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Once a dominant figure in 1930s British film farce, comic actor Moore Marriott is now largely forgotten. He gained fame alongside Will Hay and Graham Moffatt, a trio formed by chance but kept together by popular demand.
Born in 1885, Marriott began his stage career as a child within his theatrical family. With dark curly hair, he appeared on film as an infant and is said to have acted in several silent films for the Hepworth Company, though records are incomplete. By the 1920s, he had appeared in various films including By the Shortest of Heads (1915), The Monkey's Paw (1923), and The Gold Cure (1925), occasionally in leading roles. With the arrival of sound films, he found his niche portraying rural, aged characters, often playing men 20 to 30 years his senior. Audiences loved his portrayal of doddering old fools, often toothless and muttering. Though uncredited in his first film with Hay, Dandy Dick (1935), Marriott gained billing in Windbag the Sailor (1936), where Moffatt joined them as the mischievous, stocky foil. As the bald Jeremiah Harbottle, Marriott helped the trio produce popular, zany comedies like Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937), widely considered their best, and Convict 99 (1938). Eventually, Hay ended the partnership to pursue a solo career. Marriott continued to support other comedians, including Arthur Askey, but never replicated his earlier acclaim. He passed away at 64, never establishing a strong solo following.
