Cavendish Morton (1874–1939) was a British actor, photographer, and art director. Morton was born in New York City to British parents,
and made his stage debut in a New York production of ''The Prodigal Daughter''.
He moved to London in the late 1890s and worked with the companies of
Charles Wyndham and
H. Beerbohm Tree. He was the author of ''The Art of Theatrical Make-up'' (1909) and ''Cinema Acting: A Handbook for Amateurs'' (1914), a presumed-to-be
lost book that may be the earliest British guide to film acting.
He also directed the 1916 silent film ''
The Broken Melody''.
He was married to the novelist and actress
Concordia Merrel
Concordia Merrel (born Mary Phyllis Joan Logan; 10 September 1885 – 18 May 1962) was a British stage and silent film actress, photographer's model and a prolific author of romantic fiction.
Biography
She was born as Mary Phyllis Joan L ...
, who posed for many of his photographs, and with her was the father of the twin painters
Cavendish Morton and Concord Morton. After a period of nomadic wandering the family settled in
Bembridge in the
Isle of Wight where the couple home-schooled their sons with an emphasis on the arts.
He died in a London nursing home on 29 June 1939 aged 65. Much of his photographic work was lost when his studio caught fire during the
London Blitz bombing of World War II.
References
External links
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1874 births
1939 deaths
20th-century British photographers
20th-century British male actors
British art directors
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