ACTOR’S DEATH

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 148, 19 March 1931, Page 7

ACTOR’S DEATH

Mr. J. B. Atholwood FAMOUS IMPERSONATOR A sound actor has “shuffled off th’s mortal coil” in the person of Mr. James B. Atholwood, for t he last half-centuw closely associated with the „ stage in Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Atholwood. who has been resident at South Head, Sydney, for some years past, had been ill for some months. An operation followed, and on top of that came a stroke. Death took place on Wednesday last. „ . , The late Mr. Atholwood was a tradesman, who as a young man became enamoured of the stage, and served in a humble capacity under the renowned William Hosking, of cherished memory. Since then Mr. Atholwood has been associated with many “stars,” chiefly as a character actor, and on one or two occasions he rose to fame through his impersonations. He was a genius at “make-up. His Gabbett in “For the Term of His Natural Life, in which part he wore a half mask with hideous teeth, was horrifying in its reality. Gabbett was an escaped convict from Port Macquarie, who killed and ate those who escaped with him, and lived to tell the tale. Mr. Atholwood was with the Julius Knight company, and on one occasion “made up” and played Napoleon in “A Noyal Divorce” so cleverly that few detected the substitution. Another great characterisation of‘his was Professor Moriarty in “Sherlock Holmes, with Mr. Cuyler Hastings as Holmes. As they say anent pictures, he went dangerously close to “stealing the honours” from the Yankee Holmes. As the drunken innkeeper in “The Scarlet Pimpernel.” as Schram in “Leah Kleshna,” as Oliver in “The School for Scandal,” Jaikes in “The Silver King,” Banquo in “Macbeth” (with Nance O’Neill), and in many other roles. Mr. Atholwood showed he possessed a talent for utterly losing himself in the character entrusted to him. Indeed, be is the only Australian actor who has possessed this talent in so remarkable a degree. In private life he was rather a slow-going, pedantic man, but give him a character to work into life and time to do it, and he was the genuine artist. His last, performance was as Windy, the pilot, in “The Show Boat.” Illustrative of the actor’s gift for make; up, some of the more elderly members of the Savage Club will remember a visit being paid to the club at 11 o’clock on a Saturday night by two Nelson Illingworths. One was the real one—the other Jimmy Atholwood, but which was which no one could tell. Sybil, a daughter of the deceased actor, is now singing with success in England, and Joyce Atholwood. and the three sons, Nonald, Sidney, and Keith Atholwood. reside in Sydney.