Frank Permain Vosper (15 December 1899 – 6 March 1937) was an English actor who appeared in both stage and film roles and a dramatist, playwright and screenwriter.
Stage Vosper made his stage debut in 1919 and was best known for playing urbane villains.
His extensive stage experience included appearing in his own play Love from a Stranger (1936), adapted from the short story "Philomel Cottage" by Agatha Christie.
His screenplays included co-writing the comedy No Funny Business (1933) with Victor Hanbury. He also co-wrote the adaptation of G.B. Stern's novel Debonair with the novelist which opened at the Lyric 23 April 1930.
He also wrote People Like Us, based on the case of Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters. Banned by the Lord Chamberlain after a performance at the Strand Theatre featuring Atholl Fleming,"Music and Drama" Sydney Morning Herald 21 December 1929 it remained unperformed until 1948, when it premiered at Wyndham's Theatre in London, with Miles Malleson, George Rose, Robert Flemyng and Kathleen Michael.
Death Vosper drowned on 6 March 1937, when he fell from the ocean liner SS Paris. His body was found several weeks later on 22 March washed up on the shores near Beachy Head. The death was eventually ruled as accidental after considerable media speculation. Several newspapers reported that earlier in the evening Vosper had been attending a farewell party for Miss Muriel Oxford, "Miss Great Britain" of 1936, in her cabin, and that he had threatened suicide if she refused to marry him. Miss Oxford reported that her last conversation with Vosper was "quite normal" and that he never threatened suicide. According to the Daily Express Fiction Library edition of Murder on the Second Floor, Vosper fell from the French ocean liner SS Normandie, while contemporary newspaper accounts and the evidence produced at the inquest stated it was the liner SS Paris.
Filmography Actor Year Title Role Notes1926BlinkeyesSeymour(film debut)The Woman JurorMorganShort1929The Last PostPaul1932Rome ExpressM. Jolif1933Strange EvidenceAndrew Relf1934Waltzes from ViennaPrince GustavDick TurpinTom KingRed EnsignLord DeanJew Suss Karl AlexanderBlind JusticeDick CheritonThe Man Who Knew Too Much Ramon LevineOpen All NightAnton1935Royal CavalcadeCapt. Robert Falcon ScottHeart's DesireVan StraatenKoenigsmarkMaj. Baron de Boise1936Spy of NapoleonNapoleon IIIThe Secret of StamboulKazdim(final film role)
Screenwriter Year Title1932Murder on the Second Floor Rome Express1933No Funny Business On Secret Service1937 Love from a Stranger (based on his play) 1941Shadows on the Stairs (based on his play) 1947 Love from a Stranger (based on his play)
Plays The Combined Maze (1927) Murder on the Second Floor (1929) - later adapted by Vosper into a novel of the same name. Debonair (1930) Love from a Stranger (1936)
References
External links
Portrait of the actor Frank Vosper by Thomas Staedeli at www.cyranos.ch Short biography and photograph of Vosper.