27 Facts About Arthur Shirley

Arthur Shirley was an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director of theatre and film.

Arthur Shirley experienced some success as a film actor in Hollywood between 1914 and 1920.

Arthur Shirley then worked for Tattersall's Lottery and as a junior solicitor's clerk, when at age sixteen he decided to join a semi-professional troupe of entertainers which toured Tasmania in a two horse caravan.

Arthur Shirley's first role was a three-line part in Sweet Nell of Old Drury, starring Nellie Stewart at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne.

Arthur Shirley spent the next two years touring Victoria and New South Wales with the John Cosgrove Company, after which he worked for other theatre entrepreneurs, including William Anderson, George Marlow, Beaumont Smith and George Willoughby.

Arthur Shirley owed money to a Miss Tindall, a debt which saw him be declared bankrupt at his own petition in December 1913.

Arthur Shirley struggled with financial difficulties before winning the leads in two films, The Silence of Dean Maitland and The Shepherd of the Southern Cross, both opening in 1914; the first was a success.

On 22 December 1913 Arthur Shirley married New Zealand singer Ellen Newcomb Hall at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney; they would separate in 1920 and divorce in 1940.

In Christmas 1913 Arthur Shirley was working for George Willoughby, who issued a notice to his company that their engagements would terminate at a certain date.

The money he earned from the lawsuit enabled Arthur Shirley to pay off his debts and he appears to have had his bankruptcy discharged.

However, Arthur Shirley felt his career as a stage actor in Australia had been greatly hurt by taking on two of its most powerful producers and he decided to try his luck overseas.

Arthur Shirley then went to work in their Glendale studio where he played a detective hero.

Arthur Shirley won roles in One Man's Evil, Bawb O' Blue Ridge, The Fall of a Nation and Branding Broadway alongside William S Hart.

Arthur Shirley ran a photography business on Hollywood Boulevard, where he was a pioneer in the use of artificial lighting for portraiture, and three-dimensional rather that painted backgrounds.

Arthur Shirley claimed it was a photograph he took of Rudolph Valentino dancing which helped that actor be cast in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and thus become a star.

Arthur Shirley returned to Sydney in April 1920 to found his own company, setting up at Rose Bay with the slogan "Moving Pictures Made in Australia for the World".

Arthur Shirley managed to recover, playing Steve Gunn in a stage adaptation of The Sentimental Bloke in 1923 and setting up Pyramid Pictures to produce a film based on The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.

Arthur Shirley wrote, produced, directed and starred in The Sealed Room in 1926 which was less successful.

Arthur Shirley relocated to London in 1927, and tried to exhibit his two directorial efforts to UK audiences, but was not allowed until he paid the requisite duty.

Arthur Shirley did not have the funds so this did not eventuate.

Arthur Shirley announced he intended to form Australian National Films, Ltd.

Arthur Shirley married Frances Clayton in 1934, apparently believing his first wife to be dead, but returned alone to Sydney later in August that year.

When he came off the boat, Arthur Shirley was interviewed by police, who wanted to know if he had been deported.

In 1938 Arthur Shirley announced he was going to produce a film in Tasmania called Wings of Love but this did not eventuate.

Arthur Shirley adopted a son in 1940, and contested the 1943 federal election as an independent candidate for East Sydney.

Arthur Shirley ran on a platform of the abolition of the entertainment tax and safeguarding of personal liberties, among other things.

Arthur Shirley died at Rose Bay in 1967 and was buried at Waverley Cemetery.