Yvon Saxby

(b. Lewisham, Kent, 20/07/1891 – d. Cape Town, South Africa, 27/10/1950). British-born actor, broadcaster. Yvon Harry Saxby played Tom Spencer, Madge Fabian’s faithless lover in the film Fallen Leaves (1919), directed by Dick Cruikshanks. According to Thelma Gutsche, he came out to South Africa to act with the Allen Doone and Madge Fabian-Frank Cellier dramatic companies. For Doone he appeared in such plays as Lucky O’Shea (1919), Sweet County Kerry (1919) and The Burglar and the Lady (1920), together with the likes of Richard Scott, J.B. Rowe and Florence Roberts. He subsequently became a radio broadcaster, first with the Schlesinger-owned African Broadcasting Company and later with the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He was the narrator of Joseph Albrecht and A.M. Miller’s documentary The Blue and Silver Way (1938), made for South African Airways. When he died in 1950, his occupation was given as “producer” and he was employed by African Consolidated Films. He was married to Beatrice Swann (born Butler) and the couple had one son. (FO)

Sources

Stage & Cinema, 25 January 1919

Gutsche, Thelma - The history and social significance of motion pictures in South Africa 1895-1940

Estate Papers, Western Cape Archives & Records Service

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