A. R. Whatmore
A. R. Whatmore (30 May 1889 – 15 October 1960) was a British actor, playwright and producer of plays.
Early life
Arthur Reginald Whatmore was born on 30 May 1889 at Much Marcle in Herefordshire, the son of Charles Arthur Whatmore and his wife Emma (née Stone). He received his education at Wyggeston School, Leicester, and worked for three years as a bank clerk after that.
His first appearance on stage was as Lord Monkhurst in Milestones (Bennett/Knoblock) at the Kennington Theatre, London in 1913. He played under Vedrenne and Eadie management for two tours of Milestones and the first tour of The Man Who Stayed at Home. He also toured with Lewis Waller in The Three Musketeers, Monsieur Beaucaire etc. During the War he served in France, 1915 – 1919.[1]
Hull and London
After leaving the army he spent some time in producing for Amateur Operatic Societies. Then in 1923 he founded the Hull Repertory Theatre, where he produced eighty-one plays between then and June 1930. During that time the theatre was entirely rebuilt under his supervision.
Returning to London in July 1930 he produced The Macropulos Secret at the Arts Theatre. He was director of the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage, London, in partnership with Alec L Rea, from September 1930 to March 1932. At the Embassy he produced over thirty plays, including The Liar, The Witch, Precious Bane (the play), Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (the play), Britannia of Billingsgate (the play) and Romeo and Juliet.[1]
During the rest of the 1930s he directed or acted in numerous plays in the West End,[1][2] including a production of his own play Mother Knows Best (1039).[1] He appeared in the film Eliza Comes to Stay (1936) and in the TV films The White Chateau (1938), Charley's Aunt (1938) and Rake's Progress (1939). [3]
Scotland and after
In 1940 Whatmore did a season at His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen, where he directed "A. R. Whatmore's London Players" in a set of eight plays.[1][4] Then in 1942 he became director of the Dundee Repertory Theatre.[1] After the war he wrote several more plays, namely She Wanted a Cream Front Door (1946), Rehearsal 1030 (1949), The Sun and I (1949) and Count Your Blessings (1950).[1][5] From 1951 to 1953 he was the director of the Ipswich Repertory Theatre.[6] In the 1950s, the name The Whatmore Players was revived, with Dennis Ramsden as producer. It ran successfully until the late 1960s, one of the said players being Mollie Sugden.[6]
He married Hilda Mary Loverock in 1918. They had one child, a son, born in 1929. Hilda died in 1945 and Arthur remarried, to Barbara Mary Fowle in 1951.[6] He died on 15 October 1960 at Bletchley.[6]