Marmaduke Arundel "Duke" Wetherell (1883 – 25 February 1939) was a British–

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n actor, screenwriter, producer, film director and big-game hunter. He was responsible for the hoax " surgeon's photograph" of the

Loch Ness Monster The Loch Ness Monster (), known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protrud ...

Biography

Born in Bodmin, Cornwall, Wetherell acted in both British and South African films during the silent era. In the 1920s he branched out to producing and directing films but they were not a success. He produced, directed and played the lead role in his productions of '' Livingstone'' (1925) and ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...

'' (1927). A planned biography of Lawrence of Arabia called ''Revolt in the Desert'' to be photographed by

Freddie Young Frederick A. Young (9 October 1902 – 1 December 1998) was an English cinematographer. Sometimes credited as F. A. Young, his career in motion picture photography spanned more than 130 films across nearly 70 years, between 1919 and 1984. He wa ...

who had photographed his war films '' The Somme'' (1927) and ''

Victory The term victory (from ) originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal duel, combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes a strategic vi ...

'' (1928) did not eventuate. Wetherell was the father of actor Ian Colin. In the 1930s, Marmaduke went to

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoology, cryptozoological Loch Ness Mons ...

to look for the

. Wetherell claimed to have found footprints, but when casts of the footprints were sent to scientists for analysis they turned out to be from a hippopotamus; a prankster had used a hippopotamus-foot umbrella stand. As a result, Wetherell was publicly ridiculed by his employer, the ''Daily Mail''. To get revenge on the ''Mail'', Wetherell perpetrated the hoax " surgeon's photograph" of the Loch Ness Monster with his son Ian (who bought the material for the fake and took the photos), son-in-law Christian Spurling (a sculpture specialist), and Maurice Chambers (an insurance agent), taking a picture of a toy submarine made of plastic wood and passing it off as the monster. Chambers gave the photographic plates to

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

Robert Kenneth Wilson, a friend of his who enjoyed "a good practical joke". Wilson had the plates developed and sold the first photo to the ''Daily Mail''; the ''Mail'' would then announce that the monster had been photographed.''The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved'' The photo had been described as a hoax as early as 1975,Book review of Nessie – The Surgeon's Photograph – Exposed
Douglas Chapman. but this was not common knowledge among the general public until 1994.

Selected filmography

Actor * '' The Rose of Rhodesia'' (1918) * '' Isban: Or the Mystery of the Great Zimbabwe'' (1920) * '' The Madcap of the Veld'' (1921) * '' Wee MacGregor's Sweetheart'' (1922) * '' Man and His Kingdom'' (1922) * '' His Wife's Husband'' (1922) * ''

Darkness Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina a ...

'' (1923) * '' Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight'' (1923) * '' Women and Diamonds'' (1924) Director * '' Livingstone'' (1925) * ''

'' (1927) * '' The Somme'' (1927) * ''

'' (1928) * '' A Moorland Tragedy'' (1933) * '' Hearts of Oak'' (1933) * ''

Wanderlust Wanderlust is a strong desire to wander or travel and explore the world. The term has its roots in German Romanticism. Etymology The first documented use of the term in English occurred in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a chara ...

'' (1933) * ''

Safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

'' (1937) Producer * '' Roses of Picardy'' (1927)

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film, 1918–1929''. George Allen & Unwin, 1971.

References

External links

* *Marmaduke Wetherell on Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance (ESAT) https://esat.sun.ac.za/index.php/M.A._Wetherell {{DEFAULTSORT:Wetherell, Marmaduke Arundel 1883 births 1939 deaths British male film actors British film producers British film directors Hoaxers South African male film actors South African film producers South African film directors 20th-century British male actors Male actors from Cornwall