Colin Tapley
| Colin Tapley | |
|---|---|
Tapley as an army officer in the Technicolor film Becky Sharp (1935)
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| Born |
7 May 1907 Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Died | 1 December 1995 (aged 88) Coates, Gloucestershire, England |
| Occupation | actor |
| Years active | 1933–1983 |
| Spouse(s) | Patricia Hambro |
Colin Tapley (7 May 1907 – 1 December 1995) was an actor in both American and British films. Born in New Zealand, he served in the Royal Air Force and an expedition to Antarctica before winning a Paramount Pictures talent contest and moving to Hollywood. He acted in a number of films before moving to Britain during the Second World War as a flight controller with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
He returned briefly to New Zealand before returning once again to Britain to renew his acting career. His most famous role is as William Glanville in The Dam Busters (1955), but he spent much of his later career typecast as a police inspector, a role he played in several films and TV series before retiring to Gloucestershire.
Tapley was born on 7 May 1907 at Dunedin, New Zealand. He took part in the first of Richard Byrd's expeditions to Antarctica before moving to the United Kingdom and joining the Royal Air Force.
In 1933 he entered a talent contest organised by Paramount Pictures and was selected as one of thirty winners and one of only two from New Zealand. The talent quest was organised for English speaking countries and winners were given small parts in a film. The film was called The Search for Beauty. He was rewarded with a contract with Paramount as a bit part actor, was credited in If I Were King (1938) and appeared uncredited in several other films. Tapley had the debonair good looks, voice and talent of a star, but he found his niche in playing character roles, and appeared in American and British films for more than 30 years without any real desire for movie stardom. Colins desire for character parts came early in his Hollywood career. He wrote home enthusiastically to one of his brothers about his small part in The Scarlet Empress (1934), describing the long black beard and wonderful uniform that transformed him into the captain of the queen's bodyguard. Although his performance went uncredited, Tapley is seen directing the firing of the guns from the palace battlements, and yelling, "It's a boy!" to the excited crowd after the future empress played by Marlene Dietrich gives birth to a son". He continued to work in some of the biggest movies of the 1930s, starring the likes of Cary Grant, Loretta Young, Michael Redgrave and Gary Cooper. "The most wonderful experience of my life," is how he later recalled those years "I adored every bit of it."
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