MILD-MANNERED LEADING MAN

Whenever you watch a Universal horror film from the 1930's, alongside the monsters and other character actors, chances are you're likely see another familiar face: David Manners. Manners played the leading man or other supporting roles in scads of  pictures from various studios during this era.

David Manners and Helen Chandler in Dracula (1931).

Soft spoken and spiritually inclined David Joseph Manners was born Rauf de Ryther Duan Acklom in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1900. Interestingly, he is a remote family member of Princess Diana. He benefited from a busy acting career (including DRACULA, THE MUMMY, THE BLACK CAT and a number of other roles) but found he had cultivated a distinct distaste for Hollywood. He eschewed the extravagant and excessive lifestyle and intensely disliked being "set up" by his publicist with dates that were surreptitiously designed for nothing more than photo ops with starlets hanging on the arm of one of Hollywood's most popular leading men. He had a huge fan club membership and at one point, received as much mail as any other celebrity in Hollywood (he received mail about DRACULA up until the end of his life).

Manners built his home on this property with the permission of Dr. Chatherine Boynton,
a spiritual healer from Colorado Springs.

In 1936, he unceremoniously fled the decadence of  Tinsel Town for the California desert, where he settled into the pursuit of spiritual and religious studies, writing and painting at his beloved and secluded Rancho Yucca Loma which he designed and built in 1933. He remained active by acting in numerous stage productions until about 1950. In 1978, Manners became restless and moved back to Los Angeles, where he lived in a home in Pacific Palisades, ironically not far from the sinful siren known as Hollywood. He died at the age of 98 in Santa Barbara, Ventura County.

David Manners and Jaqueline Wells in The Black Cat (1934).

UPDATE: The statement below, which was included in an earlier version of this post is incorrect. According to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, there never was a star in David Manners' name.

"Manners was among the first actors to receive a star on the "Walk of Fame", but after he left Hollywood, the star was mysteriously removed with no reason given. In any event, the truth remains a mystery to this day."

The New Movie Magazine (November 1931).

Picture Play (January 1933).

David Manners signed portrait.

Modern Screen (February 1931).

Motion Picture (February 1933).

Movie Classic (October 1932).

New Movie Magazine (August 1932).

New Movie Magazine (January 1931).

Silver Screen (December 1931).

Silver Screen (November 1931).

New Movie Magazine (June 1933).

Screenland (January 1932).

Screenland (October 1931).

Silver Screen (March 1932).

Antonia Carlotta' vlog on David Manners:

DAVID MANNERS BEFORE DRACULA

Actor David Manners is shown here in from a film he had acted in just a month away from appearing as John Harker in Universal's DRACULA. The atmospheric photograph is from THE RIGHT TO LOVE and appeared in THE NEW MOVIE magazine (January 1931).

The photographer was Earl Crowley (1902-1983). Crowley was a Hollywood glamour and stills photographer of the 1930's (Note: His work for THE RIGHT TO LOVE is missing from the list of his films on IMDB).

Included here are several shots of the first Chinese-American actress, Anna May Wong (sometimes identified as Anna Mae Wong) by Crowley. Also included is a shot of Miss Wong with a pre-FRANKENSTEIN Colin Clive on the deck of the Aquitania en route to London. Wong created a stir in one of the plays she appeared in when she kissed a white actor.

MILD MANNERS

Soft spoken and spiritually inclined David Joseph Manners was born Rauf de Ryther Duan Acklom in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1900. He benefited from a busy acting career (including DRACULA, THE BLACK CAT and a number of other horror roles) but found he had cultivated a distinct distaste for Hollywood. He eschewed the extravagant and excessive lifestyle of a successful actor and intensely disliked being "set up" by his publicist with dates that were surreptitiously designed for nothing more than photo ops with starlets hanging on the arm of one of Hollywood's most popular leading men. In 1936, he unceremoniously fled the decadence of  Tinsel Town for the California desert, where he settled into the pursuit of spiritual and religious studies, writing and painting at his beloved and secluded Rancho Yucca Loma which he designed and built in 1933. He remained active by acting in numerous stage productions until about 1950. In 1978, Manners became restless and moved back to Los Angeles, where he lived in a home in Pacific Palisades, ironically not far from the sinful siren named Hollywood. He died at the age of 98 in Santa Barbara, Ventura County.

Manners was among the first actors to receive a star on the "Walk of Fame", but after he left Hollywood, the star was mysteriously removed with no reason given. In any event, the truth remains a mystery to this day.

The portrait shown above is from the May, 1932 issue of PICTURE PLAY magazine. The caption states that audiences will see him next in A DANGEROUS BRUNETTE. The film was released by Warner Bros. under the title, MAN WANTED. There is no photo credit, but the shot is probably by Homer Van Pelt, the still photographer for the film. Manners would make a few more movies that year before his role in Universal's THE MUMMY.