Harcourt Collett

Harcourt Collett was a British-born actor of stage and screen who lived and worked in South Africa and the UK. Born in Edmonton, Middlesex - Harcourt Collet was raised in Tottenham, London as the only child of a homeopathic pharmacist. He lost his mother by the age of two, and was orphaned by the age of sixteen. By his mid twenties Harcourt Collett was acting on stage in Johannesburg in plays such as 'Captain Brassbound's Conversation', 'Lady Frederick', and 'Candida', 'Arms and the Man', alongside actor Katherine Pole. After a period working in London he was acting in South Africa again, this time for the American Dramatic Company, alongside Ethel Irving, Marie Tempest and Gertrude Elliot. Harcourt Collet's British theatre work included acting alongside Frank Cellier and Angela Baddeley (star of UK TV series 'Upstairs Downstairs') in 'The School for Scandal' and 'The Rising Sun' As well his theatre career, Harcourt Collett was a film actor in silent movies. He appeared in two South-African-made films by British-born director Joseph Albrecht. He played the role of Vincent Carstairs in Albrecht's 'The Voice of the Waters' (1918), acting alongside Mabel May, Edward Vincent and Lonsdale Young - and had a smaller role in the film 'With Edged Tools' (1919) based on the novel by H. Seton Merriman. 1n 1933 Harcourt Collett began work as an actor, announcer and producer at the South African Broadcasting Corporation - where he worked until 1944. He took part in many plays and productions including the title role in the serial of 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' and a part in the popular radio thriller 'The Mystery of Harlow Manor' (1933). Harcourt Collett was the chief announcer at SABC, and, in September 1939, it was a broadcast voiced by Harcourt Collett that informed the South African nation of the start of World War 2.