{{Short description|English actor (1911–1980)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} right|thumb|Kenneth Carten, Ross Landon, John Gatrell and Hugh French sing "The Stately Homes of England"
'''Kenneth Hare Bicker-Caarten''' (29 August 1911 – 1980) was an English actor who worked under the name '''Kenneth Carten'''.
==Biography== Kenneth Hare Bicker-Caarten was born on 29 August 1911 at Blomfield Road, Maida Vale, London, the son of middle-class parents Catherine and Edwin Hare Bicker-Caarten.<ref name="encyclopedia">[http://www.encyclopedia.com "Carten, Audrey (b. 1900)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. . Encyclopedia.com. 19 Jan. 2018]</ref> His sisters were playwrights Waveney Carten and Audrey Carten.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
Tallulah Bankhead, a very close friend of his sister, Audrey, became a surrogate mother to Carten, who during the summer break from Eton College, went to live with them.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bret|first1=David|title=Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life|date=1998|publisher=Robson Books|page=46|isbn=9781861051905|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sx8NAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 January 2018}}</ref>
In the late 1930s, with his sister, Audrey, he frequented the social circle of Elvira Mullens Barney.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}
==Appearances== *1930: ''Charlot's Masquerade'' with Beatrice Lillie *1930: ''Wonder Bar'' with Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney.<ref name="Wearing" /> *1933: ''Gay Love'' by Waveney Carten and Audrey Carten, with Gwen Farrar *1933: ''Please'' with Beatrice Lillie.<ref name="Wearing" /> *1934: ''Streamline'' with Tilly Losch.<ref name="Wearing" /> *1935: ''Roulette'' *1935: ''Full House'' by Ivor Novello.<ref name="Wearing" /> *1936: as Edward Valance in ''Family Album'', written and starred by Noël Coward *1936: as Alf in ''Red Peppers'', written and starred by Noël Coward *1936: as Gaston in ''Ways and Means'', written and starred by Noël Coward *1936: as Stanley in ''Still life'', written and starred by Noël Coward *1936: ''Tonight at 8:30'', written and starred by Noël Coward<ref>{{cite web|title=Kenneth Carten|url=http://www.playbill.com/person/kenneth-carten-vault-0000047001|website=playbill|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=John C.|title=Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me: A Memoir of Broadway's Golden Age|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=237|isbn=9781442255739|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1rF_CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA237|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref><ref name="Wearing">{{cite book|last1=Wearing|first1=J. P.|title=The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=496|isbn=9780810893047|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2mYAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA496|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> *1937: ''Foodlight'' written by Beverley Nichols, with Cyril Butcher and Hermione Baddeley.<ref name="Wearing" /> *1939: ''Operette (musical)|Operette'' (later he recorded the song ''The Stately Homes of England'').<ref>{{cite web|title=Kenneth Carten|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/98637/summary#nav-entity|website=secondhandsongs|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> *1939: ''French without Tears'' by Terence Rattigan.<ref name="Wearing" /> *1942: as Sub-Lieutenant R.N.V.R. in the war-movie ''In Which We Serve'' directed by Noël Coward and David Lean.
After leaving acting, he became a theatrical agent; his clients included Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward and Googie Withers. He discovered and represented Peter Sallis.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sallis|first1=Peter|title=Fading Into The Limelight: The Autobiography|date=2008|publisher=Hachette UK|page=35|isbn=9781409105725|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5rOGEBadSEC&pg=PT35|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref> He worked for the Myron Selznick corporation.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} He represented also Amelia Hall, who, in her memoirs, wrote: "I returned to my Hampstead digs and phoned Kenneth Carten. "Mr Carten, I cannot take part in the murder of a masterpiece." In his quiet, English way Kenneth Carten reasoned with me. He asked me to realize that not every day did an actress come to England from abroad and within two or three weeks land a role like Amanda. He begged me to put up with the script. I did. Looking back, I marvel that I was allowed to work, for I did not belong to British Equity, nor to any union."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Amelia|title=Life Before Stratford: The Memoirs of Amelia Hall|date=1990|publisher=Dundurn|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifebeforestratf0000hall/page/87 87]|isbn=9781550020618 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifebeforestratf0000hall|url-access=registration|accessdate=23 January 2018}}</ref>
He died in Kensington in 1980.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carten, Kenneth}} Category:1911 births Category:1980 deaths Category:Actors from the City of Westminster Category:LGBTQ people from London Category:Male actors from London Category:People from Maida Vale Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people