Jack Buchanan

Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, comedian, producer, director, theatre manager and businessman. He started off as a music hall comedian and moved to London. After some lean years he came to attention whilst on tour in Tonight's the Night. He produced and acted in his own plays both in London and New York. He achieved front rank stardom in André Charlot's 1921 revue "A to Z", appearing with Gertrude Lawrence. Among his numbers in the show was Ivor Novello's "And Her Mother Came Too", which became Buchanan's signature song. The show transferred successfully to Broadway in 1924. For the rest of the 1920s and 1930s he was famous for the lazy elegance and bonhomie with which he sang, danced and joked his way through his shows. During the 1939-1945 war he starred in his own musical production "It's Time to Dance". He continued to work on Broadway and the West End and took roles in several Hollywood musicals, including The Band Wagon (1953), his best-known film, in which he played opposite Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. He suffered from spinal arthritis, though this didn't stop him from performing several dance numbers with Astaire. Buchanan was a frequent broadcaster on British radio, especially during the Second World War. Programmes included The Jack Buchanan Show and, in 1955, the hugely popular eight-part series Man About Town. In a British tradition of actor-management, Buchanan frequently produced his own shows, many of which were premiered in the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow. He was also heavily involved in the more commercial side of British show-business and was part owner of a number of London theatres. Like David Niven, Buchanan was renowned for his portrayal of the quintessential Englishman on stage and screen, despite being a Scot. Buchanan also provided financial backing for another Scot, John Logie Baird, in Baird's work to develop mechanical television (they had been at the same school in Scotland). Buchanan was legendary among his colleagues for his financial generosity to less prosperous actors and chorus performers. Each year during the running of the annual Grand National horse race, Buchanan would cancel that day's performance of his current musical and would charter an excursion train to the racetrack and back, supplying meals for the entire cast and crew of his show ... and even giving them £5 each for a "flutter" on the horse of their choice! Link to Wikipedia biography