Kenneth Hare Bicker-Caarten (29 August 1911 - 1980) was an English actor who worked under the name Kenneth Carten.

Biography

Kenneth Hare Bicker-Caarten was born on 29 August 1911, into a middle-class family in Blomfield Road, Maida Vale, London, the son of Catherine and Edwin Hare Bicker-Caarten.<ref name="encyclopedia">[http://www.encyclopedia.com "Carten, Audrey (b. 1900)." Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages. . Encyclopedia.com. 19 Jan. 2018]</ref> His sister were playwrights Waveney Carten and Audrey Carten.<ref name="Cocktails With Elvira">cite web|title=More on the Cartens|url=https://elvirabarney.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/more-on-the-cartens/|website=Cocktails With Elvira|accessdate=16 January 2018</ref>

Tallulah Bankhead, a very close friend of his sister, Audrey, became a surrogate mother to Carten, who during the summer break from Eton College, went to live with them.^[1]

In the late 1930s, with his sister, Audrey, he frequented the same circle of Elvira Mullens Barney.<ref name="Cocktails With Elvira" />

Appearances

*1930: ''Charlot's Masquerade'' with Beatrice Lillie
*1930: ''Wonder Bar'' with Gwen Farrar and Norah Blaney.<ref name="Wearing" />
*1933: ''Gay Love'' by Waveney Carten and Audrey Carten, with Gwen Farrar
*1933: ''Please'' with Beatrice Lillie.<ref name="Wearing" />
*1934: ''Streamline'' with Tilly Losch.<ref name="Wearing" />
*1935: ''Roulette''
*1935: ''Full House'' by Ivor Novello.<ref name="Wearing" />
*1936: as Edward Valance in ''Family Album'', written and starred by Noël Coward
*1936: as Alf in ''Red Peppers'', written and starred by Noël Coward
*1936: as Gaston in ''Ways and Means'', written and starred by Noël Coward
*1936: as Stanley in ''Still life'', written and starred by Noël Coward
*1936: ''Tonight at 8:30'', written and starred by Noël Coward^[2][3]<ref name="Wearing">cite book|last1=Wearing|first1=J. P.|title=The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|date=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=496|url=https://books.google.it/books?id=Z2mYAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA496|accessdate=23 January 2018</ref>
*1937: ''Foodlight'' written by Beverley Nichols, with Cyril Butcher and Hermione Baddeley.<ref name="Wearing" />
*1939: ''Operette (musical)|Operette'' (later he recorded the song ''The Stately Homes of England'').^[4]
*1939: ''French without Tears'' by Terence Rattigan.<ref name="Wearing" />
*1942: as Sub-Lieutenant R.N.V.R. in the war-movie ''In Which We Serve'' directed by Noël Coward and David Lean.

After leaving the acting career, he became a theatrical agent, his clients included Laurence Olivier, Noël Coward and Googie Withers. He discovered and represented Peter Sallis.^[5] He worked for the Myron Selznick corporation.<ref name="Cocktails With Elvira" /> He represented also Amelia Hall, who, in her memoirs, wrote: "I returned to my Hampstead digs and phoned Kenneth Carten. "Mr Carten, I cannot take part in the murder of a masterpiece." In his quiet, English way Kenneth Carten reasoned with me. He asked me to realize that not every day did an actress come to England from abroad and within two or three weeks land a role like Amanda. He begged me to put up with the script. I did. Looking back, I marvel that I was allowed to work, for I did not belong to British Equity, nor to any union."^[6]

He died in Kensington in 1980.

References

Reflist

Authority control

DEFAULTSORT:Carten, Kenneth
Category/1911 births
Category/1980 deaths
Category/LGBT people from England
Category/Male actors from London

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1. ^ cite book|last1=Bret|first1=David|title=Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life|date=1998|publisher=Robson Books|page=46|url=https://books.google.it/books?id=sx8NAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=16 January 2018
2. ^ cite web|title=Kenneth Carten|url=http://www.playbill.com/person/kenneth-carten-vault-0000047001|website=playbill|accessdate=23 January 2018
3. ^ cite book|last1=Wilson|first1=John C.|title=Noel, Tallulah, Cole, and Me: A Memoir of Broadway's Golden Age|date=2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=237|url=https://books.google.it/books?id=1rF_CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA237|accessdate=23 January 2018
4. ^ cite web|title=Kenneth Carten|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/98637/summary#nav-entity|website=secondhandsongs|accessdate=23 January 2018
5. ^ cite book|last1=Sallis|first1=Peter|title=Fading Into The Limelight: The Autobiography|date=2008|publisher=Hachette UK|page=35|url=https://books.google.it/books?id=R5rOGEBadSEC&pg=PT35|accessdate=23 January 2018
6. ^ cite book|last1=Hall|first1=Amelia|title=Life Before Stratford: The Memoirs of Amelia Hall|date=1990|publisher=Dundurn|page=87|url=https://books.google.it/books?id=RN_n7G5758YC&pg=PA87|accessdate=23 January 2018