Cosmo Kyrle Bellew


Cosmo Kyrle Bellew was a British/American vaudeville and film actor.
Bellew, the son of noted silent film actor Kyrle Bellew and Alice Racketrow, was born in London, England, and immigrated to the United States in 1914. His actual birth date is unclear, with various official documents giving dates between 1874 and 1883. He began his career as a vaudeville actor, appearing in The Devil's Mate in 1915.
In 1917 he enlisted in the British Army in World War I.
Following the war he continued his career in theater, appearing in the musical vaudeville skit Somewhere in France in 1918, when he was stranded in Omaha, Nebraska by the Spanish flu, and was reduced to working in a meat-packing plant and subsisting on free meals. He appeared in the musicals Dearie and The Canary in 1920, and The Boy and Good Morning Judge" in 1921,
In 1926 he appeared on stage in the Ziegfeld musical Louie the Fourteenth, and the Fox Film Summer Bachelors.
In 1927 he moved to Los Angeles and signed with Sam Goldwyn. Following this he appeared in a number of films, although never in a starring role. In 1928 he appeared in Hit of the Show, starring Joe E. Brown, The Bellamy Trial, The Magic Flame starring Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky, and Man, Woman and Sin'', which starred John Gilbert.

Filmography

Personal

Bellew was notable for his "young face" that was "emphasized by his snow-white hair, it having turned grey at the age of 18." It was also reported that, as a singer, he had an "excellent voice."
In 1925 he married Anita Blun in Greenwich, Connecticut. Anita later appeared with him in Lummox. The couple had no children. In his later years Bellew suffered from a heart condition, and died at home in Beverly hills on January 25, 1948. Anita passed away on May 15, 1960. The couple are buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.