Moultrie Kelsall
| Moultrie Kelsall | |
|---|---|
in Left, Right and Centre (1959)
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| Born |
Moultrie Rowe Kelsall 24 October 1901 Bearsden, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK |
| Died | 12 February 1980 (aged 78) Blair Logie, Scotland, UK |
| Other names | Moultrie R. Kelsall |
| Years active | 1949–1980 |
| Spouse(s) | Ruby Duncan |
Moultrie Rowe Kelsall (24 October 1901, Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland – 12 February 1980, Blair Logie, Scotland) was a Scottish film and television character actor, who began his career in the industry as a radio station director and television producer. He also contributed towards architectural conservation during his lifetime.
Kelsall studied at Glasgow University and began acting with the Scottish National Players before developing his acting career at the Westminster Theatre in London. Towards the end of 1931 he accepted an offer to take over the running of the BBC's Aberdeen radio station 2BD, which had become moribund, and re-invigorated it, putting on-air some of the best programmes in Scottish broadcasting, according to the BBC's then Scottish Regional Director, Melville Dinwiddie.
In 1937 he was transferred to the new BBC television service at Alexandra Palace, adapting a J. M. Barrie one act play, "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals", for release in December of that year. In all, Kelsall produced 19 shows for BBC television, ending in 1939 with The Happy Hangman, a play by Harold Brighouse.
His acting career began in a 1949 film called Landfall, which starred Michael Denison, and recounts the story of a pilot [Denison] who sinks a German U-boat, but which is believed by other officers to be a Royal Navy vessel. (The pilot is vindicated in the end of course !). Kelsall played Lieutenant James, the commander of a coastal defence vessel.
In 1951, a busy year for him, he moved up the cast list to play another lieutenant (Crystal) in the film Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N., which featured Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo as a Royal Naval captain and a titled Lady who become romantically involved whilst at sea in Central America in 1807. The film was adapted by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts from the Hornblower book "Beat To Quarters" by C. S. Forester. In the same year, he appeared as the Constable of France in the BBC TV "Sunday Night Theatre" production of Shakespeare's Henry V.
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