Ian Maclaren

Ian Maclaren (1875-1952) by White Studios.

A native of Devon, Maclaren made his Broadway début in THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH (1901); a decade later, he supported George Arliss in DISRAELI (1911). (In the aftermath of the TITANIC disaster in April 1912, he organized a benefit performance of HAMLET to mark William Shakespeare’s birthday.) His next Broadway appearance was in THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1913.

His later Broadway roles ran the gamut, from a production of Shaw’s ANDROCLES AND THE LION (1915) to THE GREEN RING (1922) and THE LITTLE CLAY CART (1924-25, as Charudatta) with Albert Carroll (“A shampooer who turns monk” in the latter) and Carroll’s frequent co-star Irene Lewisohn. Carroll would appear in the last FOLLIES produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., in 1931.

In films, Maclaren appeared in MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE (1924), a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino; one of his first sound roles was in JOURNEY’S END (1930). By the end of the 1930s, he had slid into uncredited film roles; his last Broadway appearance was in 1941, in Charles Kennedy’s THE SEVENTH TRUMPET.