LATE ERNEST TORRENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 114, Issue 19052, 16 September 1933, Page 16 (Supplement)

LATE ERNEST TORRENCE

WAS DEATH AN OMEN? Hollywood Is in mourning for a "favourite son." Wherever the great and near-great of the cinema capital foregather, the talk turns to Ernest Torrence, whose death on May 15th, at the age of 54, robbed the screen of one of Its most beloved character players. The drama in Torrence’s passing lies in the fact that his death In real life followed his death in reel life by a few weeks. Hollywood considers this an omen, for it recalls the fate played the same strange prank in the case of Milton Sills, -who passed away shortly after he appeared in “The Sea Wolf," In which the story required that he die. A strange parallel, indeed: Torrence plays his last role in the United Artists production "I Cover The Waterfront." It is the consensus of critical and popular opinion that in depicting the ragged character of Eli Kirke, smuggler of Chinese, Torrence gives a performance that will always remain as a monument to his memory. Throughout the picture, Ben Lyon, portraying the newspaper reporter, who is determined to expose the smuggler, insists that lie will write Torrence’s obituary, in the end he gets his wish, for Torrence dies, resulting in happiness for Lyon and Claudette Colbert, the girl in the story. But his actual passing lias brought nothing but sorrow to bis host of friends who knew and loved the real Ernest Tor-