Donald Calthrop

Who was Donald Calthrop?

Donald Calthrop was an English stage and film actor. He starred as the title character in the hit musical The Boy in 1917. He then appeared in 63 films between 1916 and 1940, including five films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

He was born in London and died in Eton, Berkshire from a heart attack while he was filming Major Barbara. According to Ronald Neame in his autobiography, some shots in the final film had a stand-in playing Calthrop and a bit of dialog was recorded using an unnamed person who impersonated Calthrop's voice.

He was the nephew of Dion Boucicault. He was educated at St Paul's School and made his first stage appearance when eighteen years old at the Comedy Theatre, London. His first film was The Gay Lord Quex.