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Frenchay’s forgotten film star takes centre stage at Cinema Rediscovered
Meet Francis George Packer. Like Archibald Leach, he was a Bristol lad who relocated to Hollywood, changed his name and enjoyed a lengthy career as a film star. Unlike Archie – aka Cary Grant – however, Francis has been largely forgotten. But local audiences will have an opportunity to see him in all his glory at the upcoming Cinema Rediscovered festival of restored archive gems.
The son of a Gloucestershire coachman, Francis was born in Frenchay in 1877. He began stage acting in the UK, later leaving his 12 siblings behind to emigrate to America in search of fame and fortune in the glamorous world of Hollywood silent movies. Changing his name to the rather more grand and exotic Nigel De Brulier, he went on to appear in 114 films, beginning with The Pursuit of the Phantom in 1914. The gaunt looking Nigel/Francis specialised in character roles, which perhaps explains why so many surviving photographs show him in a variety of costumes. He made the role of Cardinal Richelieu his own, playing the character in four films: The Three Musketeers (1921), The Iron Mask (1929), The Three Musketeers (1935) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1939).
Nige raids the dressing-up box again
Unusually for an actor in Hollywood at the time, he successfully made the transition from silent films to talkies and was the first actor to play the DC Comics wizard Shazam on screen in the film serial Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941). He died in Los Angeles in 1948.
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Nigel De Brulier and Alla Nazimova in Salomé
At Cinema Rediscovered, our Nige can be seen in a digitally restored print of the 1922 silent adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé. He plays Jokanaan the prophet (aka John the Baptist) opposite Russian-born star, producer and co-director Alla Nazimova. Despite being released at the height of Nazimova’s fame, the film was something of a flop at the time, but has since been reclaimed as a classic of feminist and queer cinema.
The screening on Sat 29 July will be followed by a discussion led by film writer and historian Pamela Hutchinson and Invisible Women. There’s live piano accompaniment by Meg Morley. Go here for tickets.
Images: BFI Archive Collection
Read more: Cinema Rediscovered highlights revealed
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