Anthony Armstrong
Born1897
Died1976 (1977) (aged 79)
OccupationBritish-Canadian writer

George Anthony Armstrong Willis (1897–1976), known as Anthony Armstrong, was an Anglo-Canadian writer, dramatist and essayist. A humorist who contributed to Punch and The New Yorker magazines, he wrote well-plotted crime plays including Ten Minute Alibi (1933).[1][2]

Biography

Anthony Armstrong was the son of George Hughlings Armstrong Willis and Adela Emma Temple Frere. Although his parents were both English, he was born in Esquimalt, British Columbia as a consequence of his father's career as a Paymaster Captain in the Royal Navy. They returned to England before his brother's birth in 1900 in Dorset. He was educated at Uppingham School.[3] His brother John Christopher Temple Willis (1900–1969) was Director-General of the Ordnance Survey 1953–1957, and a watercolourist.[4] During the First World War Willis was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1915.[5] He was awarded the Military Cross in 1916.[6]

He married Frances Monica Sealy, and had three children: John Humfrey Armstrong Willis (1928–2012), Antonia Armstrong Willis (1932-2017), and Felicity Armstrong Willis (1936-2006).[7] Antonia married the art expert and gallery owner Jeremy Maas; one of their sons, Rupert, is also an art expert, notable for his appearances on the Antiques Roadshow. Jonathan, another of their sons, is the current intellectual property rights holder for Anthony Armstrong's works and can be reached via his London agents, Eric Glass Ltd.

Armstrong contributed to the screenplay of Alfred Hitchcock's Young and Innocent (1937).[8] Several of his own works were adapted into films including The Strange Case of Mr Pelham, which was made into a first-season episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (and directed by Hitchcock), and the film The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970).[9]

Major works

Poster for a Federal Theatre Project production of Anthony Armstrong's Ten Minute Alibi in Waterloo, Iowa (1936)

Novels

  • Lure of the Past (1920)
  • The Love of Prince Raameses (1921)
  • The Wine of Death: A Tale of the Lost Long-Ago (1925)
  • Patrick, Undergraduate (1926)
  • The Trail of Fear (1927)
  • The Secret Trail (1928)
  • The Trail of the Lotto (1929)
  • The Trail of the Black King (1931)
  • The Poison Trail (1932)
  • Britisher on Broadway (1932)
  • Easy Warriors (1932)
  • Ten Minute Alibi (1934) – novelization of his play, adapted as a 1935 film
  • Without Witness (1934)
  • Cottage into House (1936)
  • The End of the Road (1943)
  • When the Bells Rang: A Tale of What Might Have Been (1943)
  • No Higher Mountain (1951)
  • He Was Found in the Road (1952) – adapted as the 1956 film The Man in the Road
  • Spies in Amber (1956)
  • The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham (1957) – adapted as the 1970 film The Man Who Haunted Himself - this novel (The Strange Case of Mr. Pelham) has been republished in 2021 and is available to pre-order on Amazon and available to buy direct from 6 December 2021. Audio and eBook versions are also in production.
  • One Jump Ahead (1973)

Short story collections

  • Apple and Percival (1931), humorous stories about Apple and his friend Percival.
  • The Prince Who Hiccupped and Other Tales: Being Some Fairy Tales for Grownups (1932)
  • The Pack of Pieces (1942) – more fairy tales for adults

Plays

  • In the Dentist's Chair (1931)
  • Orders Are Orders (1932)
  • The Eleventh Hour (1933)
  • Ten Minute Alibi (1933)
  • Mile-Away Murder (1937)

References

  1. ↑ "Anthony Armstrong." Times, 11 Feb. 1976, p. 16. The Times Digital Archive, Accessed 12 Mar. 2019.
  2. ↑ Barzun, Jacques; Taylor, Wendell Hertig (1971). A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. pp. 36–37.
  3. ↑ "Anthony Armstrong". fantasticfiction.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ "Page 10518 | Issue 29340, 26 October 1915 | London Gazette | The Gazette". Archived from the original on 15 October 2019.
  6. ↑ "Page 2094 | Issue 13012, 16 November 1916 | Edinburgh Gazette | The Gazette". Archived from the original on 15 October 2019.
  7. ↑ "FreeBMD Home Page". freebmd.org.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  8. ↑ Kabatchnik, A. (2010). Blood on the Stage, 1925-1950: Milestone Plays of Crime, Mystery, and Detection : an Annotated Repertoire. Scarecrow Press. p. 342. ISBN 9780810869639.
  9. ↑ "Anthony Armstrong". Archived from the original on 24 June 2004. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
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