_date
birth_placeWest Indies
death_date
death_placeLondon, England
spouseJean Jay
occupationActor
yearsactive1926–1964
::

| name = John Longden | image = John Longden (cropped) - The Picture Show Annual, 1931.jpg | caption = Longden in 1931 | birth_date = | birth_place = West Indies | death_date = | death_place = London, England | spouse = Jean Jay | occupation = Actor | yearsactive = 1926–1964

John Longden (11 November 1900 – 26 May 1971) was a British film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1926 and 1964, including six films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Biography

Longden was born in the West Indies, the son of a Methodist missionary, and was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, Somerset. Originally intending to be a mining engineer, he worked for two years in a coal mine in Yorkshire, where he started acting in amateur theatrical companies. An introduction to Seymour Hicks saw him start acting on the legitimate stage, beginning with a walk-on part in Old Bill, MP. He played in My Old Dutch with Albert Chevalier, then spent time with the Liverpool and Birmingham repertory theatres. He also appeared in The Farmer's Wife, produced by Barry Jackson at the Court Theatre in London for two years.

About this time Longden began to appear in silent films. He signed a contract with Gaumont British Pictures to write and act, earning a notable success with Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929). He also directed the 1932 quota quickie Come Into My Parlour which was released by MGM.

Australian interlude

Longden went to Australia in 1933 to perform in several plays. While there he appeared in the film The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934) for Cinesound Productions.

The performance was very well received. Longden took on the roles of two more films for the same company, Thoroughbred (1936) and It Isn't Done (1937).

In 1934 it was announced that he was going to play the lead in an adaptation of Robbery Under Arms, but this film was never made. The same year Longden also announced he was going to act in and direct an Australian film called Highway Romance, about an English man and Australian girl travelling from Sydney to Brisbane. A company called Highway Productions was formed with Frederick Ward and a capital of £10,000 but the film was not made.

Later career

Longden returned to Britain where he continued to work steadily in theatre (including playing Inspector Hornleigh, a popular radio detective of the period, at the Prince's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, in 1938) and film (including An Honourable Murder (1960), an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar", in which he played tycoon 'Julian Caesar'). He appeared on several episodes of season one of The Adventures of Robin Hood playing various characters, and returned for one episode in season three. He died in London, 26 May 1971, aged 70.

Selected filmography

References

References

  1. 'JOHN LONGDEN To Act for Australian Film', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', Monday 26 June 1933 p14
  2. 'JOHN LONGDEN'S CAREER' ''The Brisbane Courier (Qld)'' Wednesday 19 July 1933 p14
  3. [http://www.ausstage.edu.au/indexdrilldown.jsp?xcid=59&f_contrib_id=401544&f_event_id=61738 John Longden's Australian theatre credits]
  4. (31 August 1933). "WHO ARE OUR POTENTIAL STARS?.". [[Table Talk (magazine).
  5. Vagg, Stephen. (18 September 2025). "Forgotten Australian Films: The Silence of Dean Maitland".
  6. Vagg, Stephen. (15 July 2025). "Forgotten Australian Films: It Isn’t Done".
  7. Vagg, Stephen. (3 October 2025). "Forgotten Australian Films: Thoroughbred".
  8. (16 March 1934). ""The Silence of Dean Maitland" Filmed in Record Time". [[The West Australian]].
  9. (29 December 1934). "Prefers Comedy to Drama". [[The Australian Women's Weekly]].
  10. (16 November 1934). "English Actor". [[The Sydney Morning Herald]].
  11. Steve. (2013-08-31). "Bear Alley: Hans W. Priwin".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1900-births1971-deathsbritish-expatriates-in-the-british-west-indies20th-century-english-male-actorsbritish-male-silent-film-actorsbritish-emigrants-to-australiapeople-educated-at-kingswood-school,-bath