Derrick De Marney

Derrick Raoul Edouard Alfred De Marney (21 September 1906 – 18 February 1978) was an English stage and film actor and producer, of French and Irish ancestry.

Actor The son of Violet Eileen Concanen and Arthur De Marney, and the grandson of noted Victorian lithographer Alfred Concanen, he appeared on the London stage from 1922 and films from 1928. It was his performance in the lead role of the play Young Mr Disraeli at the Kingsway and Piccadilly theatres that brought him the offer of a long-term film contract from Alexander Korda. He is perhaps best remembered for his starring role as Robert Tisdall, falsely accused of murder in Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937). Other early film roles include Benjamin Disraeli, this time in Victoria the Great (1937) and its sequel, Sixty Glorious Years (1938).

After Young and Innocent, he alternated between leading roles and supporting parts in films. He was cast in the title role of Uncle Silas (1947), a character part in which he played a man formerly suspected of murder who plots against his young niece, an heiress played by Jean Simmons. After a couple more leads in self-produced films, he tended to concentrate on the theatre, taking only small roles in films and television shows. His last role was in the horror film The Projected Man (1966).

Although he had a home in Kensington in London, De Marney was taken ill while staying with friends at Farnham in Surrey. He died of bronchopneumonia and asthma at the nearby Frimley Park Hospital on 18 February 1978. He was buried in the family plot at West Norwood Cemetery in South London.

Producer and director With his brother, the actor Terence De Marney, he formed Concanen Productions and produced a number of wartime documentaries on the Polish Air Force, including The White Eagle and Diary of a Polish Airman (both 1942), as well as Leslie Howard's film The Gentle Sex (1943).

Partial filmography As actor, unless otherwise noted.

Two Little Drummer Boys (1928) - Jack Carsdale The Valley of Ghosts (1928) - Arthur Wilmot The Forger (1928) - Basil Hale Adventurous Youth (1928) - The Englishman Stranglehold (1931) - Phillip Shadows (1931) - Peter Money for Nothing (1932) - Minor Role (uncredited) The Laughter of Fools (1933) - Captain Vidal Music Hall (1934) - Jim The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) - Member of the League (uncredited) Immortal Gentleman (1935) - James Carter / Tybalt Windfall (1935) - Tom Spooner Once in a New Moon (1935) - Hon. Bryan-Grant Things to Come (1936) - Richard Gordon Cafe Mascot (1936) - Jerry Wilson Land Without Music (1936) - Rudolpho Strozzi Conquest of the Air (1936) - Minor Role (uncredited) The Pearls of the Crown (1937) - Darnley (uncredited) Victoria the Great (1937) - Younger Disraeli Young and Innocent (1937) - Robert Tisdall Blond Cheat (1938) - Michael Ashburn Sixty Glorious Years (1938) - Benjamin Disraeli Flying Fifty-Five (1939) - Bill Urquhart The Lion Has Wings (1939) - Bill - Navigator The Second Mr. Bush (1940) - Tony The Spider (1940) - Gilbert Silver Three Silent Men (1940) - Captain John Mellish Dangerous Moonlight (1941) - Mike Carroll The First of the Few (1942) - Squadron Leader Jefferson London Scrapbook (1942, director) The Gentle Sex (1943, producer) Latin Quarter (1945, also producer) - Charles Garrie Uncle Silas (1947) - Uncle Silas Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948) - George Grant No Way Back (1949, producer and screenwriter) She Shall Have Murder (1950, also producer) - Dagobert Brown Meet Mr. Callaghan (1954, also producer) - Slim Callaghan Private's Progress (1956) - Pat The March Hare (1956) - Capt. Marlow Doomsday at Eleven (1963) - Judge Alderbrook The Projected Man (1966) - Latham (final film role)