OBITUARY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1937, Page 9

OBITUARY

SIR GUY STANDING

( HOLLYWOOD, February 24. The actor Sir Guy Standing died of a heact attack while chatting with an employee in the offices of a motor agency. The employee asked him how he felt, and he replied that he was excellent and had never felt better in his life. A second later he fell to the floor.

Friends traced his death indirectly to the bite of a "black widow" spider two years ago, during the filming of "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer." Apparently he recovered, but recently he complained of pains in the legs, but refused medical care. It is believed that the poison affected his heart.

Sir Guy Standing was born in London in 1873 and was the eldest son of Herbert Standing, the r.ctor. His father appeared in early films and was one of four actor brothers. At the age of fifteen Sh\Guy Standing determined to make his own way in the world and began a theatrical career, later joining a coastal coaling vessel, and for years he was both sailor and actor. At seventeen he was given a role at Drury Lane and at nineteen jjjas a member of' Mrs. Bernard Beere's company which toured America and Australia. . He joined Charles Frohman for a whole series of plays, appeared with Fay Davis, was in a stock company at Washington, and was in "The Love Houte," which opened the New Lincoln Square Theatre, New York, in 1906. After seventeen years in the U.S.A. he returned to England in "Alias Jimmy Valentine," "The Servant in the House," and "A Sense of Humour." In 1914 he was signed by Famous Players (forerunner of Paramount Pictures) to star on the screen in "The Silver King." Before work began war broke out and as a member of the Royal Naval Reserve he returned to England, where he became a commander. In' 1919 he was knighted for his war work, which included membership of a British Mission to the United States. He retired from the stage and was nine years in the motor business. ' Some years ago he visited the United States, was persuaded to remain, and became an actor for Paramount Pictures. He appeared in many films, notably "Cradle Song," "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer," "The Witching Hour," "Gentlemen of the Navy," "Double Door," and "The Return of Sophie Lang."