H.J. Hamlin

(b. **/**/**** - d. **/**/****). Actor. For someone who acted in no fewer than six silent features for African Film Productions, little is known about Halford Hamlin. Usually credited as H.J. Hamlin, Filmverlede consistently gives his surname as Hamlyn, though in contemporary journals he is always referred to as above. He also appears to have been a singer, as an advert of the time announces that Mr. H.J. Hamlin would sing “The Lost Chord” at the Carlton in Johannesburg from 19 July 1917 and a few days later he began an engagement in a revue called S’Nice, credited as “the eminent tenor”. Performed at the Empire Theatre, this also featured Hilda Attenboro and Cecil Kellaway in the cast.His films were: Gloria (Lorimer Johnston/1916), De Voortrekkers (Harold M. Shaw/1916), A Border Scourge (Ralph Kimpton & Joseph Albrecht/1917), King Solomon’s Mines (H. Lisle Lucoque/1919), With Edged Tools (Joseph Albrecht/1919) and Allan Quatermain (H. Lisle Lucoque/1919). In the two H. Rider Haggard films he played Sir Henry Curtis, with Albert Lawrence as Quatermain and Ray Brown as Captain Good. (FO)

Sources

S.A. Pictorial, 23 November 1918

S.A. Pictorial, 12 July 1919

Le Roux, André I. & Fourie, Lilla – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm

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