Page 182 - They Also Served

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Bruce Seton 1929.
Bruce Lovat Seton was born on 29th May 1909 in Shimla,
India, the youngest son of Sir Bruce Seton of Abercorn, a
lieutenant-colonel in the Indian Army Medical Service.
Educated at the Edinburgh Academy, he was commissioned from Sandhurst into the Black Watch in 1929. Serving for three years, he was a skilled boxer and fencer before he resigned his commission to pursue a career on the stage.
His first break was as part of the chorus line at the Drury Lane theatre before his matinee idol looks saw him cast as the lead in several low-budget films called ‘quota quickies’. To preserve the declining British film industry, the Cinematograph Films Act 1927 ensured that UK cinemas were required to show a quota of British films for the next ten years. They had to have been made by a British company, in a British or Empire Studio, written by a Briton, and 75% of the salaries had to go to British actors and crew, with a limit on two overseas stars (either actors or directors) employed. Between 1935 and 1937, Seton starred in 14 films.
In 1937, Seton married his co-star of the 1935 film, Blue Smoke, the German-born actress Tamara Desni and continued to work regularly, appearing in another eight films over the next two years. Shortly after the outbreak of war, he re-enlisted in the army, serving with the 10th Battalion, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), ending the war as a major and being awarded the American Medal of Freedom. On St Valentine’s Day 1940, in Edinburgh, Seton divorced his wife and, one hour later, married another actress, Antoinette Cellier – one of the shortest times between divorce and marriage on record.
A stalwart of the now thriving British film industry, Seton appeared in another 49 films between 1946 and 1963, including iconic productions such as Whisky Galore!, The Blue Lamp (which introduced Dixon of Dock Green) and The Cruel Sea. He also starred as Inspector Fabian in the TV series Fabian of the Yard, which ran from 1955 to 1957, each episode ending with Seton fading from shot to be replaced by the real Superintendent Fabian describing the fate of the criminals featured in the programme. In 1950, Seton, together with a group of fellow actors, including John Mills and Jack Hawkins, founded The Lord’s Taverners, which is now the UK’s leading recreational cricket and disability sports charity. In 1963, on the death of his brother, Seton inherited the baronetcy and Sir Bruce died on 28th September 1969.
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