Arthur Shirley

Shirley devoted his retirement to archaeology and ancient Egypt. He died at Rose Bay in 1967 and was buried at Waverley Cemetery.

He adopted a son in 1940, and contested the 1943 federal election as an independent candidate for East Sydney. He ran on a platform of the abolition of the entertainment tax and safeguarding of personal liberties, among other things. His campaign manager was arrested during the campaign. Shirley lost the election.

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

He 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, Shirley was interviewed by police, who wanted to know if he had been deported. He later sued the two offices involved for £5,000 for assault and wrongful arrest but lost the case.

He also announced he intended to form Australian National Films, Ltd., with a capital of £600,000, to act as film producers, and as distributors of British films throughout Australia and New Zealand. A company of that name was incorporated the following year but Shirley instead attempted to start a film industry in Rhodesia, starting with a project called Sons of Rhodesia. This did not work out and in September 1930 he moved to Hollywood, where he was arrested in February 1932 for overstaying his visa; however he later obtained permission to stay.

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. He did not have the funds so this did not eventuate.

He was a writer and actor, known for My Old Dutch (1926), In Old Kentucky (1919) and Under Two Flags (1922). He was married to Florence Mary Allen.

He 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 (1925). This was a large hit and remains his greatest achievement. He also wrote, produced, directed and starred in The Sealed Room in 1926 which was less successful.

Shirley also 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. He claimed it was a photograph he took of Rudolph Valentino dancing which helped that actor be cast in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), and thus become a star.

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". Although one movie, The Throwback, did begin production, he did not complete it and Shirley was declared bankrupt again in 1925 after a court action by his cinematographer, Ernest Higgins.

He later signed to Universal Studios. He won roles in One Man's Evil (1915), Bawb O' Blue Ridge (1916), The Fall of a Nation (1916) and Branding Broadway (1918) alongside William S. Hart. Of these movies, The Fall of a Nation is the best known, being a sequel to The Birth of a Nation (1914), but Shirley also acted opposite such stars as Lon Chaney, Sr. and Mae Murray.

In June 1914 Shirley and his wife moved to the United States, where he was signed by Kalem Company in their New York studios. He then went to work in their Glendale studio where he played a detective hero.

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

In 1904 Shirley moved to Melbourne. For a time he worked as door-to-door salesman for a wholesale grocery firm, then he became a novice in a Sydney seminary, but left it in 1905 to try and break into theatre. His first role was a three-line part in Sweet Nell of Old Drury (1905), starring Nellie Stewart at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne. He 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. In 1909 he announced he was going to star in a play especially written for him, an early indication of Shirley's later flair for self-promotion.

Arthur Shirley (31 August 1886 – 24 November 1967) was an Australian actor, writer, producer, and director of theatre and film. He was one of the first Australians to enjoy success as a film actor in Hollywood.

Arthur Shirley was born on February 17, 1853 in London, England as Arthur George Shirley.