Gerald Case

(Thomas) Gerald Case (1905 – 22 May 1985) was a British stage, film and television character actor, known, amongst others, for his role in the 1976 Wodehouse Playhouse episode, Strychnine in the Soup. Early life Case was born at Horton Hall, the son of Captain Thomas Elphinstone Case of the Coldstream Guards and Evelyn Ruby, daughter of Adolphus Ferguson and Minnie Byron, a Mezzo Soprano celebrated for her stage roles in variety and Victorian burlesques. At the age of 6, his father died and Case himself moved into Horton Hall, with his 10 year-old aunt. Case’s widowed mother subsequently married the England cricketer and gold medal-winning Olympic boxer J. W. H. T. Douglas. At the age of eighteen, Case was encouraged to join his step-father’s family business in the timber industry, travelling to Finland as the company agent. Finland in the mid 1920s had recently won independence from Russia, resulting in civil war. Case learnt to speak Finnish and served in the Finnish White Army but is unlikely to have seen active service. Case returned to England in 1928 convinced that the timber trade was not for him and announced that he wanted to go on stage, which he did, for more than 50 years. Acting career It is unknown whether Case actually attended drama school, but his first stage appearance was in 1929 at Camberwell Palace playing any small part that he could find. He claimed that he hated minor roles at the outset but every small part that he performed, he made sure that he was good in it, which gradually created his brand. Case got his first real break in October when he joined Jack Denton’s theatre company who were touring with a domestic drama Stop the Wedding!. Case played the part of the villain 'Dudley Cliffstone', which he continued until 1930, when he changed touring company to play 'Paul Cairns' in the crime drama Sexton Blake opposite Erica Tozer. In April 1931, Case and Tozer moved to a new repertory company working out of the Kings Theatre, Southsea and the Royal County Theatre, Reading. They were married 7 months later, playing opposite each other in The Fake. A few weeks later, they appeared together on stage as a married couple in a farcical whodunnit called The Barton Mystery, in which Case dreams that he has murdered his wife, reportedly performed by both to dramatic effect.