A graduate of Oxford, British actor Anthony Bushell came to Broadway in 1927 to appear opposite the legendary Jeanne Eagels in Her Cardbord Lover. In 1929, Bushell was hired as the secondary romantic lead in the award-winning talking picture Disraeli, at the insistence of the film's star George Arliss. Though his performance in Disraeli was stiff and unconvincing, he was much better in James Whale's WWI drama Journey's End (1930). Gradually, Bushell gravitated to the production end of the film business, serving as associate producer for Laurence Olivier's Shakespearean productions Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955). He served as director for a trio of profitable if undistinguished films: The Long Dark Hall (1951), Angel with a Trumpet (1951), and Terror of the Tongs (1961). In the 1960s, he worked extensively in television, notably as one of the producer/directors of the anthology series Winston Churchill: The Valiant Years (1960). Anthony Bushell was married to American actress Zelma O'Neal.
by Hal Erickson
biography
