Ivor Novello: Portrait of a Star

Ivor Novello (name taken by deed poll in 1927 by David Ivor Davis, 1893-1951) was the most glamorous figure in British theatre from the 1920s to the 1950s. Today he is remembered as the composer and star of spectacular musicals, which rescued Drury Lane from closure, and brought escapist romance to a public that had struggled through the Depression and survived the Second World War. Yet he was also an accomplished popular actor, playwright and silent movie star. Alfred Hitchcock’s first British films were Novello vehicles, as was one of the last movies made by the legendary American director, D W Griffith.
This book recalls the career of the most famously handsome matinee idol in the history of the British stage and screen.