Person    | Male  Born 15/1/1893  Died 6/3/1951

Ivor Novello

Categories: Cinema, Music / songs, Theatre

Countries: Wales

Composer, singer and actor-manager. Born David Ivor Davies in Cardiff. Wrote 'Keep the Home Fires Burning', a big success in WW1. Appeared in over 20 movies. Worked at Gainsborough Film Studios. Briefly a writer in Hollywood where he wrote the dialogue for the 1932 'Tarzan the Ape Man' (the oft-misquoted "me Tarzan, you Jane"). An extremely good-looking gay man. Rumours are that even Winston Churchill could not resist his charms.

WW2 saw him in prison for misusing petrol coupons, where he met Mad Frankie Fraser. In 1913 he moved to the flat at 11 Aldwych, above the Strand Theatre, where he died. In 2005 the Strand Theatre was renamed the Novello Theatre. Played by Jeremy Northam in the 2001 film 'Gosforth Park'. Not part of the Novello family.

The Centre for International Film Research (CIFR) at the University of Southampton have an interesting post by Michael Williams about Novello in London. 

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Ivor Novello

Commemorated ati

Gainsborough Film Studios

Hackney owns up: "The plaque states that 'The Wicked Lady' was filmed at Gain...

Read More

Ivor Novello

Greater London Council Ivor Novello, 1893 - 1951, composer and actor manager...

Read More

Other Subjects

Crown Film Unit

Crown Film Unit

Formerly the G.P.O. Film Unit, it was an organisation within the British Government's Ministry of Information during World War II. Its remit was to make films for the general public in Britain and ...

Group, Cinema

1 memorial
Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

Detective novelist and playwright.  Born in Torquay, into a well-off family, where a bust has been erected, as Agatha Miller.  Married Archie Christie in 1914.  In WW1 she trained and worked in a p...

Person, Cinema, Literature, Seriously Famous, TV & Radio

5 memorials
Celia Johnson

Celia Johnson

Actor. Born Celia Elizabeth Johnson at 46 Richmond Hill, Richmond, Surrey. Best known for her performance with Trevor Howard in the 1945 film 'Brief Encounter'; which, although it has been parodied...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous, Theatre, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Lumière Cinématographe

Lumière Cinématographe

The Lumière Cinématographe was a machine for projecting moving pictures, invented in France by Antoine Lumière and his sons, Louis and Auguste.  

Media, Cinema, France

1 memorial