Years active 1938-1973 Children Dawn Langley Simmons | Role Character actor Name Stringer Davis | |
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Full Name James Buckley Stringer Davis Movies Murder at the Gallop, Murder - She Said, Murder Most Foul, Murder Ahoy!, The VIPs Similar People Margaret Rutherford, George Pollock, Bud Tingwell, Dawn Langley Simmons, Muriel Pavlow | ||
Parents Ethel Davis, George Davis | ||
James Buckley Stringer Davis, generally known as Stringer Davis (4 June 1899 – 29 August 1973), was an English character actor on the stage and in films and a British army officer who served in both world wars. He was married to actress Margaret Rutherford.
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Military and acting careers
Stringer Davis was born on 4 June 1899 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. His father George Davis was a bank clerk, his mother Ethel a housewife. Davis attended the independent Uppingham School and received military basic training there. In August 1918, he volunteered for military service and was sent to the front in the First World War as a lieutenant in the 3rd Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment. He was discharged from military service in September 1919, about 10 months after the conclusion of the war.
Davis's parents separated shortly after his return from the war. His mother lived in a spacious house in Reading, Berkshire, and Davis lived in its vicinity in a boathouse overlooking the River Thames. He began his theatrical career as a member of the Oxford Repertory Company, working as both an actor and director. In 1930, he met Margaret Rutherford, his future wife, for the first time. At the time, Rutherford was still largely unknown. She wrote in her autobiography about her first encounter with her husband-to-be: "I noticed his bright blue eyes, his casual elegant clothes and his polite way. I couldn't take my eyes off him....He had that special something. His name was Stringer Davis." He made his on screen debut in a BBC television live drama Charles and Mary in 1938.
The 40-year-old Davis put aside his acting career to volunteer again for military service in 1939. He served as a lieutenant in the East Yorkshire Regiment and later was part of the British Expeditionary Force deployed in France. He participated in the Battle of Dunkirk and was one of the many British soldiers evacuated on 4 June 1940. Davis remained with the army until almost the end of the Second World War, with tours of duty in North Africa and Northwest Europe.
After the war, Davis resumed his acting career with the film Miranda (1948), which also featured Rutherford. Overall, Davis appeared in more than 20 films with his wife. In later years, she made it a condition of her contract that Davis would play a part in any film in which she appeared. Most notably, this clause led to Davis being cast as the mild-mannered librarian "Mr. Stringer" in four adaptations of Agatha Christie novels featuring Rutherford as Miss Marple in the early 1960s. The gentle, timid Mr. Stringer was Davis's most celebrated role, gaining good reviews.
Personal life
Davis married Margaret Rutherford in 1945 after a 15-year courtship. She was 53 and he was 46 at the time. Reportedly, his mother was the main reason for the long engagement because she was adamantly opposed to having Margaret Rutherford for a daughter-in-law. Only after the death of Ethel Davis did the duo finally tie the knot. Once the two married, they remained totally devoted to one another, with Davis always at hand behind the camera whenever his wife was filming.
Towards the end of her life, Margaret Rutherford was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and Davis tended to her throughout a long and distressing illness. Rutherford died on 22 May 1972 aged 80.
Death
Davis died peacefully in his sleep in Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire in 1973, one year after Rutherford's death. Rutherford and Davis are interred at the graveyard of St. James's Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire.