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David Henley, the English actor & singer, talent agent and movie producer, was born on Christmas Day in 1894. Henley first came into notoriety as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company that specialized in the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan, for which he first appeared as part of D'Oyly Carte's Repertory Company chorus from March to November in 1919. He performed with D'Oyly Carte's New Opera Company from December 1921 to June 1922
Marrying his a member of the D'Oyly Carte chorus, Esme Major, the couple toured South Africa in 1920 with another opera company specializing in the Gilbert & Sullivan oeuvre, for which Henley also served as the assistant stage manager. The tour opened in Johannesburg in June with Henley playing Pish-Tush in "The Mikado."
After leaving D'Oyly Carte, Henley established himself as an actor on the London stage in musical-theater. In 1930, he helped found British Actors' Equity, serving as the union's second general secretary. He quit Equity to become a talent agent, heading up the London office of the Myron Selznick Agency. In that capacity, he served as the agent of Robert Donat and Vivien Leigh during World War II.
The Rank Organization hired Henley as a casting director in 1945. At Rank, Henley created an acting school to groom potential film stars. He left Rank in 1949 to set up City Share Trust, a film distribution outfit. Later, he became a motion picture producer, producing the British films "The Devil's Pass" (1957), "Make Mine a Double" (1959), "Stranglehold" (1962), "The Comedy Man" (1963), "Blaze of Glory" (1963), and "The Yellow Hat" (1965). The last film he produced was the Anglo-Yugoslavian co-production "The Crooked Road" (1965), which starred Robert Ryan and Stewart Granger.
David Henley died in England in July 1986. He was 91 years old.
