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E. E. Clive

Welsh actor in the early 20th century

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ556552
Source-derived summary

Edward Erskholme Clive (28 August 1879 – 6 June 1940) was a Welsh stage actor and director who had a prolific acting career in Britain and America. He also played numerous supporting roles in Hollywood movies between 1933 and his death.

Biography

E. E. Clive was born on 28 August 1879 in Blaenavon in Monmouthshire. He attended Pembroke Preparatory School and the University of Wales. His father, a minister, opposed Clive's becoming an actor. Clive studied for a medical career, and had completed four years of medical studies at St Bartholomew's Hospital before switching his focus to acting at age 22. Touring the provinces for a decade, Clive became an expert at virtually every sort of regional dialect in the British Isles. He moved to the U.S. in 1912, where after working in the Orpheum vaudeville circuit he set up his own stock company in Boston. By the 1920s, his company was operating in Hollywood; among his repertory players were such up-and-comers as Rosalind Russell. He also worked on Broadway in several plays.

Editorial summary

“E. E. Clive” enters the record as welsh actor in the early 20th century. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Clive, Welsh and actor can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1879, 1940, 1933, 1912—that can be checked directly. The authority record carries competing date values—1879-08-28, 1883-08-28—which should remain separate until their references and qualifiers are resolved. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Clive, Welsh and actor.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“E. E. Clive” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Clive, Welsh and actor provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q556552. VIAF identifies the subject as 25149066591465601833. The Library of Congress control number is n87896461. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1879, 1940, 1933 and 1912.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “E. E. Clive”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow E. E. Clive primary sources, E. E. Clive archive and Clive research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “E. E. Clive”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from E. E. Clive” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.