O. P. Heggie | |
---|---|
Born |
Oliver Peters Heggie 17 September 1877 Angaston, South Australia |
Died | 7 February 1936 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
(aged 58)
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1900–36 |
Spouse(s) | Lillian C (1885–1974) 3 children |
Oliver Peters Heggie (17 September 1877 – 7 February 1936), billed as O. P. Heggie, was an Australian film and theatre actor best known for portraying the hermit who befriends the Monster in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein. He was born at Angaston, South Australia to a local sheep farmer. He was educated at Whinham College and the Adelaide Conservatoire of Music. He died in Los Angeles of pneumonia. He is buried at Woodside Cemetery, Yarmouth Port, Barnstable County, Massachusetts.
He appeared in local amateur dramatic companies before leaving his clerk position with the Union Bank, to pursue a career in acting and make his debut in Stolen Kisses in 1899 at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide.
He made his professional debut in A Message from Mars at the Palace, Sydney, in 1900. He later took the part of the messenger in the same play at the Bijou, Melbourne, and in the production that toured Australia and New Zealand under Walter Hawtrey. After appearing in productions of The Three Musketeers, Secret Service and The Christian, he left Australia in 1906 for England and was engaged firstly in a production at Margate on England's south coast, before appearing on the London stage at the Criterion Theatre in a one-acter. He came to the notice of Miss Ellen Terry with his " Pippy" in the Lemonade Boy (October 1906). She hired him in January 1907 for her tour of America with Nance Oldfield (as Alexander Oldworthy) and Captain Brassbound's Conversion (Osman).
His subsequent London stage appearances included the part of Sam in Stingaree at the Queen's Theatre, and in 1909 the part of Henry French in The Strife, which performed matinees at the Duke of York's, and evening performances at the Haymarket. He also appeared as Julius Baker in George Bernard Shaw's Misalliance, as well as in Galworthy's Justice and in Pinero's Trelawny of The Wells. He played Sherlock Holmes in The Speckled Band, a portrayal much admired by Arthur Conan Doyle His cabman in Haddon Chambers' Passers By of 1911 was praised also.