Molly Adair

(b. Twickenham, Middlesex, 24/03/1905 – d. Watford, Hertfordshire, 09/09/1990). Mary Marguerite Potter (Molly Adair) was just 17 when she came to South Africa to play the part of the grown-up Emmeline in the African Film Productions version of H. De Vere Stacpoole’s The Blue Lagoon (1923), directed by Dick Cruikshanks and William Bowden. However, by that time she had already acted in at least six films, including the title role in Stella (1921) an adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s novel Stella Fregelius. After The Blue Lagoon she stayed on to film another novel by Stacpoole, namely The Reef of Stars (1924), directed by Joseph Albrecht, in which she played the parts of both Chaya and Chaya’s daughter, Princess Moya. While on location in East Africa she met New Zealand-born Arthur James Siggins (1880-1970), who had served in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War, had been a member of the British South Africa Police (BSAP) in Rhodesia and subsequently became a big game hunter. They married and their daughter, Jillian Siggins (1930-2008), became well known in British films as actress Jill Adams. Siggins later wrote "Shooting with rifle and camera” (1931), an account of his involvement with the 1929 film version of The Four Feathers, as well as a number of books and articles on contemporary political issues. (FO)