Thomas Pauncefort

(b. Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, **/**/1885 – d. Ealing, London **/**/1963). British stage actor Thomas Pauncefort apparently came from a theatrical family and was active in repertory, with the internet reflecting a number of appearances at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. In 1907 he acted in When Knights Were Bold, which is probably when he met actress Eva Leonard Boyne, who at one stage was married to him. There is an archival record of him boarding a ship sailing for Yokohama in 1912 and in 1913 he acted in The Girl in the Taxi at the Victoria Theatre in Singapore. There is also a photograph of him taken “somewhere in China”. However, in October 1916 he was in Cape Town and married actress Rita Sauer, who was Australian and was touring South Africa at the time. As Rita Pauncefort (and also Ponsford) she acted in a number of Australian films.

In South Africa Pauncefort was part of the London Gaiety Company and acted in such plays as Mr. Manhattan, The Red Widow and Theodore & Co, all in 1917. During this time he also acted in the film Fallen Leaves (Dick Cruikshanks/1919), which starred Madge Fabian. On the stage he appeared in shows like Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp, with Dan Thomas, Bubbly, with Billie Browne and Florence Creagh, and The Babes in the Woods, with George Taylor and Alec Kellaway, all at His Majesty's Theatre in Johannesburg (1919). During 1920/21 he was in Australia and toured with the musical Irene. Between 1923 and 1932 he was primarily in Great Britain, but in mid-1925 he was back in South Africa and appeared in the musical revue Sally, first at the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg and afterwards at the Opera House in Cape Town. IMDb lists Rita Pauncefort’s Australian films as having been made between 1935 and 1959. She also became immensely popular as Elsie in the long-running radio show Ada and Elsie (1941-1954) (FO)

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