PageSourceSearch

https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/georgegrovesorigins/herbertmundin/

html georgegroves.org.uk collected 2026-09-24 10:03:38 UTC 31,716 bytes, 236 lines download raw bytes

1<!DOCTYPE HTML>
2<html lang="en">
3	<head>
4		
5<script type="text/javascript">
6var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
7document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
8</script>
vendor: 1 bytes, line 8
8
9<script type="text/javascript">
10try {
11var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-12315588-1");
12pageTracker._trackPageview();
13} catch(err) {}</script>
13
14<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
15		<meta name="PRIORITY" content="0.603090" />
16		<meta name="CHANGEFREQ" content="monthly" />
17		<meta name="description" content="The family connection between movie sound pioneer George Groves and Hollywood actor Herbert Mundin." />
18		<meta name="description" content="The family connection between movie sound pioneer George Groves and Hollywood actor Herbert Mundin." />
19		<meta name="robots" content="index, follow" />
20		<link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/resources/apple-touch-icon.png" />
21<link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/resources/favicon.ico" sizes="64x64" />
22
23		<title>Herbert Mundin Connection With George Groves</title>
24		<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes">
25		<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="../../rw_common/themes/elite/consolidated-20.css?rwcache=682265725" />
26		
27		
28		
29		
30		
31		
32		<style type="text/css" media="all">h3 {�font-style: normal;�font-weight: bold;�line-height: normal;�font-size: 23px;�margin-bottom: 0px;
33margin-top: 0px;
34margin-right: 0px;
35text-align: center;�}
36
37@media screen and (max-width: 768px) {
38h3 {font-size: 20px; margin-bottom: 0px;}
39}
40
41@media screen and (max-width: 480px) {
42h3 {font-size: 18px; font-weight: 900;}
43}
44
45@media screen and (max-width: 340px) {
46h3 {font-size: 18px;}
47}
48
49.strap3 {
50font-size: 20px;�padding-top: 27px;
51padding-bottom: 0px;
52text-align: center;
53margin-bottom: 0px;
54font-weight: normal;�}
55
56@media screen and (max-width: 768px) {
57.strap3 {font-size: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px;}
58
59@media screen and (max-width: 640px) {
60.strap3 {font-size: 19px;}
61}
62
63@media screen and (max-width: 480px) {
64.strap3 {font-size: 18px;}
65}
66
67@media screen and (max-width: 340px) {
68.strap3 {font-size: 17px;}
69}
70</style>
71		
72				<link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' media='all' href='../../rw_common/plugins/stacks/stacks.css?rwcache=682265725' />
73		<link rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' media='all' href='files/stacks_page_page20.css?rwcache=682265725' />
74        
75        
76        
77        
78		
79        <meta name="formatter" content="Stacks v3.6.9 (4242)" >
80		
81
82		
83	</head>
84	<body class="hasBootstrap hasFreeStyle themeFlood isPremiumTheme">
85		<div id="breadbg">
86			<div id="breadcrumbcontainer"><ul><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="../../">Home</a></li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="../../georgegrovesorigins/">George's Origins</a></li><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="./">Mundin Connection</a></li></ul></div>
87		</div>
88		<div class="clearer"></div>
89		<div class="subContent1">
90			<div id="extraContainer1"></div>
91			<div class="clearer"></div>
92		</div>
93		<div id="logo">
94			<a href="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/"><img src="../../rw_common/images/George Logo2.png" width="200" height="221" alt="The Official Website of George R. Groves, The Oscar-Winning, Movie Sound Pioneer from St Helens, England"/></a>
95		</div>
96		<div id="title">
97			<h1><a href="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/">George Groves The Movie Sound Pioneer</a></h1>
98			<h2>The Story of the Oscar-Winning Soundman from St Helens, England</h2>
99		</div>
100		<div id="headertop"></div>
101		<div id="header">
102			<div id="cssmenu">
103				<ul><li><a href="../../" rel="">Home</a></li><li><a href="../../georgegrovesorigins/" rel="" class="currentAncestor">George's Origins</a><ul><li><a href="../../georgegrovesorigins/georgeinsthelens/" rel="">George in St Helens</a></li><li><a href="./" rel="" class="current">Mundin Connection</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../talking_films/" rel="">Talking Pictures</a><ul><li><a href="../../talking_films/soundfilm1900-23/" rel="">Sound Film Origins</a></li><li><a href="../../talking_films/belllabs/" rel="">Bell Labs 1923-26</a></li><li><a href="../../talking_films/donjuan/" rel="">Don Juan 1926-27</a></li><li><a href="../../talking_films/jazzsinger/" rel="">The Jazz Singer 1927</a></li><li><a href="../../talking_films/vitaphone/" rel="">Vitaphone 1928-31</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../warners/" rel="">Warner Brothers Years</a><ul><li><a href="../../warners/warners1/" rel="">Warners 1931-56</a></li><li><a href="../../warners/warners2/" rel="">Warners 1957-62</a></li><li><a href="../../warners/warners3/" rel="">My Fair Lady 1963-4</a></li><li><a href="../../warners/warners4/" rel="">Warners 1964-71</a></li><li><a href="../../warners/warners5/" rel="">Burbank Studios 1972-6</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../more/" rel="">More Groves...</a><ul><li><a href="../../more/campaign/" rel="">Hilda's Campaign</a></li><li><a href="../../more/quiet_little_englishman/" rel="">Quiet Little Englishman</a></li><li><a href="../../more/quote/" rel="">Quote...Unquote</a></li><li><a href="../../more/hilda/" rel="">Hilda on George</a></li><li><a href="../../more/video1/" rel="">George Groves Videos</a></li><li><a href="../../more/soundclips/" rel="">Sound Clips</a></li><li><a href="../../more/downloads/" rel="">Downloads</a></li><li><a href="../../more/sitemap/" rel="">Sitemap</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="../../contact/" rel="">Contact Form</a></li></ul>
104			</div
105		></div
106		><div class="clearer"></div>
107		<div id="headerbottom"></div>
108		<div id="shadow"></div>
109		<div id="extraContainer2">
110			<div id="title2">
111				<h2>The Story of the Oscar-Winning Soundman from St Helens, England</h2>
112			</div>
113			<div id="freeStyle" class="widthWrapper"></div>
114			<div id="rwBanner" class="widthWrapper" data-rwbanner="../../rw_common/themes/elite/images/banner-elite.jpg" data-alt
114="George Groves The Movie Sound Pioneer"></div>
115		</div>
116		<div class="clearer"></div>
117		<div id="pageHeader">
118			<h2>The Story of the Oscar-Winning Soundman from St Helens, England</h2>
119			<div class="clearer"></div>
120		</div>
121		<div id="container">
122			<div id="contentContainer">
123				<div id="content">
124					
125<div id='stacks_out_1_page20' class='stacks_top'><div id='stacks_in_1_page20' class=''><div id='stacks_out_56_page20' class='stacks_out'><div id='stacks_in_56_page20' class='stacks_in text_stack'><div class="hr5"></div><a name=“top”></a></div></div><div id='stacks_out_58_page20' class='stacks_out stacks_s_hidden'><div id='stacks_in_58_page20' class='stacks_in text_stack'><h3>Part 3 - The Herbert Mundin / Groves Family Connection</h3></div></div><div id='stacks_out_50_page20' class='stacks_out stacks_l_hidden stacks_m_hidden'><div id='stacks_in_50_page20' class='stacks_in text_stack'><h3>PART 3 - THE HERBERT MUNDIN / GROVES FAMILY CONNECTION</h3></div></div><div id='stacks_out_44_page20' class='stacks_out stacks_s_hidden'><div id='stacks_in_44_page20' class='stacks_in text_stack'><div class="image-block14"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff and his birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens" alt="Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff and his birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens" /><p class="image-block-caption">Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff and his birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens</p></div>
126<div class="image-block15"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff and his birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens" alt="Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff and his birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens" /><p class="image-block-caption1">Herbert Mundin and his birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road, St Helens</p></div>
127
128George Groves was indirectly related to Herbert Mundin, another Hollywood son of St Helens, who appeared in 56 films during the 1930s, including Mutiny on The Bounty in 1935 with Charles Laughton and The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938 with Errol Flynn. Tragically Herbert&rsquo;s Hollywood career was cut short in 1939 by his death in a California car crash. <br /><br />The connection between the families was Jane Groves, who was the widow of Thomas Groves. He was George's great-uncle who originally owned the Duke Street barber's and who died in bizarre circumstances in November 1895. (See <a href="../../georgegrovesorigins/georgeinsthelens/" title="George in St Helens Pt 2">George in St Helens Part 2</a>.) Shortly after Thomas&rsquo;s death, his widow Jane and ten-year-old daughter Clara returned to Sutton in St Helens where Jane had been brought up, although her place of birth was Holywell in Flintshire. She then moved to 44 Mill Street, only a few hundred yards away from the Duke Street barber's shop, and on September 18th 1897 at the age of 36 became William Mundin's fourth wife.<br /><br />50-year-old William was a somewhat nomadic Primitive Methodist home missionary, who had also been a farm labourer, and was a great advocate of the temperance movement. In the 1891 census he is listed as living at Runcorn near Widnes with third wife Mary. Upon her death on September 27th 1895 at the age of 30, he moved to St Helens and lived with Jane and Clara at 206 Windleshaw Road in Dentons Green.
129
130<div class="image-block"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/windleshaw_road_sthelens.jpg" title="Windleshaw Road, St Helens" alt="Windleshaw Road, St Helens" /><p class="image-block-caption">
130A picture postcard of Windleshaw Road in St Helens taken around 1910 – Herbert Mundin was born at no. 206</p></div>
131<div class="image-block1"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/windleshaw_road_sthelens.jpg" title="Windleshaw Road, St Helens" alt="Windleshaw Road, St Helens" /><p class="image-block-caption1">A picture postcard of Windleshaw Road in St Helens around 1910</p></div>
132
133On 21st August 1898 Jane gave birth to a son they named Herbert Thomas. William Mundin is believed to have had as many as 19 children with his four wives &ndash; many of them dying at birth or in infancy &ndash; but Herbert was the only child he had with Jane. William is only listed in one edition of the electoral register (1898 - 99) as living in Windleshaw Road. He also seemingly owned or resided at properties in College Street, North Road, Oxford Street and Hardshaw Street but is not listed at any of these addresses in successive registers. The family almost certainly left St Helens within months of Herbert's birth.  <br />  <br />Indeed in the 1901 census they are listed as living in St. Albans in Hertfordshire, although erroneously identified within online census data as bearing the surname Mundie. The census enumerator&rsquo;s handwriting left a lot to be desired and two-year-old Herbert Thomas Mundin is identified as Herlar T. Mundie. (Great-nephew Derek Mundin was responsible for the detective work in uncovering this). The census data does reveal that the family lived at St Helens Villa, Paxton Road in St. Albans. William and Jane, apparently, named their house after the town where they first met and where their son was born.
134
135<div class="image-block"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/mundin_sailor_young_man.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War and became a wireless operator" alt="Herbert Mundin served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War and became a wireless operator" /><p class="image-block-caption">Left: Herbert served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War; Right: Pictured as a young man</p></div>
136<div class="image-block1"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/mundin_sailor_young_man.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War and became a wireless operator" alt="Herbert Mundin served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War and became a wireless operator" /><p class="image-block-caption1">Herbert in the Royal Navy and pictured as a young man</p></div><br />
137Herbert attended the prestigious St. Albans Grammar School where Stephen Hawking and Sir Tim Rice would study some years later. He served in WW1 as a wireless operator on minesweepers and during the 1920s performed on the stage in Britain at the London Palladium, Alhambra and the Coliseum.  <br /><br />Herbert first travelled to America on December 18th 1923 for a series of theatrical engagements in New York, just 17 days after George Groves sailed from Liverpool to the 'Big Apple'. However, Herbert was by then based in London and so sailed from Southampton on the SS Aquitania. In the ship&rsquo;s passenger manifest Herbert describes himself as 5&rsquo;7&rdquo; tall with a fair complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and bearing a scar over his left eye.
138
139<div class="image-block3"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/charlot_revue.jpg" title="Charlot Revue with Herbert Mundin" alt="Charlot Revue with Herbert Mundin" /></div>
140
141His big break as an actor was in Charlot&rsquo;s Revue when it appeared on Broadway in 1925. Above are two stills featuring Gertrude Lawrence and Beatrice Lillie. One of Herbert&rsquo;s roles in the production was as a barber. Perhaps his mother was able to give him some pointers! During the late 1920s Herbert developed a reputation as a top British music-hall comedian and actor and was often top of the bill.
142
143<div class="image-block"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_tarzan.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes" alt="Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes" /><p class="image-block-caption">Herbert Mundin as Herbert Henry Rawlins in Tarzan Escapes which was made in 1936 and starring Johnny Weissmuller</p></div>
144<div class="image-block1"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_tarzan.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes" alt="Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes" /><p class="image-block-caption1">Herbert Mundin as Herbert Henry Rawlins in Tarzan Escapes in 1936</p></div>
145
146In 1930, after working in Australia, Herbert received a contract with the Fox movie studio and made several "quota quickie" films at Twickenham with Harry Cohen. The stage comic adapted to film so well that he transferred to the Fox Studios in Hollywood and made fifty-six pictures in total in just nine years.<br /><br />Herbert's first Hollywood film of note was Chandu the Magician, based on a popular radio show and which was released in September 1932. B&eacute;la Lugosi starred as Roxor, a maniac intent on world domination and who kidnaps a scientist who is working on a deadly death ray capable of destroying a whole city.
147
148<div class="image-block"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_cavalcade.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges" alt="Herbert Mundin with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges" /><p class="image-block-caption">Herbert Mundin with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges</p></div>
149<div class="image-block1"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_cavalcade.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges" alt="Herbert Mundin with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges" /><p class="image-block-caption1">Herbert Mundin & Una O'Connor in Cavalcade released in 1933</p></div>
150
151In late 1932 Herbert made Cavalcade based on No&euml;l Coward's successful Drury Lane play. The film dramatised English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 and won three Oscars for Best Director, Picture and Art Direction and did much for Mundin's reputation. Herbert put in a straight performance of a butler who became a pub landlord and drank away the profits. Probably his best-known roles were as Herbert Henry Rawlins in Tarzan Escapes (1936) and as Much the Miller's Son in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which starred Errol Flynn. <br /><br />Herbert was a character actor, known as the "scene stealer", as he would often take the limelight away from the film's more illustr
151ious acting talent. These stars included Clark Gable, Lucille Ball, Johnny Weissmuller, Basil Rathbone, Lionel Barrymore, Shirley Temple, Bela Lugosi and Spencer Tracy. He often added a comedic touch to films and is said to have specialised in older roles through his bulbous nose and short, penguin-like frame! Sadly his short but prolific career was tragically cut short on a California highway in 1939 at the age of just 40. <br /><br />Herbert's father William returned to the north-west of England just before his death on the 10th April 1924 at the age of 77. He lived at 66 Fitzherbert Street in Warrington and is buried in St Helens Cemetery with his third wife Mary. The St Albans branch of the Church of England Temperance Society placed a stone at the foot of William's grave to record their "grateful memory of 31 years devoted work".
152
153<div class="image-block"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/mundin_grave.jpg" title="The Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery" alt="The Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery" /><p class="image-block-caption">Two photographs of the Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery (section 6, grave number 544)</p></div>
154<div class="image-block1"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/mundin_grave.jpg" title="The Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery" alt="The Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery" /><p class="image-block-caption1">Mundin family grave in St Helens Cemetery (section 6, no. 544)</p></div>
155
156His widow Jane (the great-aunt of George Groves) lived to the ripe old age of 84, dying in Wallasey on the Wirral in 1946. Jane is buried in a separate grave in St Helens Cemetery (section 3, grave number 357) along with Thomas Groves, Clara Smith and Patricia Elizabeth Smith.
157
158<div class="image-block"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/william_mundin.jpg" title="William Mundin pictured in 1921" alt="William Mundin pictured in 1921" /><p class="image-block-caption">William Mundin pictured in 1921 - a former court missionary, he was the first probation officer in Hertfordshire</p></div>
159<div class="image-block1"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/william_mundin.jpg" title="William Mundin pictured in 1921" alt="William Mundin pictured in 1921" /><p class="image-block-caption1">William Mundin in 1921 - he was Hertfordshire's first probation officer</p></div>
160
161Thanks to Barry Fletcher and the late Derek Mundin for their research contributions to this page. Other research sources include St Helens Local History & Archives Library, St Helens Cemetery Office, Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation and Hertfordshire Countryside magazine.
162
163<div class ="strap2">Next – <a href="../../talking_films/soundfilm1900-23/" title="A History Of The Sound Film (1893 - 1923)">Part 4 A History Of The Sound Film (1893 - 1923)</a></div></div></div><div id='stacks_out_46_page20' class='stacks_out stacks_l_hidden stacks_m_hidden'><div id='stacks_in_46_page20' class='stacks_in text_stack'><div class="image-block16"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_lord_jeff.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff" alt="Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff" /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert Mundin in the film Lord Jeff</p></div>
164
165George Groves was indirectly related to Herbert Mundin, another Hollywood son of St Helens, who appeared in 56 films during the 1930s.<br /><br />These included Mutiny on The Bounty in 1935 with Charles Laughton and The Adventures of Robin Hood in 1938 with Errol Flynn.<br /><br />Tragically Herbert&rsquo;s Hollywood career was cut short in 1939 by his death in a California car crash. <br /><br />The connection between the families was Jane Groves, who was the widow of Thomas Groves.<br /><br />He was George's great-uncle who originally owned the Duke Street barber's and who died in bizarre circumstances in November 1895. (See <a href="../../georgegrovesorigins/georgeinsthelens/" title="George in St Helens Pt 2">George in St Helens Part 2</a>.)<br /><br />Shortly after Thomas&rsquo;s death, his widow Jane and ten-year-old daughter Clara returned to Sutton in St Helens where Jane had been brought up, although her place of birth was Holywell in Flintshire.<br /><br />She then moved to 44 Mill Street, only a few hundred yards away from the Duke Street barber's shop, and on September 18th 1897 at the age of 36 became William Mundin's fourth wife.<br /><br />50-year-old William was a somewhat nomadic Primitive Methodist home missionary, who had also been a farm labourer, and was a great advocate of the temperance movement.<br /><br />In the 1891 census he is listed as living at Runcorn near Widnes with third wife Mary.
166
167<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin1.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens" alt="Herbert Mundin birthplace 206 Windleshaw Road in St Helens" /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert Mundin's birthplace in St Helens</p></div>
168
169Upon her death on September 27th 1895 at the age of 30, he moved to St Helens and lived with Jane and Clara at 206 Windleshaw Road in Dentons Green.
170<br />On 21st August 1898 Jane gave birth to a son they named Herbert Thomas.<br /><br />William Mundin is believed to have had as many as 19 children with his four wives &ndash; many of them dying at birth or in infancy &ndash; but Herbert was the only child he had with Jane.
171
172<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/windleshaw_road_sthelens1.jpg" title="Windleshaw Road, St Helens" alt="Windleshaw Road, St Helens" /><p class="image-block-caption2">Windleshaw Road, St Helens around 1910</p></div>
173
174William is only listed in one edition of the electoral register (1898 - 99) as living in Windleshaw Road.<br /><br />He also seemingly owned or resided at properties in College Street, North Road, Oxford Street and Hardshaw Street but is not listed at any of these addresses in successive registers.<br /><br />The family almost certainly left St Helens within months of Herbert's birth. Indeed in the 1901 census they are listed as living in St. Albans in Hertfordshire, although erroneously identified within online census data as bearing the surname Mundie.<br /><br />The census enumerator&rsquo;s handwriting left a lot to be desired and two-year-old Herbert Thomas Mundin is identified as Herlar T. Mundie. (Great-nephew Derek Mun
174din was responsible for the detective work in uncovering this).<br /><br />The census data does reveal that the family lived at St Helens Villa, Paxton Road in St. Albans. William and Jane, apparently, named their house after the town where they first met and where their son was born.   <br /><br />Herbert attended the prestigious St. Albans Grammar School where Stephen Hawking and Sir Tim Rice would study some years later.
175
176<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/mundin_sailor.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War and became a wireless operator" alt="Herbert Mundin served in the Royal Navy during the 1st World War and became a wireless operator" /><p class="image-block-caption1">Herbert in the Royal Navy during WW1</p></div>
177
178He served in WW1 as a wireless operator on minesweepers and during the 1920s performed on the stage in Britain at the London Palladium, Alhambra and the Coliseum.  <br /><br />Herbert first travelled to America on December 18th 1923 for a series of theatrical engagements in New York, just 17 days after George Groves sailed from Liverpool to the 'Big Apple'.<br /><br />However Herbert was by then based in London and so sailed from Southampton on the SS Aquitania.<br /><br />In the ship&rsquo;s passenger manifest Herbert describes himself as 5&rsquo;7&rdquo; tall with a fair complexion, brown hair, blue eyes and bearing a scar over his left eye.
179
180<div class="image-block3"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/charlot_revue1.jpg" title="Charlot Revue with Herbert Mundin" alt="Charlot Revue with Herbert Mundin" /></div>
181
182His big break as an actor was in Charlot&rsquo;s Revue when it appeared on Broadway in 1925 and in the above still Herbert is pictured with Gertrude Lawrence.<br /><br />One of Herbert&rsquo;s roles in the production was as a barber. Perhaps his mother was able to give him some pointers!<br /><br />During the late 1920s Herbert developed a reputation as a top British music-hall comedian and actor and was often top of the bill.
183
184<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_tarzan.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes" alt="Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes" /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert Mundin in Tarzan Escapes</p></div>
185
186In 1930, after working in Australia, Herbert received a contract with the Fox movie studio and made several "quota quickie" films at Twickenham for Harry Cohen.<br /><br />The stage comic adapted to film so well that he transferred to the Fox Studios in Hollywood and made fifty-six pictures in total in just nine years.<br /><br />Herbert's first Hollywood film of note was Chandu the Magician, based on a popular radio show and which was released in September 1932.<br /><br />B&eacute;la Lugosi starred as Roxor, a maniac intent on world domination and who kidnaps a scientist who is working on a deadly death ray capable of destroying a whole city.
187
188<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/herbert_mundin_cavalcade.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges" alt="Herbert with Una O'Connor in Cavalcade as Alfred and Ellen Bridges" /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert Mundin & Una O'Connor in Cavalcade</p></div>
189
190In late 1932 Herbert made Cavalcade based on No&euml;l Coward's successful Drury Lane play.<br /><br />The film dramatised English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 and won three Oscars for Best Director, Picture and Art Direction and did much for Mundin's reputation.<br /><br />Herbert put in a straight performance of a butler who became a pub landlord and drank away the profits.
191
192<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/call_it_luck.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin Call it Luck” alt="Herbert Mundin Call it Luck” /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert Mundin in Call it Luck</p></div>
193
194Probably his best-known roles were as Herbert Henry Rawlins in Tarzan Escapes (1936) and as Much the Miller's Son in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), which starred Errol Flynn. <br /><br />Herbert was a character actor, known as the "scene stealer", as he would often take the limelight away from the film's more illustr
194ious acting talent.<br /><br />These stars included Clark Gable, Lucille Ball, Johnny Weissmuller, Basil Rathbone, Lionel Barrymore, Shirley Temple, Bela Lugosi and Spencer Tracy.
195
196<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/charlie_chans_secret.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in Charlie Chans Secret” alt="Herbert Mundin in Charlie Chans Secret”” /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert in Charlie Chan's Secret</p></div>
197
198He often added a comedic touch to films and is said to have specialised in older roles through his bulbous nose and short, penguin-like frame!<br /><br />Sadly his short but prolific career was tragically cut short on a California highway in 1939 at the age of just 40.
199
200<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/david_copperfield.jpg" title="Herbert Mundin in David Copperfield” alt="Herbert Mundin in David Copperfield” /><p class="image-block-caption2">Herbert Mundin in David Copperfield</p></div>
201
202Herbert's father William returned to the north-west of England just before his death on the 10th April 1924 at the age of 77.<br /><br />He lived at 66 Fitzherbert Street in Warrington and is buried in St Helens Cemetery with his third wife Mary.<br /><br />The St. Albans branch of the Church of England Temperance Society placed a stone at the foot of William's grave to record their "grateful memory of 31 years devoted work".
203
204<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/mundin_grave1.jpg" title="The Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery" alt="The Mundin family grave within St Helens Cemetery" /><p class="image-block-caption2">Mundin grave in St Helens Cemetery</p></div>
205
206His widow Jane (the great-aunt of George Groves) lived to the ripe old age of 84, dying in Wallasey on the Wirral in 1946.<br /><br />Jane is buried in a separate grave in St Helens Cemetery (section 3, grave number 357) along with Thomas Groves, Clara Smith and Patricia Elizabeth Smith.
207
208<div class="image-block2"><img src="https://www.georgegroves.org.uk/herbertmundin_files/william_mundin1.jpg" title="William Mundin pictured in 1921" alt="William Mundin pictured in 1921" /><p class="image-block-caption2">William Mundin pictured in 1921</p></div>
209
210Thanks to Barry Fletcher and the late Derek Mundin for their research contributions to this page.<br /><br />Other research sources include St Helens Local History & Archives Library, St Helens Cemetery Office, Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation and Hertfordshire Countryside magazine.
211
212<div class ="strap2">Next – <a href="../../talking_films/soundfilm1900-23/" title="A History Of The Sound Film (1893 - 1923)">Part 4 A History Of The Sound Film (1893 - 1923)</a></div><div class ="top"><a href="#top">BACK TO TOP OF PAGE</a></div></div></div></div></div>
213
214				</div>
215			</div>
216			<div id="sidebarContainer">
217				<div id="sidebar">
218					<div class="sideHeader">
219						<h4>&nbsp;</h4>
220					</div>
221					
222					
223				</div>
224			</div>
225			<div class="clearer"></div>
226		</div>
227		<div id="footer">
228			<p>Written and Researched by Stephen Wainwright &copy;MMXXII&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="#" id="rw_email_contact">Contact Me</a>
228<script type="text/javascript">var _rwObsfuscatedHref0 = "mai";var _rwObsfuscatedHref1 = "lto";var _rwObsfuscatedHref2 = ":in";var _rwObsfuscatedHref3 = "fo@";var _rwObsfuscatedHref4 = "geo";var _rwObsfuscatedHref5 = "rge";var _rwObsfuscatedHref6 = "gro";var _rwObsfuscatedHref7 = "ves";var _rwObsfuscatedHref8 = ".or";var _rwObsfuscatedHref9 = "g.u";var _rwObsfuscatedHref10 = "k";var _rwObsfuscatedHref = _rwObsfuscatedHref0+_rwObsfuscatedHref1+_rwObsfuscatedHref2+_rwObsfuscatedHref3+_rwObsfuscatedHref4+_rwObsfuscatedHref5+_rwObsfuscatedHref6+_rwObsfuscatedHref7+_rwObsfuscatedHref8+_rwObsfuscatedHref9+_rwObsfuscatedHref10; document.getElementById("rw_email_contact").href = _rwObsfuscatedHref;</script>
228</p>
229		</div>
230		
230<script src="../../rw_common/themes/elite/javascript.js?rwcache=682265725"></script>
230
231		
231<script src="../../rw_common/themes/elite/scripts/jquery-3.3.1.min.js?rwcache=682265725"></script>
231
232		
232<script src="../../rw_common/themes/elite/scripts/scripts.min.js?rwcache=682265725"></script>
232
233		
233<script src="../../rw_common/themes/elite/custom.js?rwcache=682265725"></script>
233
234		
235	</body>
236</html>

Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.