Jack Hulbert Biography

At first glance, Jack Hulbert seems to be the British equivalent of Jay Leno; his prominent chin and generous nose were the stuff of which brilliant caricatures were made. A professional entertainer since his Cambridge days, Hulbert rose to stage stardom in musicals and light comedies. He made his film debut in 1930's Elstree Calling, appearing in a sketch with his wife and frequent co-star Cicely Courteneidge. Hulbert's film vehicles of the 1930s were cash cows in England but made very little impression outside the Dominion; an exception to this rule was Bulldog Jack (1935), a tongue-in-cheek homage to the "Bulldog Drummond" films which did quite well in the U.S. In this and other films, Hulbert was supported by his brother Claude Hulbert, a fine performer in his own right. Jack Hulbert retained his ebullience and popularity right up to his final professional appearances in the early 1970s; two years before his death, he summed things up in his jaunty autobiography, The Little Woman is Always Right. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi