Philip Merivale

{{Short description|English actor and screenwriter (1886–1946)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{more footnotes needed|date=March 2013}} {{Infobox person | name = Philip Merivale | image = Philip Merivale The Stranger.jpg

| image_size = 250px | alt = | caption = Merivale in ''The Stranger'' (1946) | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1886|11|2|df=yes}} | birth_place = Rehutia, Manickpur, India | death_date = {{death date and age|1946|03|12|1886|11|2|df=yes}} | death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | occupation = {{hlist|Actor|screenwriter}} | years_active = 1914–1946 | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Viva Birkett|1912|1934|end=died}} * {{marriage|Gladys Cooper<br>|1937}} }} | children = 4, including John | signature = | signature_alt = }}

'''Philip Merivale''' (2 November 1886 – 12 March 1946) was an English film and stage actor and screenwriter.

==Life and career== [[File:The Stranger 1946 (2).jpg|thumb|left|300px|Left to right: Edward G. Robinson, Richard Long, Loretta Young, Martha Wentworth, Orson Welles, Merivale, Byron Keith, and an unidentified actress in ''The Stranger'' (1946)]]Merivale was born in Rehutia, Manickpur, India, to railway engineer Walter Merivale (1855–1902) and Emma Magdalene Merivale ("Maggie"; née Pittman; 1854–1940); his father's profession meant the family lived in India, Costa Rica, and Barbados (where he was Manager of the Barbados Railway) before settling at Chiswick. Philip's sister, Dorothea, was married to the civil servant Sir Henry Bunbury, Accountant-General of the Post Office.<ref>United States of America Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 87th Congress, First Session, vol. 107, part 9, United States Government Printing Office (Washington), 1961, p. 12008</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.turtlebunbury.com/family/bunburyfamily_bunburys/bunbury_family_bunburys_johnstown.html|title = Turtle Bunbury – Award-winning travel writer, historian and author based in Ireland| date=2 November 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/2982|title = Collection: Correspondence of the Merivale Family, mainly of Walter Merivale, railway engineer, and his wife Emma Magdalene | Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts}}</ref>

Merivale was a respected stage actor who entered the cinema during the silent era. Merivale appeared in twenty films and also scripted one. He died from a heart ailment aged 59.

He was twice married to: * the actress Viva Birkett (23 July 1912 – 27 June 1934); (four children: two daughters and two sons, including the actor John Merivale)<ref>London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921</ref><ref>Passenger Manifest SS Philadelphia 4 August 1906</ref><ref>The Play-pictorial: Volume 20</ref> * the actress Gladys Cooper (30 April 1937 – 12 March 1946).

==Broadway roles== [[File:Pygmalion-1914.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|After creating the role of Col. Pickering in the London production of ''Pygmalion'', Philip Merivale (second from right) played Henry Higgins opposite Mrs. Patrick Campbell (right) when Shaw's play was taken to Broadway (1914)]] [[File:Merivale-Collinge-Pollyanna-1916.jpg|thumb|upright|Philip Merivale and Patricia Collinge in the Broadway production of ''Pollyanna'' (1916)]] * ''Pygmalion'' (1914) – Henry Higgins * ''Pollyanna'' (1916) – John Pendleton * ''The Swan'' (1923) – Prince Albert * ''The Road to Rome'' (1927) – Hannibal * ''Mary of Scotland'' (1933) – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell * ''Valley Forge'' (1934) – George Washington

== Filmography == *''Trilby'' (1914) – Taffy Wynne *''Whispering Shadows'' (1921) – Stephen Pryde *''I Loved You Wednesday'' (1933) – (uncredited) *''Give Us This Night'' (1936) – Marcello Bonelli *''All In'' (1936, Writer) *''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (1941) – Mr. Ashley Custer *''Rage in Heaven'' (1941) – Mr. Higgins *''Pacific Blackout'' (1941) – John Runnel *''Lady for a Night'' (1942) – Stephen Alderson *''This Above All'' (1942) – Dr. Roger Cathaway *''Crossroads'' (1942) – Commissaire *''Hangmen Also Die!'' (1943) – Policeman (uncredited) *''This Land Is Mine'' (1943) – Professor Sorel *''Lost Angel'' (1943) – Professor Peter Vincent *''The Hour Before the Dawn'' (1944) – Sir Leslie Buchanon *''Nothing But Trouble'' (1944) – Prince Saul *''Tonight and Every Night'' (1945) – Reverend Gerald Lundy *''Adventure'' (1945) – Old Ramon Estado *''The Stranger'' (1946) – Judge Adam Longstreet *''Sister Kenny'' (1946) – Dr. Brack (final film role)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Philip Merivale}} * {{IMDb name|0580882}} * {{IBDB name}} * {{Find a Grave|41661889}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merivale, Philip}} Category:1886 births Category:1946 deaths Category:English male film actors Category:English male stage actors Category:English male screenwriters Category:British people in British India Category:People from Thane district Category:20th-century English male actors Category:English expatriate male actors in the United States Category:20th-century English screenwriters Category:20th-century English male writers