It was reported in The Times, dated 21th July 2004, on the one-hundred-and-forty-first anniversary of the birth of Sir C. Aubrey Smith, that this distinguished gentleman with the John Bull no-nonsense attitude, had played nine colonels, five generals, and six dukes. No wonder war was war in his day!
Cheers to all on this website. smiley-39.
Was the inspiration for the Commander McBragg character on the "Tennesse Tuxedo and His Tales" (1963) cartoon TV show.
When it comes to humility, I'M THE GREATEST!
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Heck, I was in college in the mid 60's and I also loved Rocky & Bullwinkle, Professor Peabody and Sherman and their wayback machine, George of the Jungle, etc. And I would still watch them at the drop of a hat.
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As far as I know, he is the only film actor ever to have played cricket for England, having captained a test match against South Africa in 1889, when he took a very creditable seven wickets. Of course, later on he was captain of the Hollywood Cricket Team, a side that alas appears no longer to exist.
The best information on his cricket career is available on a Wisden Almanack website, http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/20230.html, which among other things contains these anecdotes:
"In 1937, during shooting of The Prisoner of Zenda, a boat carrying Gubby Allen's Ashes tourists docked for a few days and Smith was beside himself with joy, offering cinematic workshops to a bemused audience of Allen, Hedley Verity and CB Fry. Another guest in Hollywood was Lancashire's Archie MacLaren who arrived during the filming of The Four Feathers. MacLaren was hard up, as usual, and Smith paid his old crony some pin money as an extra. Many watchings of the film have revealed no sign of MacLaren's patrician features and the Lancashire captain may have been consigned to the cutting- room floor."
OK, Wisden seems to think that the Four Feathers was made in Hollywood, but ignore that.
If you're American and reading this, you'll have to find out for yourself who Gubby Allen etcetera were, also what the Ashes are!
i have seen dozens of movies with C. Aubrey Smith from Tarzan the Ape Man to Wee Willie Winkie to Little Women, but it wasn't until i started watching The Four Feathers this evening in the scene at the dinner table where he sets up the war scene with the fruits and nuts on the table that i realized that somewhere in my youth i had seen a cartoon character that was a caricature of Smith, it even sounded just like him. it wasn't until i read this thread that i realized it was Commander McBragg from the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons. when i saw the next scene in The Four Feathers where he re-created the battle scene with the fruits and nuts, i laughed out loud at how accurately he was imitated by the cartoon character. i also remember quite a few Bugs Bunny cartoons that had characters like Charles Laughton, Humphrey Bogart, and Lauren Bacall in them that were drawn and voiced perfectly!
shareTake a look at the Night Gallery episode called "The Doll" from the early 1970s, and you'll see British actor John Williams doing his best C. Aubrey Smith impersonation as a veteran officer during the Victorian era. Great job! (in instalments on Youtube)
shareHe was at his best on this film - they don't make faces like that anymore, indeed!
shareC. Aubrey Smith is the quintessential English Officer/Gentleman.
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