Colin Tapley

Colin Edward Livingstone Tapley (7 May 1909 – 1 December 1995) was a New Zealand actor in both American and British films. Born in New Zealand, he served in the Royal Air Force and an expedition to Antarctica before winning a Paramount Pictures talent contest and moving to Hollywood. He acted in a number of films before moving to Britain during the Second World War as a flight controller with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

He returned briefly to New Zealand before returning once again to Britain to renew his acting career. His most famous role is as William Glanville in The Dam Busters (1955), but he spent much of his later career typecast as a police inspector, a role he played in several films and TV series before retiring to Gloucestershire.

Early life and family Tapley was born on 7 May 1909 at Dunedin, New Zealand, the son of Harold Livingstone Tapley, later mayor of Dunedin and MP for Dunedin North, and Jean Brodie Tapley (née Burt). He was educated at Christ's College, Christchurch from 1918 to 1926, and took part in the first of Richard Byrd's expeditions to Antarctica before moving to the United Kingdom and joining the Royal Air Force.

Paramount Pictures and life in Hollywood

In 1933 he entered a talent contest organised by Paramount Pictures and was selected as one of thirty winners and one of only two from New Zealand. The talent quest was organised for English speaking countries and winners were given small parts in a film. The film was called Search for Beauty (1934). He was rewarded with a contract with Paramount as a bit part actor and appeared uncredited in several films. In 1935 he played Captain Dobbin in a film version of Vanity Fair, Becky Sharp and had his only lead role in Booloo (1938). Tapley had the debonair good looks, voice and talent of a star, but he found his niche in playing character roles, and appeared in American and British films for more than 30 years without any real desire for movie stardom. Tapley's desire for character parts came early in his Hollywood career. He wrote home enthusiastically to one of his brothers about his small part in The Scarlet Empress (1934), describing the long black beard and wonderful uniform that transformed him into the captain of the queen's bodyguard. Although his performance went uncredited, Tapley is seen directing the firing of the guns from the palace battlements, and yelling, "It's a boy!" to the excited crowd after the future empress played by Marlene Dietrich gives birth to a son". He was subsequently typecast and would play a police officer in many of his later films. His acting career ended in 1983, at the age of 74, and he retired to Coates, Gloucestershire with his wife, Patsy.

Personal life and death During his time in England while in the RAF, Tapley met Patricia "Patsy" Lyon, the widowed daughter of Major-General Sir Percival Otway and Lady Hambro of the Hambro banking dynasty. Despite being from one of England's most prestigious aristocratic-banking families, with close family ties to the Royal family, they opted to marry quietly as London lay in ruins after "the Blitz". Her parents, twin brother, Everard Hambro and other family members were present at the St Martin-in-the-Fields wedding in August 1943. Tapley and Patsy lived in New Zealand and Hollywood before settling down in Coates, Gloucestershire. Tapley lived in New Romney, Kent working for the first time in a regular job not as a Thespian. He was employed by the CEGB in 1964 as a meter reader in the control room at Dungeness 'A' nuclear power station. On night shifts he would regale his fellow workers with tales of Hollywood actors, their lives and loves. He remained in Coates until his death in December 1995, aged 86. Tapley was buried in Wānaka, New Zealand, next to his first son Martin, who had died at the age of 3 of leukaemia in 1947. Patsy remained at their house in Coates until her death on 18 January 2000 survived by their second son Nigel Tapley, two granddaughters, and stepdaughter, Charlotte Ann Lyon, wife of the late shipping mogul Sir Kerry St. Johnston.

Partial Filmography Year Title Role Director Other cast members Notes 1934 Search for Beauty New Zealand Talent Contestant Erle C. Kenton Buster Crabbe, Ida Lupino, Robert Armstrong, James Gleason Uncredited 1934 Come On Marines! Marine Henry Hathaway Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino, Roscoe Karns Uncredited 1934 Double Door Dr. John Lucas Charles Vidor Evelyn Venable, Mary Morris, Kent Taylor, Sir Guy Standing 1934 Murder at the Vanities Stage Manager Mitchell Leisen Carl Brisson, Victor McLaglen, Jack Oakie, Kitty Carlisle Uncredited 1934 The Notorious Sophie Lang Minor Role Ralph Murphy Gertrude Michael, Paul Cavanagh, Leon Errol Uncredited 1934 Wagon Wheels Mountaineer Charles Barton Randolph Scott, Gail Patrick, Monte Blue, Raymond Hatton 1934 The Pursuit of Happiness Aide to Sir Henry Clinton Alexander Hall Francis Lederer, Joan Bennett, Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland Uncredited 1934 Limehouse Blues Man Fighting with Wife Alexander Hall George Raft, Jean Parker, Anna May Wong Uncredited 1934 The Scarlet Empress General Josef von Sternberg Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dresser, Sir C. Aubrey Smith 1935 Becky Sharp Captain William Dobbin Rouben Mamoulian Miriam Hopkins, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce 1935 The Black Room Paul Hassel as a young lieutenant Roy William Neill Boris Karloff, Marian Marsh 1935 The Lives of a Bengal Lancer Lieutenant Barrett Henry Hathaway Gary Cooper, Franchot Tone, Sir Guy Standing 1937 The Crime Nobody Saw Dr. Randolph Brooks Charles Barton Lew Ayres, Ruth Coleman, Eugene Pallette 1938 Booloo Captain Robert Rogers Clyde E. Elliott Jayne Regan, Mamo Clark 1938 Storm Over Bengal Flight Lt. Hallett Sidney Salkow Patric Knowles, Richard Cromwell, Rochelle Hudson 1939 The Light That Failed Gardner William A. Wellman Ronald Colman, Walter Huston, Muriel Angelus, Ida Lupino 1951 Cloudburst Inspector Davis Francis Searle Robert Preston, Elizabeth Sellars, Sheila Burrell, Harold Lang 1952 Wide Boy Mannering Ken Hughes Sydney Tafler, Susan Shaw, Ronald Howard 1953 The Steel Key Doctor Crabtree Robert S. Baker Terence Morgan, Joan Rice, Raymond Lovell 1955 The Dam Busters Dr. William Glanville Michael Anderson Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Basil Sydney, Derek Farr 1955 Barbados Quest Lord Valchrist Bernard Knowles Tom Conway, Delphi Lawrence, Brian Worth 1957 Rogue's Yarn Police Inspector Vernon Sewell Nicole Maurey, Derek Bond 1962 Emergency Doctor Lloyd Francis Searle Glyn Houston, Zena Walker, Dermot Walsh 1962 Strongroom Haynes Vernon Sewell Derren Nesbitt, Colin Gordon, Ann Lynn 1962 The Lamp in Assassin Mews Inspector Godfrey Grayson Francis Matthews, Lisa Daniely, Ian Fleming, Amy Dalby 1964Shadow of FearJohn BowenErnest Morris Paul Maxwell, Clare Owen, Anita West, John Sutton 1969 Fräulein Doktor General Metzler Alberto Lattuada Suzy Kendall, Kenneth More, Nigel Green, Alexander Knox