David Ivor Davies (15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951), better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century.He was born into a musical family and his first successes were as a songwriter. His first big hit was "Keep the Home Fires Burning", which was enormously popular during the First World War. After the war, Novello contributed numbers to several successful musical comedies and was eventually commissioned to write the scores of complete shows. His 1917 show, Theodore & Co, was a wartime hit. He wrote his musicals in the style of operetta and often composed his music to the librettos of Christopher Hassall.In the 1920s, he turned to acting, first in British films and then on stage, with considerable success in both. He starred in two silent films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, The Lodger and Downhill, both in 1927. On stage, he played the title character in the first London production of Liliom (1926). Novello briefly went to Hollywood, but he soon returned to Britain where he had more successes, especially on stage, appearing in his own lavish West End productions of musicals. The best known of these were Glamorous Night (1935) and The Dancing Years (1939). From the 1930s, he often performed with Zena Dare, writing parts for her in his works. He continued to write for film, but he had his biggest late successes with stage musicals: Perchance to Dream (1945), King's Rhapsody (1949) and Gay's the Word (1951).
Clara Novello Davies, David Davies, Keep the Home Fires Burning, I Can Give You the Starlight, Waltz of My Heart
Partner
Robert Andrews
Movies
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, Downhill, Tarzan the Ape Man, The Rat, The Man Without Desire, The Lodger, The Triumph of the Rat, I Lived with You, The White Rose, But the Flesh Is Weak, The Bohemian Girl, Free and Easy, The Dancing Years, King's Rhapsody, The Call of the Blood, The Return o...
Star Sign
Capricorn
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Quote
1
There's something Vichy about the French.
2
Things which do not require effort of some sort are seldom worth having.
3
The beautiful heroine might be thinking, How long must I bury my face in this wretched man's shoulder?
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Fact
1
To honor the work and memory of Mr. Novello, since 1956 the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), honour and reward excellence in British and Irish songwriting and composing by presenting The Ivor Novello Award. The award has been sponsored by PRS for Music since 1974.
2
On 27th June 2009 a 7' tall bronze statue of Ivor Novello was unveiled near the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales. The statue shows Novello seated at work on a manuscript. It was created by Peter Nicholas, a celebrated Welsh sculptor who lives in Swansea, and was paid for by public subscription. Apart from a plaque on the house where he was born, it is the only memorial to Ivor Novello in the city of his birth. There are various memorials to Ivor in London including a "blue plaque" between the Novello Theatre and the Waldorf Hotel marking the entrance to the flat above the theatre where he lived until his death in 1951. There is a memorial at Golders Green Crematorium where he was cremated, a plaque in St Paul's Church, Covent Garden (the Actors' Church) and a memorial in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London where his ashes were placed.
3
The internationally prestigious "Ivor Novello Awards" are prizes given out annually by the record industry to British publishers, composers and arrangers.
One of the most famous matinée idols, writers and composers of the British stage during the early part of the 20th century. He played the title role in the first London production of Ferenc Molnar's "Liliom", the Hungarian play from which the American musical "Carousel" was adapted.
music: "Waltz of My Heart" 1939, "Glamorous Night" 1935, "Nuts in May" 1921, "The Land of Might-Have-Been" 1924, "And Her Mother Came Too" 1921, "I Can Give You the Starlight" 1939, "What a Duke Should Be" 1916, "Why Isn't It You" 1937, "Keep the Home Fires Burning" 1915
Back Home
2001
TV Movie music: "Keep The Home Fires Burning"
Keeping Up Appearances
1991
TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Dressmaker
1988
writer: "We'll Gather Lilacs" - uncredited
1918
1985
writer: "Keep the Home Fires Burning"
A Private Function
1984
music: "Rose of England"
The Duchess of Duke Street
1977
TV Series music - 1 episode
M*A*S*H
1977
TV Series music - 1 episode
Aces High
1976
writer: "Till The Boys Come Home" - uncredited
Upstairs, Downstairs
1974
TV Series music - 2 episodes
Are You Being Served?
1973
TV Series music - 1 episode
Johnny Got His Gun
1971
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - uncredited
Darling Lili
1970
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning"
Monty Python's Flying Circus
1969
TV Series music - 1 episode
Oh! What a Lovely War
1969
music: "'Till the Boys Come Home", "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - uncredited
Opportunity Knocks
1968
TV Series writer - 1 episode
How I Won the War
1967
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - uncredited
Coronation Street
1964
TV Series writer - 1 episode
Let's Make Up
1954
writer: "Keep the Home Fires Burning Till the Boys Come Home", "We'll Gather Lilacs"
The Magic Box
1951
writer: "Till the Boys Come Home" 1914 - uncredited
Kvartetten som sprängdes
1950
music: "VARJE LITEN TÖS KAN LÄRA MIG NÅT NYTT"
Elizabeth of Ladymead
1948
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning"
While Nero Fiddled
1944
music: "'Till the Boys Come Home" - uncredited
Variety Jubilee
1943
music: "'Till the Boys Come Home" - uncredited
This Above All
1942
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - uncredited
The First Days
1939
Documentary short music: "Till The Boys Come Home" - uncredited
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
1939
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - uncredited
Glamorous Night
1937
music: "Glamorous Night", "Shine Through My Dreams", "Fold Your Wings", "When the Gipsy Played", "Gypsy Wedding", "Only Girl", "Far Away in Shanty Town"
The Dark Angel
1935
music: "Keep The Home Fires Burning 'Till the Boys Come Home" 1914 - uncredited
Evensong
1934
music: "Till The Boys Come Home" - uncredited
Cavalcade
1933
music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning" 1915 - uncredited
The Lost Squadron
1932
music: "Keep the Home-Fires Burning 'Till the Boys Come Home" 1914 - uncredited
A Soldier's Plaything
1930
music: "Keep The Home Fires Burning" 1915 - uncredited
Symphony in Two Flats
1930
writer: "Give Me Back My Heart" - uncredited
Elstree Calling
1930
writer: "My Heart is Singing"
Pack Up Your Troubles
1929
Short music: "Keep the Home Fires Burning" - uncredited
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Dancing Years
1976
TV Movie play
Musical Playhouse
TV Series original play - 1 episode, 1959 play - 1 episode, 1959
King's Rhapsody
1957
TV Movie play
King's Rhapsody
1955
play
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre
1953
TV Series play - 1 episode
Gay's the Word
1952
TV Movie play
The Dancing Years
1950
play
Free and Easy
1941
play "The Truth Game"
The Rat
1937
play
Glamorous Night
1937
play
I Lived with You
1933
dialogue / play "I Lived With You" / story
The Phantom Fiend
1932
uncredited
-But the Flesh Is Weak
1932
dialogue / play "Truth Game"
Tarzan the Ape Man
1932
dialogue
Symphony in Two Flats
1930
play
The Return of the Rat
1929
play "The Rat"
When Boys Leave Home
1927
as David L'Estrange / play "Down Hill" - uncredited
The Triumph of the Rat
1926
characters
The Rat
1925
play
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Autumn Crocus
1934
Andreas Steiner
I Lived with You
1933
Prince Felix Lenieff
Sleeping Car
1933
Gaston
The Phantom Fiend
1932
Angeloff
Once a Lady
1931
Bennett Cloud
Symphony in Two Flats
1930
David Kennard
The Return of the Rat
1929
Pierre Boucheron
Der fesche Husar
1928
Lieutenant Stephen Alrik / Feri von Noszty
A South Sea Bubble
1928
Vernon Winslow
The Vortex
1928
Nicky Lancaster
The Constant Nymph
1928
Lewis Dodd
When Boys Leave Home
1927
Roddy Berwick
The Lodger
1927
The Lodger
The Triumph of the Rat
1926
Pierre Boucheron / The Rat
The Rat
1925
Pierre Boucheron
The Man Without Desire
1923
Count Vittorio Dandolo
Bonnie Prince Charlie
1923
Prince Charles Stuart
The White Rose
1923
Joseph Beaugarde
The Bohemian Girl
1922
Thaddeus
Carnival
1921
Count Andrea Scipione
The Call of the Blood
1921
Maurice Delarey
Miarka, the Child of the Bear
1920
Ivor
Composer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Below the Row
2013
Documentary
Song by Song
1980
TV Series 1 episode
The Dancing Years
1976
TV Movie
Musical Playhouse
1959
TV Series 2 episodes
King's Rhapsody
1955
uncredited
Gay's the Word
1952
TV Movie
Bonnie Prince Charlie
1923
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Song by Song
1980
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
Musical Playhouse
1959
TV Series lyrics - 1 episode
Alan Melville Takes You from A-Z
1957-1959
TV Series featuring the music of - 2 episodes
The Dancing Years
1950
composer: songs and incidental music
Glamorous Night
1937
composer: songs and incidental music
Elstree Calling
1930
composer: additional music
The Man Without Desire
1923
composer: themes
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Lovers in Araby
1924
producer
The Man Without Desire
1923
producer
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976
Documentary acknowledgment: the non-musical sequences represent outstanding contributions by