Jack Trevor


Anthony Cedric Sebastian Steane, known by the stage name Jack Trevor, was a British film actor of the silent and early sound era. Based in Weimar Germany, he acted in 67 films between 1922 and 1943. He was later convicted of Collaboration with [Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|collaboration] for appearing in multiple propaganda films of the Nazi regime, but his sentence was overturned on the basis that he had worked under duress.

Early life and military service

Trevor was born Anthony Cedric Sebastian Steane in London in 1893, to upper-class parents. He studied at New College, Oxford, and joined the British Army, where he was posted to the Manchester Regiment. In 1915 he served in Gallipoli and later France as an acting Second Lieutenant. He was wounded in action in 1916, and was for a time invalidated out of service.
In June 1917 he absented himself when due to return to France after sick leave; and in December was convicted at the Central Criminal Court on a charge of obtaining jewellery by fraud and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment at Wormwood Scrubs. He was cashiered from the army the same month, but was re-drafted in March 1918. He subsequently deserted again in May of that year. He would later falsely claim to have won the Military Cross for his service.

Germany and film stardom

Sometime after the war, he married an Austrian woman named Alma, supposedly an illegitimate daughter of Rudolf, [Crown Prince of Austria|Crown Prince Rudolf], who committed suicide a year into their marriage.
He moved to Berlin in 1922 following an offer by producer Frederic Zelnik, and began acting in silent films under the stage name "Jack Trevor." He was often cast as a prototypical "English gentleman" or other sophisticate, in everything from minor to major roles.
He remarried and had two sons, re-settling in Oberammergau and living off his affluent family's fortune.

Nazi propaganda films

In September 1939, he was arrested and interned by the Gestapo as an enemy alien. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels demanded he record English-language radio broadcasts for the regime. Though he initially refused, he later complied due to threats against himself and his family. Over the course of the war, he appeared in several propaganda films, including [Carl Peters (film)|Carl Peters], Ohm Krüger, and My Life for Ireland.

Post-war life and trial

After the surrender and dissolution of the Nazi government, Trevor surrendered himself to Allied forces. He was extradited to the United Kingdom in 1945 and interned for two years while awaiting trial for collaborationism. In 1947, he was convicted by the Central Criminal Court of "doing acts likely to assist the enemy with intent to assist the enemy" and sentenced to three years imprisonment, but later successfully appealed the conviction, on the grounds that he was acting under duress. The case is recorded as R v Steane.
Trevor eventually moved to Deal, Kent, and died in 1976.

Filmography