Austin Trevor


Claude Austin Trevor Schilsky was an Irish actor who had a long career in film and television.
He played the parson in John Galsworthy's Escape at the world premiere in London's West End in 1926 and was the only member of the cast to transfer to New York City for the Broadway production a year later. He played Captain August Lutte in Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet during the long first run of the show in the West End from 1929 to 1931. He was the first actor to play Agatha Christie's detective Hercule Poirot on screen in three British films during the early 1930s: Alibi, Black Coffee and Lord Edgware Dies. He subsequently turned up in a character part in a later Poirot adaptation The Alphabet Murders in 1965. He stated that he only got the Poirot role because he could speak with a French accent.
During the 1960s he worked largely in television, appearing in series such as The First Churchills in which he played Lord Halifax. He appeared in an episode of the legal drama The Main Chance.
He died in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk.

Filmography

Film

The W Plan as Captain of Military PoliceAt the Villa Rose as Inspector HanaudEscape as ParsonThe Man from Chicago as Inspector DrewAlibi as Hercule PoirotA Night in Montmartre as Paul deLisleBlack Coffee as Hercule PoirotThe Crooked Lady as Captain James KentThe Chinese Puzzle as Paul MarkatelA Safe Proposition as Count TonelliOn Secret Service as Captain LarcoThe Broken Melody as Pierre FalaiseLord Edgware Dies as Hercule PoirotDeath at Broadcasting House as Leopold DrydenInside the Room as Pierre SantosMimi as LamotteRoyal Cavalcade as Captain OatesThe Silent Passenger as Inspector ParkerParisian Life as Don JoaoLa Vie parisienne as Don Joâo The Beloved Vagabond as Count de VerneuilAs You Like It as Le BeauDusty Ermine as Swiss Hotelier-Gang LeaderRembrandt as MarquisSabotage as Vladimir – Paymaster at Aquarium Knight Without Armour as Dodctor MullerDark Journey as Colonel AdraxineGoodbye, Mr. Chips as RalstonThe Followers as Colonel RedfernThe Lion Has Wings as Schulemburg – German Air Chief of StaffLaw and Disorder as HeinreksNight Train to Munich as Captain PradaUnder Your Hat as Boris VladimirThe Briggs Family as John SmithThe Seventh Survivor as Captain HartzmannThe Big Blockade as German: U-boat CaptainThe Young Mr. Pitt as French Registrar The New Lot as Soldier Talking to Corporal Heaven Is Round the Corner as John CardewChampagne Charlie as The DukeLisbon Story as Major LutzenAnna Karenina as Colonel VronskyThe Red Shoes as Professor PalmerSo Long at the Fair as Police CommissaireFather Brown as HeraldTo Paris with Love as Leon de ColvilleTons of Trouble as Sir Hervey ShawSeven Waves Away as Edward WiltonDangerous Exile as Monsieur PetitvalThe Naked Truth as Minister with Heart Attack Carlton-Browne of the F.O. as Secretary General Horrors of the Black Museum as Commissioner WayneKonga as Dean FosterThe Day the Earth Caught Fire as Sir John KellyThe Court Martial of Major Keller as PowerNever Back Losers as Colonel WarburtonThe Alphabet Murders as Judson

Television

Quatermass II as FowlerWhack-O! as Various rolesOverseas Press Club – Exclusive! as Camp CommandantFair Game as Captain CramnerEast End, West End as Unknown rolePrivate Investigator as Sir Julian WaiteBoyd Q.C. as Brigadier BoydDixon of Dock Green as Various rolesCharlesworth as Lakington/LaporteHancock's Half Hour as JudgeThe Third Man as BeaucaldThe Invisible Man as Hugo The Charlie Drake Show as Various rolesSomerset Maugham Hour as Hon. Charles PellingKnight Errant Limited as Francis FroudeInterpol Calling as Dr. MartinYorky as Mr PlayfordNo Hiding Place as Silves/Sir Dudley ConistonThe Escape of R.D.7 as Sir Charles Delman Frontier Drums as Lord MulgraveSpy-Catcher as Van der HumTop Secret as ManaletoThe Count of Monte Cristo as CavalcantiHere's Harry as Various rolesPoison Island as Dr. BeauregardForeign Affairs as Sir Hugh MarriotSergeant Cork as Joseph FitzroyBBC Play of the Month as Dr. CoutrasThe Forsyte Saga as BoterillWho Is Sylvia? as Unknown roleThe Newcomers as Rear-Admiral GraingerWorld in Ferment as Various rolesW. Somerset Maugham as GamblerThe Main Chance as JudgeThe First Churchills as Lord Halifax

Selected stage credits

Fallen Angels by Noël Coward Escape by John Galsworthy Bitter Sweet by Noël Coward Call It a Day by Dodie Smith Her Excellency by Harold Purcell