Oliver Peter Heggie

Oliver Peter Heggie
(17 September 1877 – 7 February 1936)

This post is in honour of an actor who many South Australians would not recognise. This man had a remarkable stage and screen career but is somewhat forgotten in his home state and his home town of Angaston in the Barossa Valley.
 The Anniversary of Mr Heggie's death is this week on Friday the 7th.

 O.P. Heggie (as he was often billed), was born in Angaston in 1877 and went on to star in a variety of theatrical works. He is perhaps best known for his role as the blind hermit in the film “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935).


Mr Heggie was educated in Adelaide at Whinham College and at the Adelaide Conservatorium of Music. His first stage role was in 1899, with a small part in a version of The Three Musketeers.
 Eventually, Heggie went to England with Sir Charles Henry Hawtrey who was an English actor, director, producer and manager. Hawtry cast Heggie in The Lemonade Boy & A Message to Mars. It was from those two productions that a star was born!
Heggie's performance was strong enough in the Hawtry produced plays that Dame Ellen Terry, the leading Shakespearean actor of her day, invited Heggie to tour with her in the USA in two productions; Nance Oldfield & Captain Brassbound's Conversion. The tour was extremely successful in gaining acclaim and praise for its stars.
  After the tour through the USA, Heggie returned to England to continue his acting career, landing a part in the Queen Theatres production of Hornungs Stingaree- a play written about life in outback New South Wales.
  Heggie's list of accomplishments in theatre continued to grow with his reputation, earning him parts in productions at The Haymarket, The Kingsway and Adelphi Theatres, all theatres of great standing in the early 1900s.
  Heggie's performance that gained him the greatest acclaim was that of Sherlock Holmes. The author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the character thought Heggie's performance was so great, that he wrote him a letter (Which Heggie dearly treasure). In the letter, Doyle said that Heggie's performance of the character of Holmes gave him great pleasure, as it was the first time he had seen him played exactly as He, the imaginative mind behind the birth of Sherlock Holmes, had wanted him played.

Heggie went on to star in many more theatre productions such as 'The House of Temperley', 'Lower Depths' & 'The Admiral Speaks'.  In 1927, he moved from the theatre into cinema, where he starred in 27 well-received movies and became a bigger star than he could've dreamt of from his theatre work.
He starred in such movies as “The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu” (1929), “The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu” (1930), “The Count of Monte Christo” (1934), “Anne of Green Gables” (1934), the aforementioned “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) as well as his final movie in 1936, “The Prisoner of Shark Island” - in all, he played parts in 27 theatrical cinema releases (IMDB link -http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0373773/ )

Oliver Peter Heggie was born on the 17 September 1877, Angaston, South Australia, Australia, and died on the 7th of February 1936 in Los Angeles California from pneumonia. Heggie was survived by his wife Lillian and his three children.

Rest In Peace Mr Heggie, you are not forgotten.

Partial filmography role (From Wikipedia)

• The Actress (1928) - Vice-Chancellor Sir William Gower
• The Letter (1929) - Howard Joyce
• The Wheel of Life (1929) - Col. John Dangan
• The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) - Inspector Nayland Smith
• The Mighty (1929) - J.K. Patterson
• The Vagabond King (1930) - King Louis XI
• The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (1930) - Inspector Nayland Smith
• One Romantic Night (1930) - Father Benedict
• The Bad Man (1930) - Henry Taylor
• Playboy of Paris (1930) - Philibert
• Sunny (1930) - Peters
• East Lynne (1931) - Lord Mount Severn
• Too Young to Marry (1931) - Cyrus Bumpstead
• The Woman Between (1931) - John Whitcomb
• Devotion (1931) - Mr. Emmet Mortimer
• Smilin' Through (1932) - Dr. Owen
• The King's Vacation (1933) - Joel Thorpe
• Zoo in Budapest (1933) - Dr. Grunbaum
• Midnight (1934) - Edward Weldon
• The Count of Monte Cristo (1934) - Abbe Faria
• Peck's Bad Boy (1934) - Duffy
• Anne of Green Gables (1934) - Matthew Cuthbert
• A Dog of Flanders (1935) - Grandfather Jehan Daas
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935) - Hermit
• Chasing Yesterday (1935) - Sylvestre Bonnard
• Ginger (1935) - Rexford Whittington
• The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) - Dr. MacIntyre (final film role)

.© 2013 Allen Tiller

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