Frederick Pope Stamper (20 November 1877 – 12 November 1950), usually credited as F. Pope Stamper or F. Pope-Stamper, less often as Pope Stamper, was an English stage and film actor who appeared mostly in Edwardian musical comedy.
Born at Hammersmith in 1877,"Stamper, Frederick Pope", in Register of Births for the Fulham registration district, Oct-Dec 1877, volume 1a, p. 248 Stamper was a stage actor both before and after appearing in silent movies. He had little screen work after the arrival of the "talkies".
In 1902, at Lambeth, he married Daisy Leahy,"Stamper, Frederick Pope", in Register of Marriages for the Lambeth registration district, Aug-Sept 1902, volume 1d, p. 846 an Irish chorus girl and actress who used the stage name of Daisy Le Hay.Jack Dee, Thanks for Nothing (Doubleday, 2010), p. 161
In 1907 he appeared in the musical comedy Miss Hook of Holland at the Prince of Wales Theatre, creating the role of the Bandmaster; the musical enjoyed a run of 462 performances.Johnson, Colin M. Miss Hook of Holland cast list, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 2004, accessed 31 March 2018Cannon, John. "Isabel Jay", Gilbert and Sullivan News, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society (London), Vol. V, No. 10, Spring 2016, pp. 14–17 In 1911 he appeared in a Charles Frohman production of The Siren at the Knickerbocker Theatre on Broadway, and the same year he played Captain Charteris in A Quiet Girl, at New York's Park Theatre, with a run of 240 performances.Green, Stanley. Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, p. 344
Stamper was a good golfer, but while in New York with a leading role in the Broadway production of The Dollar Princess, he played a round of golf with a Miss Melrose at the Dunwoodie Country Club, in Yonkers, injured the lady by slicing a drive, and faced a claim which was reported as a notable case on the law of torts.Wigmore, John Henry. Select Cases on the Law of Torts: With Notes, and a Summary of Principles, Volume 2, p. 910
Stamper had a brother, Charles William Stamper, who was motor engineer to King Edward VII, and a son, Henry Lionel Pope Stamper (1906–1985), who enraged his father by abandoning a job his father had got for him in the City of London to become an unsuccessful repertory actor. His granddaughter Rosemary Stamper is the mother of the comedian Jack Dee.Dee (2010), pp. 133–134, 161, 171
Selected films The Girl from the Sky (1914): Harold Teale (as Pope Stamper) Ghosts (1914): The Man (as Pope Stamper) The Divine Gift (1918): Tristan The Lackey and the Lady (1919): Garrett Woodruffe Inheritance (1920): Walter Clifford The Pride of the Fancy (1920): Oswald GordonVariety Film Reviews 1921-1925 (1983), p. 32 A Master of Craft (1922): Mate The Musical Beauty Shop (short film, 1930): John The Stickpin (short film, 1933): Simms
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