Warwick

CHARLES GREVILLE (7th EARL OF WARWICK) d1984. British peer who became the first British aristocrat to star in a Hollywood Film. He had a lead role alongside David Niven & Errol Flynn in the Paramount film The Dawn Patrol (1938). He first obtained a contact with MGM in 1936 and was to receive £200 a year with valet and secretary. Though newspaper reports at the time suggested his reasoning for taking a film contract was purely sexually motivated. He referred to his wages as his own "pocket money" and that he was 'simply seeking a job like everyone else'. He used the stage name Michael Brooke to distance himself from his aristocratic background. After six months he was dropped by MGM resulting in a long court battle thereafter. As the highest-profile Englishman in Hollywood, he became a celebrity figure with nicknames including ;'The Duke of Hollywood' and 'Warwick the Filmmaker'. He was linked with a string of high-profile affairs including ; Greta Garbo / Marlene Dietrich & Paulette Goddard and was famed for socialising within celebrity circles. After America, he returned to the United Kingdom and during WW2 he opened his home to evacuees from Coventry during the Blitz and to the Ministry of Supplies. It was rumoured that Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess was also held at Warwick Castle for one night while being transported from Scotland to London. He was Mayor of Warwick between 1950 and 1951, organising great celebrations in the town of Warwick for the success of Randolph Turpin and hosted King George VI and Queen Elizabeth for their visit in 1951. He was also active in parliament, as a Conservative member of the House of Lords, supporting his uncle Anthony Eden in his campaign to become Prime Minister on the resignation of Winston Churchill in the 1950s. He was also active in blocking new agricultural legislation in the Lords. He died in Rome aged 73 on January 20th 1984.