CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

James Carew

American stage and film actor (1876-1938)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ6131012
Source-derived summary

James Usselman (February 5, 1876 – April 4, 1938), known professionally as James Carew, was an American actor who appeared in many films, mainly in Britain. He was born in Goshen, Indiana in 1876 and began working as a clerk in a publishing firm. He began acting on stage in Chicago in 1897 in Damon and Pythias.

In 1905, Carew moved to England, where he continued his stage career starting with the Lyric Theatre, London, later working in two plays with Shakespearean actress Ellen Terry, one of the best-known and noted British actresses of the day. In 1907, he married Terry, who was thirty years his senior. The couple separated in 1910 but there is no record of divorce. In fact he is listed as living with Ellen at Smallhythe in the 1911 Census.

Carew made his screen debut by 1917, when he appeared in the film Profit and the Loss. He continued to take leading roles in films until his death in 1938.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “James Carew” as american stage and film actor (1876-1938). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1876, 1938, 1897, 1905—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1876-02-05. The account is most persuasive where James, Carew and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american stage and film actor (1876-1938). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6131012. VIAF identifies the subject as 91155680. The Library of Congress control number is no2009108607. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1876, 1938, 1897 and 1905.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. 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 “James Carew”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow James Carew primary sources, James Carew archive and James 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 “James Carew”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from James Carew” 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.