{{Short description|Canadian Australian actor and filmmaker}} {{Infobox person |name = Alexander Cann |image = AlexanderCann.png |caption = |birth_date = January 8, 1903 |birth_place = Nova Scotia |death_date = {{death date and age|1977|12|21|1903|1|8}} |death_place = Sydney, NSW |other_names = Alexander Cross |known_for = | spouse = June Dunlop Cann | children = 3 |occupation = actor, journalist }}

'''Alexander Howard Ross Cann''' (January 8, 1903 – December 21, 1977) was a Canadian actor and journalist known for his role in documenting the 1945 New Guinea Gremlin Special rescue.

Cann was born in Nova Scotia to Mabel Ross Cann and H. V. Cann.<ref name="Zuck">{{cite book |last=Zuckoff |first=Mitchell |title=Lost In Shangri-La |year=2011 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0061988349}}</ref>{{rp|250}} He attended the Royal Naval College of Canada and studied structural engineering at Columbia University. Finding a shortage of work, he moved from New York City to Hollywood and found acting work in the mid-1930s under the stage name Alexander Cross.<ref name="Zuck" />{{rp|251}} He joined the Royal Canadian Navy and was injured on his way to the South Pacific. While he was recovering in Australia, he got a job with the Netherlands-Indies Information Service as a war correspondent.<ref name="Zuck" />{{rp|254}}

Cann parachuted into the Baliem Valley, his first ever parachute jump, with a film camera.<ref name="RTD">{{cite news |last1=Cann |first1=Alexander |title=Evidence of Warfare Found in "Shangri-La" by Witer. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/828133203/ |access-date=25 March 2023 |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |date=July 2, 1945 |location=Richmond, VA |page=2}}</ref><ref name="Selcer 2022">{{cite web | last=Selcer | first=Richard F. | title=This 1945 New Guinea Plane Crash Survivor Became Known As The 'Queen of Shangri-La' | website=HistoryNet | date=2022-02-05 | url=https://www.historynet.com/margaret-hastings-shangri-la/ | access-date=2023-03-25}}</ref> He lived with the survivors and their rescuers for twelve days in order to document the rescue on behalf of his employer's Film and Photo Unit.<ref name="trove">{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91948047 |title=AN EPIC RESCUE--SCENES FROM THE VALLEY OF "SHANGRI-LA," NEW GUINEA. |newspaper=The Examiner (Tasmania) |volume=CIV |issue=98 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=4 July 1945 |accessdate=26 March 2023 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Cann's short film ''Rescue from Shangri-La'' includes staged scenes as well as documentary footage of the indigenous Dani people.<ref name="Zuck" />{{rp|259}}

Cann was a film and television actor whose last role was in a 1970 film about Ned Kelly.<ref name="VS">{{cite news |title=Canadian-born actor dies in Australia |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/70906398/obituary-for-alexander-cann-aged-74/ |access-date=25 March 2023 |work=Vancouver Sun |date=December 22, 1977 |location=Vancouver, BC}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0134017}} * "[https://archive.org/details/RescueFromShangri-la Rescue from Shangri-La]" on Internet Archive

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, Alexander}} Category:1903 births Category:1977 deaths Category:History of New Guinea Category:Canadian male film actors Category:Canadian male television actors Category:Canadian war correspondents