FEATURES
STARS OF THE STAGE & SCREEN In the earliest days of Radley College, acting was not considered a gentleman’s profession, but that did not stop those with a dramatic flair from treading the boards. As the era of the silent movies came to an end, giving way to the ‘talkies’ of the 1930s and the Hollywood boom of the 1940s and 50s, the acting profession went from taboo to desirable. Here are just a few of the many Old Radleians who have taken to the stage and screen. Kenneth Douglas (1892, E)
Kenneth Douglas Savory was born in 1876 in Eastbourne, and came to Radley in 1892, staying for only a year. He became a stage actor in London, and later New York. He married composer and singer Grace Lane in 1903. He was best known for his role in silent film A Girl of Yesterday (1915) starring Mary Pickford. Apart from a handful of stills, this film is among the 75% of silent-era films now presumed to be lost due to the volatile nature of early film reel. Kenneth and Grace were the parents of Gerald Savory, a TV and film writer and producer.
40
the old radleian 2023
Nicholas ‘Beau’ Hannen (1895, C)
A member of the 1st VIII and a prefect at Radley, Nicholas Hannen worked in the office of famous architect Edwin Lutyens before becoming a stage actor in 1910. He appeared in almost 50 plays during his lifetime, alongside such talent as Sybil Thorndike, Ralph Richardson, and Laurence Olivier. He was awarded an OBE for his service during military operations in France during WWI, and soon returned to the stage once back in Britain. He had roles in dozens of films from 1930 – 1960, including as Seneca in Quo Vadis (1951), and Vice Admiral Ramsay in Dunkirk (1958).
