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Ronald Adam (actor)

January 25, 2023

This article is about the actor, theatre director and RAF officer. For the British Army General, see Sir Ronald Forbes Adam, 2nd Baronet.

Ronald George Hinings Adams OBE (31 December 1896 – 28 March 1979), known professionally as Ronald Adam, was a British officer of the RFC and RAF, an actor on stage and screen, and a successful theatre manager.

Ronald Adam

OBE
Born
Ronald George Hinings Adams

(1896-12-31)31 December 1896
Bromyard, Herefordshire, England, UK
Died28 March 1979(1979-03-28) (aged 82)
London, England, UK
Years active1914–1978
Spouse(s)Tanzi Cutava Barozzi
Allyne Dorothy Franks
Military career
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch
Years of service
  • 1914–1918 (WWI)
  • 1939–1945 (WWII)
RankWing commander
Service number76367
Unit
Battles/wars
Awards
WebsiteProfile at Traces of War

Early life

Adam was born in Bromyard, Herefordshire on 31 December 1896, the son of Blake Adams and his wife Mona Robin. His parents and grandparents were all in the theatrical profession. He was educated at University College School.[1]

First World War

When still only 17 years old Adams volunteered to join the British Army on the outbreak of the First World War. On 2 December 1914 he was commissioned as a temporary Second Lieutenant in the 15th (Reserve) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. Adams soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and served as an observer with No. 18 Squadron in France, before returning home to re-train as a pilot.

Once qualified as a pilot, Adams remained in Britain and flew Sopwith Camels with No. 44 Squadron on Home Defence duties. The squadron was based at Hainault Farm aerodrome in Essex and was pioneering the use of night-fighters against Zeppelin raids on London. He was then posted back to France, still on Sopwith Camels, to No. 73 Squadron, at Champien.

On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) to become the Royal Air Force (RAF), but Adams had barely had time to get used to the new title before he was shot down, on 7 April 1918, near Villers-Bretonneux in Northern France, either by Hans Kirschstein, or possibly Manfred von Richthofen and captured. Adams was badly wounded in the engagement and on the evening of his capture he was visited by a German orderly who passed on the compliments of von Richthofen. Adams spent eight months in hospitals and prison camps before he was repatriated on 17 December 1918.[2][3]

Acting career

After the war he trained as a chartered accountant, but his interest moved to theatre. He dropped the final "s" from his surname and adopted the stage name "Ronald Adam". From 1924 to 1926, he was engaged as manager for Leslie Henson and Dion Titheradge, and at the Little, His Majesty's, and Strand theatres. He entered on the management of the Embassy Theatre, in April 1932, with the production of Madame Pepita, and made over 150 new productions and revivals from 1932 to 1939. Thirty of his productions were transferred to various West End theatres, including Ten Minute Alibi, Close Quarters, The Dominant Sex, Professor Bernhardi and Judgment Day. He presented several plays on tour, and acted in many of them, both at the Embassy and on their transfer.[1]

He made his film debut with Strange Boarders, The Drum (both 1938) and Too Dangerous to Live (1939).[4][5] Meanwhile, he continued with live theatre. At the Old Vic in June 1939 he played Lord Stagmantle in The Ascent of F6 and at the Phoenix in November 1939, Judge Tsankov in Judgment Day. He was director of Howard and Wyndham's Repertory Seasons in Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1938–39.[1]

Second World War

On the outbreak of the Second World War Adam rejoined the RAF as a wing commander and served from 1939 to 1945. During the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 he was the Fighter Controller for the Hornchurch sector. It was Adam's job to co-ordinate the fighter command interceptions by using data gathered by radar and ground observers and then to dispatch fighters to intercept.There exists brief film footage of him in this role and can often be seen in documentaries on the war in the air.[2] Jeffrey Quill, the distinguished Spitfire test pilot on attachment to 65 Squadron at Hornchurch during the Battle of Britain, wrote of Adam: 'Apart from being highly competent at the actual job, his voice had a quality of calm and unhesitating certainty. The contribution of such men to the outcome of the Battle of Britain was incalculable.'[6]

During the war he continued to take part in films, for example as a German bomber chief in The Lion Has Wings (1939), as Mons. Besnard in At the Villa Rose (1940) and as Sir Charles Fawcett in The Foreman Went to France (1942).[5]

Postwar period

Adam was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946.[4]

After 1946 he continued to act in live theatre. At the Garrick in March 1950 he played Mr Gibb in Mr Gillie.[1] He made his Broadway debut in December 1951 in Antony and Cleopatra at the Ziegfeld Theatre.[4] In 1954 he featured in William Douglas Home's comedy The Manor of Northstead in the West End.[7]

His main activity at this stage, however, was in film and television. From 1946 to 1978 he took part in over 140 film or television productions.[5] He portrayed the Group Controller in Angels One Five, a 1952 British war film about the Battle of Britain (Adam reprised his actual wartime role as a fighter Controller).

Selected filmography

Personal life

He married firstly Tanzi Cutava Barozzi; the marriage was dissolved. His second wife was Allyne Dorothy Franks. He had two children, Jane and David.[4] After the Second World War Ronald Adam lived in Surbiton, Surrey, and died on 28 March 1979.

Written works

Adam was part-adaptor of Professor Bernhardi and The Melody That Got Lost, among other works. He was the author of the plays An English Summer (1948), A Wind on the Heath (1949) and Marriage Settlement (1950), which he also produced.

He published a book on his theatrical memories:

  • Ronald Adam (1938). Overture and Beginners. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

In the middle of the war he wrote two novels arising from his experiences in the RAF. Initially they were published using the pseudonym "Blake",

  • Blake (1941). Readiness at Dawn. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.
  • Blake (1942). We Rendezvous at Ten. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

Both of these were later republished under his own name. He wrote again about his wartime experiences in:

  • Blake (1948). To You the Torch. London: The Fortune Press.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Who's Who in the Theatre: Adam, Ronald
  2. ^ a b IMDb biography
  3. ^ Jon Guttman (2008). Sopwith Camel Vs Fokker Dr I: Western Front 1917-18. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-293-6.
  4. ^ a b c d Paul Donnelley (2003). Fade to black: a book of movie obituaries. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-9512-3.
  5. ^ a b c IMDb films by year
  6. ^ Quill, Jeffrey (2008). Spitfire: a Test Pilot's Story (Sixth ed.). Crecy Publishing. p. 190.
  7. ^ "Production of The Manor of Northstead | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.

External links

  • Ronald Adam at IMDb
  • Ronald Adam at the Internet Broadway Database  
  • "Adams, Ronald George Hinings". Traces of War. Netherlands: Foundation for Information on World War 2. 2019.

January 25, 2023
ronald, adam, actor, this, article, about, actor, theatre, director, officer, british, army, general, ronald, forbes, adam, baronet, ronald, george, hinings, adams, december, 1896, march, 1979, known, professionally, ronald, adam, british, officer, actor, stag. This article is about the actor theatre director and RAF officer For the British Army General see Sir Ronald Forbes Adam 2nd Baronet Ronald George Hinings Adams OBE 31 December 1896 28 March 1979 known professionally as Ronald Adam was a British officer of the RFC and RAF an actor on stage and screen and a successful theatre manager Ronald AdamOBEin Green for Danger 1946 BornRonald George Hinings Adams 1896 12 31 31 December 1896Bromyard Herefordshire England UKDied28 March 1979 1979 03 28 aged 82 London England UKYears active1914 1978Spouse s Tanzi Cutava BarozziAllyne Dorothy FranksMilitary careerAllegianceUnited KingdomService wbr branch British Army 1914 c 1917 Royal Flying Corps c 1917 1918 Royal Air Force 1918 1939 1945 Years of service1914 1918 WWI 1939 1945 WWII RankWing commanderService number76367UnitNo 18 SquadronNo 44 SquadronNo 73 SquadronBattles warsWorld War IWorld War IIBattle of BritainAwardsOfficer of the Order of the British Empire 1946 1939 1945 StarDefence MedalWar MedalWebsiteProfile at Traces of War Contents 1 Early life 2 First World War 3 Acting career 4 Second World War 5 Postwar period 6 Selected filmography 7 Personal life 8 Written works 9 References 10 External linksEarly life EditAdam was born in Bromyard Herefordshire on 31 December 1896 the son of Blake Adams and his wife Mona Robin His parents and grandparents were all in the theatrical profession He was educated at University College School 1 First World War EditWhen still only 17 years old Adams volunteered to join the British Army on the outbreak of the First World War On 2 December 1914 he was commissioned as a temporary Second Lieutenant in the 15th Reserve Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment Adams soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps RFC and served as an observer with No 18 Squadron in France before returning home to re train as a pilot Once qualified as a pilot Adams remained in Britain and flew Sopwith Camels with No 44 Squadron on Home Defence duties The squadron was based at Hainault Farm aerodrome in Essex and was pioneering the use of night fighters against Zeppelin raids on London He was then posted back to France still on Sopwith Camels to No 73 Squadron at Champien On 1 April 1918 the Royal Flying Corps amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service RNAS to become the Royal Air Force RAF but Adams had barely had time to get used to the new title before he was shot down on 7 April 1918 near Villers Bretonneux in Northern France either by Hans Kirschstein or possibly Manfred von Richthofen and captured Adams was badly wounded in the engagement and on the evening of his capture he was visited by a German orderly who passed on the compliments of von Richthofen Adams spent eight months in hospitals and prison camps before he was repatriated on 17 December 1918 2 3 Acting career EditAfter the war he trained as a chartered accountant but his interest moved to theatre He dropped the final s from his surname and adopted the stage name Ronald Adam From 1924 to 1926 he was engaged as manager for Leslie Henson and Dion Titheradge and at the Little His Majesty s and Strand theatres He entered on the management of the Embassy Theatre in April 1932 with the production of Madame Pepita and made over 150 new productions and revivals from 1932 to 1939 Thirty of his productions were transferred to various West End theatres including Ten Minute Alibi Close Quarters The Dominant Sex Professor Bernhardi and Judgment Day He presented several plays on tour and acted in many of them both at the Embassy and on their transfer 1 He made his film debut with Strange Boarders The Drum both 1938 and Too Dangerous to Live 1939 4 5 Meanwhile he continued with live theatre At the Old Vic in June 1939 he played Lord Stagmantle in The Ascent of F6 and at the Phoenix in November 1939 Judge Tsankov in Judgment Day He was director of Howard and Wyndham s Repertory Seasons in Edinburgh and Glasgow 1938 39 1 Second World War EditOn the outbreak of the Second World War Adam rejoined the RAF as a wing commander and served from 1939 to 1945 During the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 he was the Fighter Controller for the Hornchurch sector It was Adam s job to co ordinate the fighter command interceptions by using data gathered by radar and ground observers and then to dispatch fighters to intercept There exists brief film footage of him in this role and can often be seen in documentaries on the war in the air 2 Jeffrey Quill the distinguished Spitfire test pilot on attachment to 65 Squadron at Hornchurch during the Battle of Britain wrote of Adam Apart from being highly competent at the actual job his voice had a quality of calm and unhesitating certainty The contribution of such men to the outcome of the Battle of Britain was incalculable 6 During the war he continued to take part in films for example as a German bomber chief in The Lion Has Wings 1939 as Mons Besnard in At the Villa Rose 1940 and as Sir Charles Fawcett in The Foreman Went to France 1942 5 Postwar period EditAdam was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire OBE in 1946 4 After 1946 he continued to act in live theatre At the Garrick in March 1950 he played Mr Gibb in Mr Gillie 1 He made his Broadway debut in December 1951 in Antony and Cleopatra at the Ziegfeld Theatre 4 In 1954 he featured in William Douglas Home s comedy The Manor of Northstead in the West End 7 His main activity at this stage however was in film and television From 1946 to 1978 he took part in over 140 film or television productions 5 He portrayed the Group Controller in Angels One Five a 1952 British war film about the Battle of Britain Adam reprised his actual wartime role as a fighter Controller Selected filmography EditThe Drum 1938 as Major Gregoff Strange Boarders 1938 as Barstow Kate Plus Ten 1938 as Police Chief Luck of the Navy 1938 as Enemy Ship s Captain uncredited Q Planes 1939 as Pollack Aviation Engineer uncredited Inspector Hornleigh 1939 as Wittens Pheasant Inn Manager Too Dangerous to Live 1939 as Murbridge Wills The Missing People 1939 as Surtees The Lion Has Wings 1939 as German Bomber Chief Hell s Cargo 1939 as Capt Dukes Meet Maxwell Archer 1940 as Nicolides At the Villa Rose 1940 as Mons Besnard The Big Blockade 1942 as German businessman uncredited The Avengers 1942 as Daily Express Reporter in Phone Booth uncredited The Foreman Went to France 1942 as Sir Charles Fawcett Managing Director uncredited Escape to Danger 1943 as George Merrick Journey Together 1945 as Commanding Officer at Falcon Field Pink String and Sealing Wax 1945 as Clerk of the Court Green for Danger 1946 as Dr White Take My Life 1947 as Det Sgt Hawkins Deaf Man uncredited The Phantom Shot 1947 as Caleb Horder Fame Is the Spur 1947 as Radshaws Doctor uncredited An Ideal Husband 1947 as Member of Parliament uncredited Counterblast 1948 as Col Ingram Gillington POW Camp Commandant Bonnie Prince Charlie 1948 as Macleod The Case of Charles Peace 1949 as Counsel for Defence All Over the Town 1949 as Sam Vane That Dangerous Age 1949 as Prosecutor The Bad Lord Byron 1949 as Judge Christopher Columbus 1949 as Talavera Helter Skelter 1949 as Director General of the BBC uncredited Obsession 1949 as Clubman 1 Black Magic 1949 as Court President Under Capricorn 1949 as Mr Riggs Diamond City 1949 as Robert Southey Boys in Brown 1949 as Judge uncredited My Daughter Joy 1950 as Col Fogarty Shadow of the Past 1950 as Solicitor Seven Days to Noon 1950 as The Prime Minister The Late Edwina Black 1951 as Head Master The Adventurers 1951 as van Thaal Snr Captain Horatio Hornblower R N 1951 as Adm McCartney Hell is Sold Out 1951 as Specialist Laughter in Paradise 1951 as Mr Wagstaffe The Lavender Hill Mob 1951 as Turner The House in the Square 1951 as Ronson uncredited Mr Denning Drives North 1951 as Coroner Angels One Five 1952 as Group Controller My Wife s Lodger 1952 as Doctor Circumstantial Evidence 1952 as Sir William Hanson QC Top Secret 1952 as Barworth Controller Hindle Wakes 1952 as Mr Jeffcote Appointment in London 1953 as Instructor uncredited Martin Luther 1953 Malta Story 1953 as British Officer uncredited Flannelfoot 1953 as Insp Duggan Escape by Night 1953 as Tallboy Stryker of the Yard 1953 The Million Pound Note 1954 as Samuel Clements uncredited Front Page Story 1954 as Editor Johnny on the Spot 1954 as Insp Beveridge Forbidden Cargo 1954 as Mr Bennett uncredited Seagulls Over Sorrento 1954 as Member of Admiralty Board uncredited The Beachcomber 1954 as Sir Henry Johnstone uncredited The Black Knight 1954 as The Abbot To Dorothy a Son 1954 as Parsons Thought to Kill 1954 as Gooch Tons of Trouble 1956 as Psychiatrist Private s Progress 1956 as Doctor at Medical The Man Who Never Was 1956 as Adams uncredited Bhowani Junction 1956 as General Ackerby uncredited Reach for the Sky 1956 as Air Vice Marshal Leigh Mallory Lust for Life 1956 as Commissioner De Smet Assignment Redhead 1956 as Dumetrius Around the World in 80 Days 1956 as Club Steward Sea Wife 1957 as Army Padre Kill Me Tomorrow 1957 as Mr Brook Carry On Admiral 1957 as First Sea Lord The Surgeon s Knife 1957 as Maj Tilling The Naked Truth 1957 as Chemist uncredited Woman and the Hunter 1957 as Insp McGregor The Golden Disc 1958 as Mr Dryden Carlton Browne of the F O 1959 as Sir John Farthing The Man Who Could Cheat Death 1959 as Second Doctor uncredited Please Turn Over 1959 as Mr Appleton And the Same to You 1960 as Trout Carry On Constable 1960 as Motorist uncredited Snowball 1960 as Mr King Shoot to Kill 1960 as Wood Offbeat 1961 as J B Wykenham Three on a Spree 1961 as Judge Two Letter Alibi 1962 as Sir John Fawcett Satan Never Sleeps 1962 as Father Lemay uncredited Postman s Knock 1962 as Mr Fordyce Heavens Above 1963 as Cabinet Minister 1 uncredited The Haunting 1963 as Eldridge Harper Espionage TV series Do You Remember Leo Winters episode 1964 Roger Upton The Tomb of Ligeia 1964 as Minister at Graveside Who Killed the Cat 1966 as Gregory Song of Norway 1970 as Gade Zeppelin 1971 as Prime Minister The Ruling Class 1972 as Lord The Zoo Robbery 1973 as Zoologist The Man from Nowhere 1975 as George Harvey L Amour en question 1978 as Le juge anglais final film role Personal life EditHe married firstly Tanzi Cutava Barozzi the marriage was dissolved His second wife was Allyne Dorothy Franks He had two children Jane and David 4 After the Second World War Ronald Adam lived in Surbiton Surrey and died on 28 March 1979 Written works EditAdam was part adaptor of Professor Bernhardi and The Melody That Got Lost among other works He was the author of the plays An English Summer 1948 A Wind on the Heath 1949 and Marriage Settlement 1950 which he also produced He published a book on his theatrical memories Ronald Adam 1938 Overture and Beginners London Victor Gollancz Ltd In the middle of the war he wrote two novels arising from his experiences in the RAF Initially they were published using the pseudonym Blake Blake 1941 Readiness at Dawn London Victor Gollancz Ltd Blake 1942 We Rendezvous at Ten London Victor Gollancz Ltd Both of these were later republished under his own name He wrote again about his wartime experiences in Blake 1948 To You the Torch London The Fortune Press References Edit a b c d Who s Who in the Theatre Adam Ronald a b IMDb biography Jon Guttman 2008 Sopwith Camel Vs Fokker Dr I Western Front 1917 18 Osprey Publishing ISBN 978 1 84603 293 6 a b c d Paul Donnelley 2003 Fade to black a book of movie obituaries Omnibus Press ISBN 978 0 7119 9512 3 a b c IMDb films by year Quill Jeffrey 2008 Spitfire a Test Pilot s Story Sixth ed Crecy Publishing p 190 Production of The Manor of Northstead Theatricalia theatricalia com External links EditRonald Adam at IMDb Ronald Adam at the Internet Broadway Database Adams Ronald George Hinings Traces of War Netherlands Foundation for Information on World War 2 2019 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ronald Adam actor amp oldid 1131607582, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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