Laurence Hanray

Acting

Laurence Hanray

Born — Died

1874-05-15 — 1947-11-28

Place of birth

Hampstead, London, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

60 titles

Laurence Hanray (16 May 1874 – 28 November 1947), sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film and theatre actor born in London, England. He is also credited as the author of several plays and music hall songs. Laurence Hanray was born Lawrence Henry Jacobs in St John's Wood on 16 May 1874, the son of Angelo Jacobs (c. 1851-1910), a glass manufacturer, and Leah (née Nathan; 1850/1851 - 1946). His father changed his name to Angelo Jacobs Hanray, and with it the family name, after becoming bankrupt in 1897, although Laurence had been using the name Hanray professionally from at least 1892, when he appeared as a member of the Hermann Vezin Theatre Company in supporting roles in H…

Known for

Dark Journey poster
6.5

British double agent Madeleine Goddard meets and falls in love with German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I.

Dark Journey

1937

The Private Life of Henry VIII poster
6.4

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.

The Private Life of Henry VIII

1933

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby poster
6.7

A fatherless boy tries to make his fortune despite interference from his rich uncle.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

1947

21 Days poster
6.1

After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up— or let an innocent man go to the gallows.

21 Days

1940

Love Story poster
6.5

After discovering that she has only a short time left to live, concert pianist Lissa travels to Cornwall for the final fling of her life. While there, she falls in love with young mineral prospector Kit, a man whose dark secret prevents him from fighting in the War. Unbeknownst to Lissa, however, Kit's affections are also much in demand from a rival of hers.

Love Story

1944

The Rise of Catherine the Great poster
5.8

The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments of contentment, Peter's cruel and erratic behavior causes a rift between him and Catherine. Mere months after Peter succeeds his aunt as the ruler of Russia, a revolt is brewing, and Catherine is poised to ascend to the throne as the country's new empress.

The Rise of Catherine the Great

1934

Film credits

1940s · 14 titles

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby poster
6.7

A fatherless boy tries to make his fortune despite interference from his rich uncle.

The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

1947

21 Days poster
6.1

After Larry Darrent accidentally kills his lover's blackmailing husband, someone else is arrested for the crime. When he is found guilty, Larry and Wanda have just three weeks together before he must give himself up— or let an innocent man go to the gallows.

21 Days

1940

Love Story poster
6.5

After discovering that she has only a short time left to live, concert pianist Lissa travels to Cornwall for the final fling of her life. While there, she falls in love with young mineral prospector Kit, a man whose dark secret prevents him from fighting in the War. Unbeknownst to Lissa, however, Kit's affections are also much in demand from a rival of hers.

Love Story

1944

The Ghost of St. Michael's poster
6.8

Will Hay, back in his role as a hapless teacher, is hired by a grim school in remotest Scotland. The school soon starts to be haunted by a legendary ghost, whose spectral bagpipes signal the death of one of the staff. Hay, assisted by Claude Hulbert and Charles Hawtrey, has to unravel the mystery before he becomes the next victim.

The Ghost of St. Michael's

1941

Hotel Reserve poster
6.8

A hunt for a spy in a hotel in the South of France just before World War Two.

Hotel Reserve

1944

No artwork available
4.3

Mother Riley takes over a circus on the point of closing down, and makes it a success.

Old Mother Riley's Circus

1941

On Approval poster
7.1

Two wealthy Victorian widows are courted tentatively by two impoverished British aristocrats. When one of the dowagers suggests that her beau go away with her for a month to see if they are compatible, the fireworks begin.

On Approval

1944

Hatter's Castle poster
5.8

The year is 1880. On the outskirts of the fictional small Scottish town of Levenford there stands a strange building, half cottage, half castle, embraced with thick stone walls. The townsfolk nickname the fortress "Hatter's Castle", for James Brodie, the man who built it. Brodie is a hatter who keeps the members of the family in fear and submission; he is brutal, arrogant, selfish and cruel. His wife, who has long been ailing, and his daughter Mary, are in awe of him. His son Angus, aged 15, alone dear to his heart, suffers under his love as the others suffer under his sternness.

Hatter's Castle

1942

My Learned Friend poster
6.2

An insane murderer is on the loose, and gunning for the men who put him away. William Fitch is on the list, and co-opts his buddy Claude Babbington to try and prevent a grisly end.

My Learned Friend

1943

Waterloo Road poster
6.0

During WW2 a former railway employee who had been drafted, goes AWOL to hunt down the spiv and draft dodger who is having an affair with his wife.

Waterloo Road

1945

Let the People Sing poster
6.8

An out-of-work comedian persuades a drunken nobleman to join a protest against the closing of a village hall.

Let the People Sing

1942

No artwork available
4.6

An account of the technique of reading the tabloid press in an intelligent manor via differing editorial techniques that leads to three styles of newspapers giving varying accounts of a strip-tease act.

Read All About It

1945

Mine Own Executioner poster
7.0

Fearing her husband could become a killer, a woman seeks a psychiatrist's help.

Mine Own Executioner

1947

Quiet Wedding poster
5.3

A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.

Quiet Wedding

1941

1930s · 46 titles

Dark Journey poster
6.5

British double agent Madeleine Goddard meets and falls in love with German spy Baron Karl Von Marwitz during World War I.

Dark Journey

1937

The Private Life of Henry VIII poster
6.4

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.

The Private Life of Henry VIII

1933

The Rise of Catherine the Great poster
5.8

The woman who will become Catherine the Great marries into the Russian royal family when she weds Grand Duke Peter, the nephew of Empress Elizabeth. Although the couple has moments of contentment, Peter's cruel and erratic behavior causes a rift between him and Catherine. Mere months after Peter succeeds his aunt as the ruler of Russia, a revolt is brewing, and Catherine is poised to ascend to the throne as the country's new empress.

The Rise of Catherine the Great

1934

Loyalties poster
7.0

A houseguest at an upper-class gathering, wealthy Jew Ferdinand de Levis, is robbed of £1,000 with evidence pointing towards the guilt of another guest, Captain Dancy. Instead of supporting De Levis, the host attempts to hush the matter up and when this fails, he sides with Dancy and subtly tries to destroy de Levis' reputation. When Dancy is later exposed, and commits suicide, de Levis is blamed for his demise.

Loyalties

1933

The Girl in the Taxi poster
6.8

In this British musical, set in Paris, an apparently upstanding husband and father spends his nights fooling around with wild women. His son, wanting to be just like his dad, begins dating a seductive widow--the same widow his father has been seeing. Trouble ensues when the father refuses to let his daughter marry her true love. When the fiancée learns of the father-son shenanigans, he begins blackmailing them into letting him marry the daughter.

The Girl in the Taxi

1937

Rembrandt poster
6.8

A character study depicting the life of Rembrandt Van Rijn at the height of his fame in the mid 1600s. Beginning with the death of his wife, Rembrandt's work takes a dark turn, which offends many of his patrons.

Rembrandt

1936

It's Never Too Late to Mend poster
6.1

An evil prison administrator cruelly abuses the inmates at his prison, until one day the tables are turned.

It's Never Too Late to Mend

1937

Fire Over England poster
6.2

In 1588, relations between Spain and England are at the breaking point. With the support of Queen Elizabeth I, British sea raiders such as Sir Francis Drake regularly capture Spanish merchantmen, bringing gold from the New World.

Fire Over England

1937

The Man Who Could Work Miracles poster
6.0

An ordinary man, while vigorously asserting the impossibility of miracles, suddenly discovers that he can perform them.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles

1936

The Man from Toronto poster
5.0

According to the terms of a will two strangers must marry. Leila (Jessie Matthews) is an English widow, and Fergus (Ian Hunter) is a Canadian bachelor. Both are bequeathed a fortune, but there is a condition to receive it; the two must marry within a year. To aid matters, Leila disguises herself as Fergus' maid, and the two begin to fall in love. However, when Fergus discovers the truth, he is less than pleased by the deception.

The Man from Toronto

1933

Knight Without Armour poster
5.9

In the last days of Czarist Russia, Russian-speaking Briton A.J. Fothergill is enlisted by his government to go undercover as Bolshevik radical Peter Ouranoff in an attempt to gain access to the revolutionaries' inner circle. Tasked with accompanying lovely aristocrat Alexandra Vladinoff from Moscow to Petrograd to be tried for crimes against the proletariat, Peter attempts to spirit her out of the war-torn country.

Knight Without Armour

1937

Those Were the Days poster
8.3

A farce based on Arthur Wing Pinero's play 'The Magistrate' in which the son (John Mills) of a stern magistrate (Will Hay) visits a music hall against the wishes of his father. In true farcical style, the magistrate too ends up at the music hall, and before long all the characters are trying not to avoid each other... Mainly notable (a) because of its depiction of the music hall as seen by a generation which knew it intimately (b) because of its use of music hall acts of the time and (c) because it gave Will Hay his first film role.

Those Were the Days

1934

There Goes the Bride poster
6.5

A businessman's daughter runs away from an arranged marriage, only to find herself penniless and suspected of theft after she becomes the victim of a bag thief in the train. When she refuses to tell him who she really is, her accuser decides to take her home where he can keep an eye on her until 12 o'clock the next day, the time at which she has calculated that it will be safe to tell the truth! But when his fiancée arrives unexpectedly and then his 'guest' is mistaken for her, it all gets rather embarrassing...

There Goes the Bride

1932

Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife poster
5.8

The story of Mozart and his wife Constance, set against a background of court intrigue and professional jealousy, with music conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham.

Whom the Gods Love: The Original Story of Mozart and His Wife

1936

Action for Slander poster
7.0

A bankrupt officer, accused of cheating at cards, defends his honour with a writ.

Action for Slander

1937

Drake of England poster
6.8

Imposing Canadian-born stage actor and playwright Matherson Lang was one of the twentieth century's great Shakespearean players, and became Britain's foremost screen actor during the 1920s; in Drake of England, one of his final films, he takes the title role in Arthur Woods' portrayal of the life and times of the flamboyant piratical adventurer who founded Britain's sea fortunes. From clandestine romance at the court of Elizabeth I to conquests in the newly discovered lands of South America and spectacular victory over the Armada, Drake of England offers a panoramic overview of Drake's life.

Drake of England

1935

Murder at Monte Carlo poster
9.0

A professor comes up with a system to win at roulette, and goes to the famous casino at Monte Carlo to try it out. When he turns up murdered and his "system" missing, a reporter sets out to find the killer--and the system.

Murder at Monte Carlo

1935

No artwork available
8.0

Jack Brewster is a pennyless English lad who learns that he has inherited 6 million pounds sterling from a recently deceased relative. But soon learns that he must spend 500,000 pounds in 60 days to inherit the rest of the money, or forfeit the entire inheritance.

Brewster's Millions

1935

The Good Companions poster
6.4

Film musical taken from JB Priestley's novel about three musicians joining together to save a failing concert party, the Dinky Doos.

The Good Companions

1933

No artwork available
9.0

'Butler inherits title but keeps it secret to woo employer's daughter.' (British Film Catalogue)

His Grace Gives Notice

1933

Lorna Doone poster
6.5

High drama, set in the English moorland of the 1600s. John Ridd wants revenge on the criminal Doone family, but falls in love with the daughter of the family, Lorna.

Lorna Doone

1934

Wedding Rehearsal poster
5.5

The grandmother of a British nobleman, reluctant to marry, plays matchmaker. He outmaneuvers her by getting all of the matches married off.

Wedding Rehearsal

1932

This Week of Grace poster
5.2

Grace Milroy loses her job working at a factory. However, through a strange set of circumstances, she is taken on as housekeeper at the nearby Swinford Castle the home of the eccentric Duchess of Swinford.

This Week of Grace

1933

No artwork available
7.0

When Sally inherits a country house, her young brother Ronald, an aspiring journalist, hits on a sensational way to make his first big scoop: Sally will 'disappear', and he will be arrested for her murder! At his trial she will reappear, his acquittal will follow, and he will be able to supply his paper with an exclusive story. Sally and her fiance, Bill, fall in with the scheme. However, there are complications which they had not foreseen.

Someone at the Door

1936

Love on Wheels poster
6.0

A department store assistant becomes publicity conscious.

Love on Wheels

1932

The Three Maxims poster
9.0

The Three Maxims are trapeze artists Pat (Anna Neagle), Toni (Tuilio Carminati) and Mac (Leslie Banks). After spending most of their careers in the small time, the threesome finally get their big chance in Paris, at which point Mac realizes he's in love with Pat.

The Three Maxims

1936

A Royal Divorce poster
9.0

The love affair between the French Emperor Napoleon and the lady Josephine leads through Napoleon's rise to power and their eventual divorce.

A Royal Divorce

1938

Smash and Grab poster
6.4

John Forrest, an insurance investigator with a weakness for model railways, is on the trail of a gang of smash-and-grab thieves targeting Europe's most prestigious jewellers. As the chase leads him to Ireland, Forrest finds he needs help and who better to call upon than his impossibly elegant, highly capable wife, Alice?

Smash and Grab

1937

No artwork available
7.0

A British musical film directed by Victor Hanbury

Beloved Impostor

1936

No artwork available
8.0

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony

Julius Caesar

1938

That Night in London poster
10.0

A young bank clerk steals £500 and plans to go on a spree before shooting himself but a bad girl turned good tries to convince him to return the money and stay alive

That Night in London

1932

No artwork available
9.0

'Affianced Foreign Office agent searches for mystery woman he loves.' (British Film Catalogue)

Leap Year

1932

Chu Chin Chow poster
5.0

Musical retelling of the "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" Arabian Nights tale.

Chu Chin Chow

1934

Lonely Road poster
6.9

Commander Stevenson, suffering from unrequited love drives to the coast while very drunk and interrupts some smugglers and informs Scotland Yard.

Lonely Road

1936

The Great Defender poster
4.6

Sir Douglas Rolls is a highly respected defence lawyer of many years experience. Now in rapidly failing health, he is advised to retreat from the courtroom and pursue more pleasurable activities. But it is just at this point in his life that his great lost love a woman his own strong sense of duty led him to give up twenty years ago, and whom he still loves deeply walks into his chambers to ask that he defend her adulterous husband, now to stand trial for murder. Reluctantly agreeing to take on the case, Sir Douglas soon finds there is more to the story than meets the eye.

The Great Defender

1934

The Faithful Heart poster
7.0

Herbert Marshall and Edna Best, husband and wife in 1933, star in the British drama Faithful Hearts. Best plays the daughter of Marshall, who years earlier had run out on his family. When Edna re-enters Marshall's life, it causes him to reassess his values-and to end his engagement to his judgmental fiancee. When Faithful Hearts was released in the US, all the voices were redubbed by American actors; even Herbert Marshall, a fixture in Hollywood films since the dawn of the talkie era, was submitted to this electronic augmentation. Original titled The Faithful Heart (Americans must have more of everything!), the film was based on a play by Monckton Hoffe.

The Faithful Heart

1932

No artwork available
7.0

A woman plans to boost her public profile by getting a divorce. She enlists the help of a male friend to act as co-respondent leading to a series of mix-ups and her eventual decision not to get divorced.

Her Reputation

1931

Mimi poster
5.8

A struggling playwright in 1850s Paris and his mate finds love that furnishes him with the inspiration he has long sought.

Mimi

1935

The Last Chance poster
6.5

Alan Burmister leaves Devon on a secret gun-running expedition immediately after his engagement to Mary Perrin is announced; he returns at Christmas to find himself accused of the murder of Ivor Connel, a moneylender. Mary's father had always hoped that his daughter would marry John Worrall, a rising barrister. Worrall is briefed for the defence, but when he loses the case and Alan is condemned to penal servitude for life, no one but the judge realises that he has not made use of the best piece of defence evidence...

The Last Chance

1937

Midnight Menace poster
7.4

When a reporter is killed under mysterious circumstances, the political cartoonist on his paper begins to investigate on his own. He finds that a vengeful industrialist may be trying to manipulate an international peace conference to stage a bombing attack on London.

Midnight Menace

1937

What Happened Then? poster
6.2

Young Raymond Rudford,sculptor, is on trial for slitting the throat of his uncle, who had adopted and raised him after Raymond's parent's died when he was a young boy. The prosecution allows his motive was fear of being disinherited if he married his fiancé, the fair Alicia Atherton, against his uncle's wishes, and the prosecution lays a mountain of evidence against Raymond, including his razor, dragged from an artificial lake on the estate, as the murder weapon; Raymond's bloody fingerprints and footprints found at the scene of bedroom crime, and his bloody shoes, found in his cupboard and bloody monogrammed-handkerchief found under his uncle's death bed. Raymond's only defense is that he could not have committed the crime as he goes into a paroxysm of dread at the mere sight of blood, a phobia he has had ever since childhood when his dog was run over by a lorry and the dog's blood was splattered into his face.

What Happened Then?

1934

Moonlight Sonata poster
7.0

In this romantic tale Paderewski, the famed pianist, and two other plane crash survivors are guests of a Swedish baroness. Interwoven throughout this gentle and charming story are exquisite piano solos performed superbly by the elderly pianist, Paderewski.

Moonlight Sonata

1937

No artwork available
6.7

Lucy and her brother are struggling to make a go of their Soho pet shop, until Lucy meets Tom, a street singer.

Street Song

1935

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Many Waters

1938

No artwork available
7.0

"A wealthy young man, through losing the bulk of his fortune, goes to Canada, where he encounters and loves the daughter of the scoundrel lawyer who has robbed him." (Synopsis from The Bioscope, November 1930.)

Beyond the Cities

1930

No artwork available
7.0

A British adventure film directed by George King

Adventure Ltd.

1935