Tod Slaughter
Encyclopedia
Tod Slaughter was an English
actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre
film adaptations of Victorian
melodrama
s.
, the eldest surviving son of 12 children, he made his way onto the stage in 1905 at West Hartlepool
. In 1913, he became a leasee of the Hippodrome
theatres at Richmond and Croydon. After a brief interruption to serve during World War I
in the Royal Flying Corps
, Slaughter resumed his career and returned to the stage.
. After the war, he ran the Theatre Royal, Chatham before taking over the Elephant and Castle
Theatre in South London
for a memorable few years from 1924 onwards that have since passed into British theatrical legend. Slaughter's company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas such as Maria Marten, Sweeney Todd
, Jack Sheppard
and The Silver King
to enthusiastic audiences—not just locals but also sophisticated theatregoers from the West End
who might have initially come for a cheap laugh but ended up enthralled by the power of the fare on offer. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas
pantomime where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition. Despite a local protest, the Elephant and Castle Theatre was closed down in 1927, Slaughter's company vacating it several months before the end. It was in 1925 that he adopted the stage name 'Tod Slaughter', but his primary roles were still character and heroic leads—not the evildoers. He played the young hero in The Face at the Window
, the poacher Tom Robinson
in "It's Never Too Late To Mend
", and the village idiot Tim Winterbottom in Maria Martin
. He also played the title character in Sherlock Holmes
and D'Artagnan
in The Three Musketeers
. Silent
footage exists of Slaughter acting on stage at the Elephant and Castle in the military melodrama "The Flag Lieutenant" in a documentary entitled "London After Dark". It is available on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi2tTPPUNL0#. It is said he briefly retired from acting to become a chicken farmer at the start of the 1930s, but it proved a short-lived venture and he was soon back managing his company touring the provinces and outlying London theatres with a repertoire of Victorian melodramas.
He finally found his true calling when, in 1931 at the New Theatre, London, he played Long John Silver
in Treasure Island
during the day and the body snatcher William Hare in The Crimes Of Burke And Hare at night. Publicised as 'Mr Murder', he lapped up his new-found notoriety by boasting he committed 15 murders each day for the duration of the run. Shortly afterwards, he played Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the first of 2,000 times on stage. Actor and role had found each other much in the same way as Bela Lugosi
and Dracula
and the seal was set on Slaughter's subsequent career.
(1935
) a Victorian melodrama filmed cheaply with Slaughter as the obvious bad-guy. Slaughter’s next film role was as Sweeney Todd
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), directed and produced by George King
, whose partnership with Slaughter was continued in the subsequent shockers: The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
(1936); It's Never Too Late To Mend
(1937); The Ticket of Leave Man
(1938); The Face at the Window
(1939) and Crimes at the Dark House
(1940).
There were, however, some non-melodramatic roles in his career. He was a supporting player in The Song of the Road (1937) and Darby and Joan
(1937). In Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
(1938), he played the head of an international gang of super-villains.
Slaughter was busy on stage during World War II, performing Jack the Ripper
, Landru
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also one-act sketches such as The Touch of a Child.
After the war, Slaughter resumed melodramatic roles and starred in The Curse of the Wraydons
(1946), in which he played the legendary Victorian bogeyman Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Greed of William Hart
(1948) based on the murderous career of Burke and Hare. These were produced by Ambassador films at Bushey studios, who had made a healthy profit rereleasing Tod's 1930s films during the war years.
(1952) and Murder at Scotland Yard
(1953) and he was still regularly touring the provinces and London suburbs. However, the public's appetite for melodrama seemed to have abated somewhat by this stage and he went bankrupt in 1953 owing to a downturn in his touring income. He continued to act in stage productions, however, such as Molière's The Gay Invalid opposite future horror star Peter Cushing
, and acting as the Master of Ceremonies at an evening of old-fashioned music hall.
His last two films were each three episodes of the television series Inspector Morley cobbled together for theatrical release. A version of Spring-heeled Jack starring Tod was one of the first live TV plays mounted by the BBC after the war.
Still performing on the stage almost to the very end, Slaughter died of coronary thrombosis. After his death following a performance of Maria Marten in Derby, his work slipped almost completely into obscurity. He was survived by his actress wife Jenny Lynn.
and Hammer Horrors.
actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre
film adaptations of Victorian
melodrama
s.
, the eldest surviving son of 12 children, he made his way onto the stage in 1905 at West Hartlepool
. In 1913, he became a leasee of the Hippodrome
theatres at Richmond and Croydon. After a brief interruption to serve during World War I
in the Royal Flying Corps
, Slaughter resumed his career and returned to the stage.
. After the war, he ran the Theatre Royal, Chatham before taking over the Elephant and Castle
Theatre in South London
for a memorable few years from 1924 onwards that have since passed into British theatrical legend. Slaughter's company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas such as Maria Marten, Sweeney Todd
, Jack Sheppard
and The Silver King
to enthusiastic audiences—not just locals but also sophisticated theatregoers from the West End
who might have initially come for a cheap laugh but ended up enthralled by the power of the fare on offer. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas
pantomime where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition. Despite a local protest, the Elephant and Castle Theatre was closed down in 1927, Slaughter's company vacating it several months before the end. It was in 1925 that he adopted the stage name 'Tod Slaughter', but his primary roles were still character and heroic leads—not the evildoers. He played the young hero in The Face at the Window
, the poacher Tom Robinson
in "It's Never Too Late To Mend
", and the village idiot Tim Winterbottom in Maria Martin
. He also played the title character in Sherlock Holmes
and D'Artagnan
in The Three Musketeers
. Silent
footage exists of Slaughter acting on stage at the Elephant and Castle in the military melodrama "The Flag Lieutenant" in a documentary entitled "London After Dark". It is available on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi2tTPPUNL0#. It is said he briefly retired from acting to become a chicken farmer at the start of the 1930s, but it proved a short-lived venture and he was soon back managing his company touring the provinces and outlying London theatres with a repertoire of Victorian melodramas.
He finally found his true calling when, in 1931 at the New Theatre, London, he played Long John Silver
in Treasure Island
during the day and the body snatcher William Hare in The Crimes Of Burke And Hare at night. Publicised as 'Mr Murder', he lapped up his new-found notoriety by boasting he committed 15 murders each day for the duration of the run. Shortly afterwards, he played Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the first of 2,000 times on stage. Actor and role had found each other much in the same way as Bela Lugosi
and Dracula
and the seal was set on Slaughter's subsequent career.
(1935
) a Victorian melodrama filmed cheaply with Slaughter as the obvious bad-guy. Slaughter’s next film role was as Sweeney Todd
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), directed and produced by George King
, whose partnership with Slaughter was continued in the subsequent shockers: The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
(1936); It's Never Too Late To Mend
(1937); The Ticket of Leave Man
(1938); The Face at the Window
(1939) and Crimes at the Dark House
(1940).
There were, however, some non-melodramatic roles in his career. He was a supporting player in The Song of the Road (1937) and Darby and Joan
(1937). In Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
(1938), he played the head of an international gang of super-villains.
Slaughter was busy on stage during World War II, performing Jack the Ripper
, Landru
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also one-act sketches such as The Touch of a Child.
After the war, Slaughter resumed melodramatic roles and starred in The Curse of the Wraydons
(1946), in which he played the legendary Victorian bogeyman Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Greed of William Hart
(1948) based on the murderous career of Burke and Hare. These were produced by Ambassador films at Bushey studios, who had made a healthy profit rereleasing Tod's 1930s films during the war years.
(1952) and Murder at Scotland Yard
(1953) and he was still regularly touring the provinces and London suburbs. However, the public's appetite for melodrama seemed to have abated somewhat by this stage and he went bankrupt in 1953 owing to a downturn in his touring income. He continued to act in stage productions, however, such as Molière's The Gay Invalid opposite future horror star Peter Cushing
, and acting as the Master of Ceremonies at an evening of old-fashioned music hall.
His last two films were each three episodes of the television series Inspector Morley cobbled together for theatrical release. A version of Spring-heeled Jack starring Tod was one of the first live TV plays mounted by the BBC after the war.
Still performing on the stage almost to the very end, Slaughter died of coronary thrombosis. After his death following a performance of Maria Marten in Derby, his work slipped almost completely into obscurity. He was survived by his actress wife Jenny Lynn.
and Hammer Horrors.
actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre
film adaptations of Victorian
melodrama
s.
, the eldest surviving son of 12 children, he made his way onto the stage in 1905 at West Hartlepool
. In 1913, he became a leasee of the Hippodrome
theatres at Richmond and Croydon. After a brief interruption to serve during World War I
in the Royal Flying Corps
, Slaughter resumed his career and returned to the stage.
. After the war, he ran the Theatre Royal, Chatham before taking over the Elephant and Castle
Theatre in South London
for a memorable few years from 1924 onwards that have since passed into British theatrical legend. Slaughter's company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas such as Maria Marten, Sweeney Todd
, Jack Sheppard
and The Silver King
to enthusiastic audiences—not just locals but also sophisticated theatregoers from the West End
who might have initially come for a cheap laugh but ended up enthralled by the power of the fare on offer. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas
pantomime where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition. Despite a local protest, the Elephant and Castle Theatre was closed down in 1927, Slaughter's company vacating it several months before the end. It was in 1925 that he adopted the stage name 'Tod Slaughter', but his primary roles were still character and heroic leads—not the evildoers. He played the young hero in The Face at the Window
, the poacher Tom Robinson
in "It's Never Too Late To Mend
", and the village idiot Tim Winterbottom in Maria Martin
. He also played the title character in Sherlock Holmes
and D'Artagnan
in The Three Musketeers
. Silent
footage exists of Slaughter acting on stage at the Elephant and Castle in the military melodrama "The Flag Lieutenant" in a documentary entitled "London After Dark". It is available on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi2tTPPUNL0#. It is said he briefly retired from acting to become a chicken farmer at the start of the 1930s, but it proved a short-lived venture and he was soon back managing his company touring the provinces and outlying London theatres with a repertoire of Victorian melodramas.
He finally found his true calling when, in 1931 at the New Theatre, London, he played Long John Silver
in Treasure Island
during the day and the body snatcher William Hare in The Crimes Of Burke And Hare at night. Publicised as 'Mr Murder', he lapped up his new-found notoriety by boasting he committed 15 murders each day for the duration of the run. Shortly afterwards, he played Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the first of 2,000 times on stage. Actor and role had found each other much in the same way as Bela Lugosi
and Dracula
and the seal was set on Slaughter's subsequent career.
(1935
) a Victorian melodrama filmed cheaply with Slaughter as the obvious bad-guy. Slaughter’s next film role was as Sweeney Todd
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), directed and produced by George King
, whose partnership with Slaughter was continued in the subsequent shockers: The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
(1936); It's Never Too Late To Mend
(1937); The Ticket of Leave Man
(1938); The Face at the Window
(1939) and Crimes at the Dark House
(1940).
There were, however, some non-melodramatic roles in his career. He was a supporting player in The Song of the Road (1937) and Darby and Joan
(1937). In Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
(1938), he played the head of an international gang of super-villains.
Slaughter was busy on stage during World War II, performing Jack the Ripper
, Landru
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also one-act sketches such as The Touch of a Child.
After the war, Slaughter resumed melodramatic roles and starred in The Curse of the Wraydons
(1946), in which he played the legendary Victorian bogeyman Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Greed of William Hart
(1948) based on the murderous career of Burke and Hare. These were produced by Ambassador films at Bushey studios, who had made a healthy profit rereleasing Tod's 1930s films during the war years.
(1952) and Murder at Scotland Yard
(1953) and he was still regularly touring the provinces and London suburbs. However, the public's appetite for melodrama seemed to have abated somewhat by this stage and he went bankrupt in 1953 owing to a downturn in his touring income. He continued to act in stage productions, however, such as Molière's The Gay Invalid opposite future horror star Peter Cushing
, and acting as the Master of Ceremonies at an evening of old-fashioned music hall.
His last two films were each three episodes of the television series Inspector Morley cobbled together for theatrical release. A version of Spring-heeled Jack starring Tod was one of the first live TV plays mounted by the BBC after the war.
Still performing on the stage almost to the very end, Slaughter died of coronary thrombosis. After his death following a performance of Maria Marten in Derby, his work slipped almost completely into obscurity. He was survived by his actress wife Jenny Lynn.
and Hammer Horrors.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
film adaptations of Victorian
Victorian literature
Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria . It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century....
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s.
Ealy life
Born as Norman Carter Slaughter in Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, the eldest surviving son of 12 children, he made his way onto the stage in 1905 at West Hartlepool
West Hartlepool
This article refers to the place; for the Rugby Football Club see West Hartlepool R.F.C.West Hartlepool refers to the western part of the what has since the 1960s been known as the borough of Hartlepool in North East England...
. In 1913, he became a leasee of the Hippodrome
Hippodrome
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words "hippos and "dromos"...
theatres at Richmond and Croydon. After a brief interruption to serve during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
, Slaughter resumed his career and returned to the stage.
Stage success
During this period, his stage name was N. Carter Slaughter and he primarily played the conventional leading man or character roles—seldom the villainVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
. After the war, he ran the Theatre Royal, Chatham before taking over the Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
Theatre in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
for a memorable few years from 1924 onwards that have since passed into British theatrical legend. Slaughter's company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas such as Maria Marten, Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
, Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard was a notorious English robber, burglar and thief of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in 1723, with little more than a year of his training to complete...
and The Silver King
The Silver King (play)
The Silver King is an 1882 melodramatic play, by Henry Arthur Jones and Henry Herman....
to enthusiastic audiences—not just locals but also sophisticated theatregoers from the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
who might have initially come for a cheap laugh but ended up enthralled by the power of the fare on offer. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
pantomime where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition. Despite a local protest, the Elephant and Castle Theatre was closed down in 1927, Slaughter's company vacating it several months before the end. It was in 1925 that he adopted the stage name 'Tod Slaughter', but his primary roles were still character and heroic leads—not the evildoers. He played the young hero in The Face at the Window
The Face at the Window (1897 play)
The Face at the Window is a melodramatic detective play written by F. Brooke Warren and first produced in 1897. Set in Paris, its villain is a serial killer named Le Loup, who precedes his killings with a loud wolf-howl. He is pursued by the master detective Paul Gouffet...
, the poacher Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...
in "It's Never Too Late To Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges...
", and the village idiot Tim Winterbottom in Maria Martin
Maria Martin
Maria Martin Bachman of Charleston, South Carolina, USA, was a watercolor painter who provided many of the background paintings for John James Audubon on Birds of America and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America . The U.S...
. He also played the title character in Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and D'Artagnan
D'Artagnan
Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of...
in The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
. Silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
footage exists of Slaughter acting on stage at the Elephant and Castle in the military melodrama "The Flag Lieutenant" in a documentary entitled "London After Dark". It is available on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi2tTPPUNL0#. It is said he briefly retired from acting to become a chicken farmer at the start of the 1930s, but it proved a short-lived venture and he was soon back managing his company touring the provinces and outlying London theatres with a repertoire of Victorian melodramas.
He finally found his true calling when, in 1931 at the New Theatre, London, he played Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
in Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
during the day and the body snatcher William Hare in The Crimes Of Burke And Hare at night. Publicised as 'Mr Murder', he lapped up his new-found notoriety by boasting he committed 15 murders each day for the duration of the run. Shortly afterwards, he played Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the first of 2,000 times on stage. Actor and role had found each other much in the same way as Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
and Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
and the seal was set on Slaughter's subsequent career.
Film career
In 1934 at age 49, he began in motion pictures. Usually cast as a villain, his first film was Maria Marten or Murder in the Red BarnMaria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn
Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn is a 1935 British film melodrama film starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. It was directed by Milton Rosmer, whose most famous film was the English-language version of Emil and the Detectives that same year. It is based on the true story of the 1827...
(1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
) a Victorian melodrama filmed cheaply with Slaughter as the obvious bad-guy. Slaughter’s next film role was as Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), directed and produced by George King
George King (film director)
George King was an English actors' agent, film director, producer and screenplay writer. He helmed several of Tod Slaughter's melodramas, including 1936's The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.-Career:...
, whose partnership with Slaughter was continued in the subsequent shockers: The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke is a British period film melodrama directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter as the nefarious Stephen Hawke - who masquerades as the 'Spine-Breaker'. It also features Marjorie Taylor, D. J. Williams and Eric Portman.This is the third of Tod Slaughter's film...
(1936); It's Never Too Late To Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges...
(1937); The Ticket of Leave Man
The Ticket of Leave Man
The Ticket of Leave Man is a 1937 British thriller film directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter, John Warwick and Marjorie Taylor.- Plot summary :A man is wrongly accused of a series of killings, leaving him to hunt the real murderer....
(1938); The Face at the Window
The Face at the Window (1939 film)
The Face at the Window is a 1939 British film directed by George King.- Cast :*Tod Slaughter*Marjorie Taylor*John Warwick*Leonard Henry*Aubrey Mallalieu*Robert Adair*Wallace Evennett*Kay Lewis*Bill Shine*Margaret Yarde*Harry Terry*George King...
(1939) and Crimes at the Dark House
Crimes at the Dark House
Crimes at the Dark House is a British film directed by George King starring Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves. It is loosely based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.-Plot summary:...
(1940).
There were, however, some non-melodramatic roles in his career. He was a supporting player in The Song of the Road (1937) and Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan is a proverbial phrase for a married couple content to live a quiet shared life.-Usage:The Nuttall Encyclopædia defined the phrase as "a married couple celebrated for their mutual attachment", the Random House Dictionary as "a happily married couple who lead a placid, uneventful...
(1937). In Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror is a 1938 British crime film directed by George King and starring George Curzon, Tod Slaughter and Greta Gynt.- Plot summary :...
(1938), he played the head of an international gang of super-villains.
Slaughter was busy on stage during World War II, performing Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
, Landru
Landru
Landru is a 1963 French motion picture drama directed by Claude Chabrol. The screenplay was written by Françoise Sagan...
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also one-act sketches such as The Touch of a Child.
After the war, Slaughter resumed melodramatic roles and starred in The Curse of the Wraydons
The Curse of the Wraydons
The Curse of the Wraydons is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton and Henry Caine. It was based on the play Spring-Heeled Jack by Maurice Sandoz...
(1946), in which he played the legendary Victorian bogeyman Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Greed of William Hart
The Greed of William Hart
The Greed of William Hart is a 1948 British crime film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Jenny Lynn and Winifred Melville...
(1948) based on the murderous career of Burke and Hare. These were produced by Ambassador films at Bushey studios, who had made a healthy profit rereleasing Tod's 1930s films during the war years.
Later years
During the early 1950s, Slaughter appeared as the villain in two crime films King of the UnderworldKing of the Underworld
King of the Underworld is a 1952 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. A master criminal is hunted by the police after committing a series of crimes. It was followed by a sequel Murder at Scotland Yard...
(1952) and Murder at Scotland Yard
Murder at Scotland Yard
Murder at Scotland Yard is 1953 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. It is a sequel to the 1952 film King of the Underworld and depicts the continuing battle between the master criminal Terence Reilly and Inspector Morley of...
(1953) and he was still regularly touring the provinces and London suburbs. However, the public's appetite for melodrama seemed to have abated somewhat by this stage and he went bankrupt in 1953 owing to a downturn in his touring income. He continued to act in stage productions, however, such as Molière's The Gay Invalid opposite future horror star Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
, and acting as the Master of Ceremonies at an evening of old-fashioned music hall.
His last two films were each three episodes of the television series Inspector Morley cobbled together for theatrical release. A version of Spring-heeled Jack starring Tod was one of the first live TV plays mounted by the BBC after the war.
Still performing on the stage almost to the very end, Slaughter died of coronary thrombosis. After his death following a performance of Maria Marten in Derby, his work slipped almost completely into obscurity. He was survived by his actress wife Jenny Lynn.
Critical revival
Film historians have revived interest in Slaughter's cycle of melodramatic films, placing them in a tradition of "cinema of excess" which also includes the Gainsborough MelodramasGainsborough melodramas
The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures during the 1940s which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes and frequently recurring actors...
and Hammer Horrors.
Filmography
Tod Slaughter (19 March 1885 – 19 February 1956) was an EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
film adaptations of Victorian
Victorian literature
Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria . It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century....
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s.
Ealy life
Born as Norman Carter Slaughter in Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, the eldest surviving son of 12 children, he made his way onto the stage in 1905 at West Hartlepool
West Hartlepool
This article refers to the place; for the Rugby Football Club see West Hartlepool R.F.C.West Hartlepool refers to the western part of the what has since the 1960s been known as the borough of Hartlepool in North East England...
. In 1913, he became a leasee of the Hippodrome
Hippodrome
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words "hippos and "dromos"...
theatres at Richmond and Croydon. After a brief interruption to serve during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
, Slaughter resumed his career and returned to the stage.
Stage success
During this period, his stage name was N. Carter Slaughter and he primarily played the conventional leading man or character roles—seldom the villainVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
. After the war, he ran the Theatre Royal, Chatham before taking over the Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
Theatre in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
for a memorable few years from 1924 onwards that have since passed into British theatrical legend. Slaughter's company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas such as Maria Marten, Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
, Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard was a notorious English robber, burglar and thief of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in 1723, with little more than a year of his training to complete...
and The Silver King
The Silver King (play)
The Silver King is an 1882 melodramatic play, by Henry Arthur Jones and Henry Herman....
to enthusiastic audiences—not just locals but also sophisticated theatregoers from the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
who might have initially come for a cheap laugh but ended up enthralled by the power of the fare on offer. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
pantomime where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition. Despite a local protest, the Elephant and Castle Theatre was closed down in 1927, Slaughter's company vacating it several months before the end. It was in 1925 that he adopted the stage name 'Tod Slaughter', but his primary roles were still character and heroic leads—not the evildoers. He played the young hero in The Face at the Window
The Face at the Window (1897 play)
The Face at the Window is a melodramatic detective play written by F. Brooke Warren and first produced in 1897. Set in Paris, its villain is a serial killer named Le Loup, who precedes his killings with a loud wolf-howl. He is pursued by the master detective Paul Gouffet...
, the poacher Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...
in "It's Never Too Late To Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges...
", and the village idiot Tim Winterbottom in Maria Martin
Maria Martin
Maria Martin Bachman of Charleston, South Carolina, USA, was a watercolor painter who provided many of the background paintings for John James Audubon on Birds of America and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America . The U.S...
. He also played the title character in Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and D'Artagnan
D'Artagnan
Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of...
in The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
. Silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
footage exists of Slaughter acting on stage at the Elephant and Castle in the military melodrama "The Flag Lieutenant" in a documentary entitled "London After Dark". It is available on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi2tTPPUNL0#. It is said he briefly retired from acting to become a chicken farmer at the start of the 1930s, but it proved a short-lived venture and he was soon back managing his company touring the provinces and outlying London theatres with a repertoire of Victorian melodramas.
He finally found his true calling when, in 1931 at the New Theatre, London, he played Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
in Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
during the day and the body snatcher William Hare in The Crimes Of Burke And Hare at night. Publicised as 'Mr Murder', he lapped up his new-found notoriety by boasting he committed 15 murders each day for the duration of the run. Shortly afterwards, he played Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the first of 2,000 times on stage. Actor and role had found each other much in the same way as Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
and Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
and the seal was set on Slaughter's subsequent career.
Film career
In 1934 at age 49, he began in motion pictures. Usually cast as a villain, his first film was Maria Marten or Murder in the Red BarnMaria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn
Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn is a 1935 British film melodrama film starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. It was directed by Milton Rosmer, whose most famous film was the English-language version of Emil and the Detectives that same year. It is based on the true story of the 1827...
(1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
) a Victorian melodrama filmed cheaply with Slaughter as the obvious bad-guy. Slaughter’s next film role was as Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), directed and produced by George King
George King (film director)
George King was an English actors' agent, film director, producer and screenplay writer. He helmed several of Tod Slaughter's melodramas, including 1936's The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.-Career:...
, whose partnership with Slaughter was continued in the subsequent shockers: The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke is a British period film melodrama directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter as the nefarious Stephen Hawke - who masquerades as the 'Spine-Breaker'. It also features Marjorie Taylor, D. J. Williams and Eric Portman.This is the third of Tod Slaughter's film...
(1936); It's Never Too Late To Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges...
(1937); The Ticket of Leave Man
The Ticket of Leave Man
The Ticket of Leave Man is a 1937 British thriller film directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter, John Warwick and Marjorie Taylor.- Plot summary :A man is wrongly accused of a series of killings, leaving him to hunt the real murderer....
(1938); The Face at the Window
The Face at the Window (1939 film)
The Face at the Window is a 1939 British film directed by George King.- Cast :*Tod Slaughter*Marjorie Taylor*John Warwick*Leonard Henry*Aubrey Mallalieu*Robert Adair*Wallace Evennett*Kay Lewis*Bill Shine*Margaret Yarde*Harry Terry*George King...
(1939) and Crimes at the Dark House
Crimes at the Dark House
Crimes at the Dark House is a British film directed by George King starring Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves. It is loosely based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.-Plot summary:...
(1940).
There were, however, some non-melodramatic roles in his career. He was a supporting player in The Song of the Road (1937) and Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan is a proverbial phrase for a married couple content to live a quiet shared life.-Usage:The Nuttall Encyclopædia defined the phrase as "a married couple celebrated for their mutual attachment", the Random House Dictionary as "a happily married couple who lead a placid, uneventful...
(1937). In Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror is a 1938 British crime film directed by George King and starring George Curzon, Tod Slaughter and Greta Gynt.- Plot summary :...
(1938), he played the head of an international gang of super-villains.
Slaughter was busy on stage during World War II, performing Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
, Landru
Landru
Landru is a 1963 French motion picture drama directed by Claude Chabrol. The screenplay was written by Françoise Sagan...
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also one-act sketches such as The Touch of a Child.
After the war, Slaughter resumed melodramatic roles and starred in The Curse of the Wraydons
The Curse of the Wraydons
The Curse of the Wraydons is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton and Henry Caine. It was based on the play Spring-Heeled Jack by Maurice Sandoz...
(1946), in which he played the legendary Victorian bogeyman Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Greed of William Hart
The Greed of William Hart
The Greed of William Hart is a 1948 British crime film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Jenny Lynn and Winifred Melville...
(1948) based on the murderous career of Burke and Hare. These were produced by Ambassador films at Bushey studios, who had made a healthy profit rereleasing Tod's 1930s films during the war years.
Later years
During the early 1950s, Slaughter appeared as the villain in two crime films King of the UnderworldKing of the Underworld
King of the Underworld is a 1952 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. A master criminal is hunted by the police after committing a series of crimes. It was followed by a sequel Murder at Scotland Yard...
(1952) and Murder at Scotland Yard
Murder at Scotland Yard
Murder at Scotland Yard is 1953 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. It is a sequel to the 1952 film King of the Underworld and depicts the continuing battle between the master criminal Terence Reilly and Inspector Morley of...
(1953) and he was still regularly touring the provinces and London suburbs. However, the public's appetite for melodrama seemed to have abated somewhat by this stage and he went bankrupt in 1953 owing to a downturn in his touring income. He continued to act in stage productions, however, such as Molière's The Gay Invalid opposite future horror star Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
, and acting as the Master of Ceremonies at an evening of old-fashioned music hall.
His last two films were each three episodes of the television series Inspector Morley cobbled together for theatrical release. A version of Spring-heeled Jack starring Tod was one of the first live TV plays mounted by the BBC after the war.
Still performing on the stage almost to the very end, Slaughter died of coronary thrombosis. After his death following a performance of Maria Marten in Derby, his work slipped almost completely into obscurity. He was survived by his actress wife Jenny Lynn.
Critical revival
Film historians have revived interest in Slaughter's cycle of melodramatic films, placing them in a tradition of "cinema of excess" which also includes the Gainsborough MelodramasGainsborough melodramas
The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures during the 1940s which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes and frequently recurring actors...
and Hammer Horrors.
Filmography
Tod Slaughter (19 March 1885 – 19 February 1956) was an EnglishEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor, best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in macabre
Macabre
In works of art, macabre is the quality of having a grim or ghastly atmosphere. Macabre works emphasize the details and symbols of death....
film adaptations of Victorian
Victorian literature
Victorian literature is the literature produced during the reign of Queen Victoria . It forms a link and transition between the writers of the romantic period and the very different literature of the 20th century....
melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...
s.
Ealy life
Born as Norman Carter Slaughter in Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, the eldest surviving son of 12 children, he made his way onto the stage in 1905 at West Hartlepool
West Hartlepool
This article refers to the place; for the Rugby Football Club see West Hartlepool R.F.C.West Hartlepool refers to the western part of the what has since the 1960s been known as the borough of Hartlepool in North East England...
. In 1913, he became a leasee of the Hippodrome
Hippodrome
A hippodrome was a Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words "hippos and "dromos"...
theatres at Richmond and Croydon. After a brief interruption to serve during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in the Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
, Slaughter resumed his career and returned to the stage.
Stage success
During this period, his stage name was N. Carter Slaughter and he primarily played the conventional leading man or character roles—seldom the villainVillain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
. After the war, he ran the Theatre Royal, Chatham before taking over the Elephant and Castle
Elephant and Castle
The Elephant and Castle is a major road intersection in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is also used as a name for the surrounding area....
Theatre in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
for a memorable few years from 1924 onwards that have since passed into British theatrical legend. Slaughter's company revived Victorian "blood-and-thunder" melodramas such as Maria Marten, Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
, Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard
Jack Sheppard was a notorious English robber, burglar and thief of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in 1723, with little more than a year of his training to complete...
and The Silver King
The Silver King (play)
The Silver King is an 1882 melodramatic play, by Henry Arthur Jones and Henry Herman....
to enthusiastic audiences—not just locals but also sophisticated theatregoers from the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
who might have initially come for a cheap laugh but ended up enthralled by the power of the fare on offer. Slaughter also staged other types of production such as the annual Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
pantomime where he would cast prominent local personalities in bit-parts for audience recognition. Despite a local protest, the Elephant and Castle Theatre was closed down in 1927, Slaughter's company vacating it several months before the end. It was in 1925 that he adopted the stage name 'Tod Slaughter', but his primary roles were still character and heroic leads—not the evildoers. He played the young hero in The Face at the Window
The Face at the Window (1897 play)
The Face at the Window is a melodramatic detective play written by F. Brooke Warren and first produced in 1897. Set in Paris, its villain is a serial killer named Le Loup, who precedes his killings with a loud wolf-howl. He is pursued by the master detective Paul Gouffet...
, the poacher Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is an English singer-songwriter, bassist and radio presenter, better known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson Band...
in "It's Never Too Late To Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges...
", and the village idiot Tim Winterbottom in Maria Martin
Maria Martin
Maria Martin Bachman of Charleston, South Carolina, USA, was a watercolor painter who provided many of the background paintings for John James Audubon on Birds of America and Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America . The U.S...
. He also played the title character in Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and D'Artagnan
D'Artagnan
Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of...
in The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard...
. Silent
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
footage exists of Slaughter acting on stage at the Elephant and Castle in the military melodrama "The Flag Lieutenant" in a documentary entitled "London After Dark". It is available on YOUTUBE at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi2tTPPUNL0#. It is said he briefly retired from acting to become a chicken farmer at the start of the 1930s, but it proved a short-lived venture and he was soon back managing his company touring the provinces and outlying London theatres with a repertoire of Victorian melodramas.
He finally found his true calling when, in 1931 at the New Theatre, London, he played Long John Silver
Long John Silver
Long John Silver is a fictional character and the primary antagonist of the novel Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Silver is also known by the nicknames "Barbecue" and the "Sea-Cook".- Profile :...
in Treasure Island
Treasure Island
Treasure Island is an adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, narrating a tale of "pirates and buried gold". First published as a book on May 23, 1883, it was originally serialized in the children's magazine Young Folks between 1881–82 under the title Treasure Island; or, the...
during the day and the body snatcher William Hare in The Crimes Of Burke And Hare at night. Publicised as 'Mr Murder', he lapped up his new-found notoriety by boasting he committed 15 murders each day for the duration of the run. Shortly afterwards, he played Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street for the first of 2,000 times on stage. Actor and role had found each other much in the same way as Bela Lugosi
Béla Lugosi
Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó , commonly known as Bela Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for having played Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as having starred in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his...
and Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
and the seal was set on Slaughter's subsequent career.
Film career
In 1934 at age 49, he began in motion pictures. Usually cast as a villain, his first film was Maria Marten or Murder in the Red BarnMaria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn
Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn is a 1935 British film melodrama film starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. It was directed by Milton Rosmer, whose most famous film was the English-language version of Emil and the Detectives that same year. It is based on the true story of the 1827...
(1935
1935 in film
-Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:...
) a Victorian melodrama filmed cheaply with Slaughter as the obvious bad-guy. Slaughter’s next film role was as Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as then antagonist of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls and he was later introduced as an antihero in the broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its film adaptation...
in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1936), directed and produced by George King
George King (film director)
George King was an English actors' agent, film director, producer and screenplay writer. He helmed several of Tod Slaughter's melodramas, including 1936's The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.-Career:...
, whose partnership with Slaughter was continued in the subsequent shockers: The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke is a British period film melodrama directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter as the nefarious Stephen Hawke - who masquerades as the 'Spine-Breaker'. It also features Marjorie Taylor, D. J. Williams and Eric Portman.This is the third of Tod Slaughter's film...
(1936); It's Never Too Late To Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend
It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges...
(1937); The Ticket of Leave Man
The Ticket of Leave Man
The Ticket of Leave Man is a 1937 British thriller film directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter, John Warwick and Marjorie Taylor.- Plot summary :A man is wrongly accused of a series of killings, leaving him to hunt the real murderer....
(1938); The Face at the Window
The Face at the Window (1939 film)
The Face at the Window is a 1939 British film directed by George King.- Cast :*Tod Slaughter*Marjorie Taylor*John Warwick*Leonard Henry*Aubrey Mallalieu*Robert Adair*Wallace Evennett*Kay Lewis*Bill Shine*Margaret Yarde*Harry Terry*George King...
(1939) and Crimes at the Dark House
Crimes at the Dark House
Crimes at the Dark House is a British film directed by George King starring Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves. It is loosely based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.-Plot summary:...
(1940).
There were, however, some non-melodramatic roles in his career. He was a supporting player in The Song of the Road (1937) and Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan
Darby and Joan is a proverbial phrase for a married couple content to live a quiet shared life.-Usage:The Nuttall Encyclopædia defined the phrase as "a married couple celebrated for their mutual attachment", the Random House Dictionary as "a happily married couple who lead a placid, uneventful...
(1937). In Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror is a 1938 British crime film directed by George King and starring George Curzon, Tod Slaughter and Greta Gynt.- Plot summary :...
(1938), he played the head of an international gang of super-villains.
Slaughter was busy on stage during World War II, performing Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
, Landru
Landru
Landru is a 1963 French motion picture drama directed by Claude Chabrol. The screenplay was written by Françoise Sagan...
and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There were also one-act sketches such as The Touch of a Child.
After the war, Slaughter resumed melodramatic roles and starred in The Curse of the Wraydons
The Curse of the Wraydons
The Curse of the Wraydons is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton and Henry Caine. It was based on the play Spring-Heeled Jack by Maurice Sandoz...
(1946), in which he played the legendary Victorian bogeyman Spring-Heeled Jack, and The Greed of William Hart
The Greed of William Hart
The Greed of William Hart is a 1948 British crime film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Jenny Lynn and Winifred Melville...
(1948) based on the murderous career of Burke and Hare. These were produced by Ambassador films at Bushey studios, who had made a healthy profit rereleasing Tod's 1930s films during the war years.
Later years
During the early 1950s, Slaughter appeared as the villain in two crime films King of the UnderworldKing of the Underworld
King of the Underworld is a 1952 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. A master criminal is hunted by the police after committing a series of crimes. It was followed by a sequel Murder at Scotland Yard...
(1952) and Murder at Scotland Yard
Murder at Scotland Yard
Murder at Scotland Yard is 1953 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. It is a sequel to the 1952 film King of the Underworld and depicts the continuing battle between the master criminal Terence Reilly and Inspector Morley of...
(1953) and he was still regularly touring the provinces and London suburbs. However, the public's appetite for melodrama seemed to have abated somewhat by this stage and he went bankrupt in 1953 owing to a downturn in his touring income. He continued to act in stage productions, however, such as Molière's The Gay Invalid opposite future horror star Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
, and acting as the Master of Ceremonies at an evening of old-fashioned music hall.
His last two films were each three episodes of the television series Inspector Morley cobbled together for theatrical release. A version of Spring-heeled Jack starring Tod was one of the first live TV plays mounted by the BBC after the war.
Still performing on the stage almost to the very end, Slaughter died of coronary thrombosis. After his death following a performance of Maria Marten in Derby, his work slipped almost completely into obscurity. He was survived by his actress wife Jenny Lynn.
Critical revival
Film historians have revived interest in Slaughter's cycle of melodramatic films, placing them in a tradition of "cinema of excess" which also includes the Gainsborough MelodramasGainsborough melodramas
The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures during the 1940s which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes and frequently recurring actors...
and Hammer Horrors.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 1935 in film -Events:*Judy Garland signs a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .*Seven year old Shirley Temple wins a special Academy Award.*The Bantu Educational Kinema Experiment started in order to educate the Bantu peoples.-Top grossing films:-Academy Awards:... |
Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn is a 1935 British film melodrama film starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. It was directed by Milton Rosmer, whose most famous film was the English-language version of Emil and the Detectives that same year. It is based on the true story of the 1827... |
William Corder | |
| 1936 1936 in film The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon... |
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Sweeney Todd | |
| 1936 1936 in film The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon... |
The Crimes of Stephen Hawke The Crimes of Stephen Hawke The Crimes of Stephen Hawke is a British period film melodrama directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter as the nefarious Stephen Hawke - who masquerades as the 'Spine-Breaker'. It also features Marjorie Taylor, D. J. Williams and Eric Portman.This is the third of Tod Slaughter's film... |
Stephen Hawke | |
| 1937 1937 in film The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.... |
Darby and Joan Darby and Joan (1937 film) Darby and Joan is a 1937 British drama film directed by Syd Courtenay and starring Peggy Simpson, Ian Fleming, Tod Slaughter and Mickey Brantford.-Cast:* Peggy Simpson - Joan Templeton* Ian Fleming - Sir Ralph Ferris* Mickey Brantford - Yorke Ferris... |
Mr. Templeton | |
| 1937 1937 in film The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.... |
It's Never Too Late to Mend It's Never Too Late to Mend It's Never Too Late to Mend is a 1937 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring Tod Slaughter, Jack Livesey and Marjorie Taylor. A villanous squire conspires to have his rival in love arrested on false charges... |
Squire John Meadows | |
| 1937 1937 in film The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US.... |
The Song of the Road | Dan Lorenzo | |
| 1938 1938 in film The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,... |
The Ticket of Leave Man The Ticket of Leave Man The Ticket of Leave Man is a 1937 British thriller film directed by George King and starring Tod Slaughter, John Warwick and Marjorie Taylor.- Plot summary :A man is wrongly accused of a series of killings, leaving him to hunt the real murderer.... |
The Tiger | |
| 1938 1938 in film The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,... |
Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror Sexton Blake and the Hooded Terror is a 1938 British crime film directed by George King and starring George Curzon, Tod Slaughter and Greta Gynt.- Plot summary :... |
Michael Larron | |
| 1939 1939 in film The year 1939 in motion pictures can be justified as being called the most outstanding one ever, when it comes to the high quality and high attendance at the large set of the best films that premiered in the year .- Events :Motion picture historians and film often rate... |
The Face at the Window The Face at the Window (1939 film) The Face at the Window is a 1939 British film directed by George King.- Cast :*Tod Slaughter*Marjorie Taylor*John Warwick*Leonard Henry*Aubrey Mallalieu*Robert Adair*Wallace Evennett*Kay Lewis*Bill Shine*Margaret Yarde*Harry Terry*George King... |
Chevalier Lucio del Gardo | |
| 1940 1940 in film The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released.... |
Crimes at the Dark House Crimes at the Dark House Crimes at the Dark House is a British film directed by George King starring Tod Slaughter, Sylvia Marriott and Hilary Eaves. It is loosely based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.-Plot summary:... |
The False Percival Glyde | |
| 1945 1945 in film The year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins.... |
Bothered by a Beard | Sweeney Todd | |
| 1946 1946 in film The year 1946 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*November 21 - William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives premieres in New York featuring an ensemble cast including Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell.*December 20 - Frank Capra's It's a... |
The Curse of the Wraydons The Curse of the Wraydons The Curse of the Wraydons is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton and Henry Caine. It was based on the play Spring-Heeled Jack by Maurice Sandoz... |
Philip Wraydon (The Chief) | |
| 1948 1948 in film The year 1948 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Laurence Olivier's Hamlet becomes the first British film to win the American Academy Award for Best Picture.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :... |
The Greed of William Hart The Greed of William Hart The Greed of William Hart is a 1948 British crime film directed by Oswald Mitchell and starring Tod Slaughter, Henry Oscar, Jenny Lynn and Winifred Melville... |
William Hart | |
| 1952 1952 in film The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.... |
King of the Underworld King of the Underworld King of the Underworld is a 1952 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. A master criminal is hunted by the police after committing a series of crimes. It was followed by a sequel Murder at Scotland Yard... |
Terence Reilly | |
| 1952 1952 in film The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.... |
Murder at Scotland Yard Murder at Scotland Yard Murder at Scotland Yard is 1953 British crime film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Patrick Barr and Tucker McGuire. It is a sequel to the 1952 film King of the Underworld and depicts the continuing battle between the master criminal Terence Reilly and Inspector Morley of... |
Terence Reilly | |
| 1952 1952 in film The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.... |
Murder at the Grange | Patrick Reilly aka Clarence Beacham - posing as butler | |
| 1952 1952 in film The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.... |
A Ghost for Sale | Caretaker | |
| 1954 1954 in film The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda... |
Puzzle Corner No. 14 | Sweeney Todd |
External links
