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Gareth Hughes (William John Hughes) (23 August 1894 – 1 October 1965) was a Welsh stage and silent screen actor. Usually cast as a callow, sensitive hero in Hollywood silent films, Hughes got his start on stage during childhood and continued to play youthful leads on Broadway.

Biography

Born into a working class family in Dafen, Carmarthenshire, after undertaking some local amateur roles aged 15 he walked to London and joined a West End theatre based group of Welsh players. The group took a tour to the United States, and although not successful Hughes was spotted in New York, and left the group to take a series of minor roles on Broadway. Seen by the right people, they persuaded Hughes to get involved in the new-fangled picture business.^[1]

Film career

Hughes earlier screen work was with Clara Kimball Young in Eyes of Youth, Marguerite Clark in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. He was teamed with Viola Dana in The Chorus Girl’s Romance, and was with Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in Sentimental Tommy, the picture which attracted immediate attention to his ability. Even though he had already appeared in many films before this,he always regarded Sentimental Tommy as his favourite and most successful. In total he made forty five films spanning 1918 to 1931.He was also the Welsh dialect coach, on The Corn Is Green made in 1945 starring Bette Davis (another Welsh connection). Ceil B. DeMille called him “a young idealist”. Fulton Ousler describes him as” the charm boy to end all charm boys”

Return to theatre

In 1929 like many others he lost his fortune in the Wall Street crash and was left penniless, but he carried on making films until 1931 when he appeared in Scarce Heads. He then decided to leave the world of film and return to theatre, which he had always been his first love. His last performance ran for 18 weeks at the Hollywood Playhouse in 1938, where he starred as Shylock in the Merchant of Venice.

Missionary

In the early 1940s Hughes decided it was time to leave his full and exciting but also lavish and selfish lifestyle. Adopting the name of Brother David, in 1944 he became a missionary to the Paiute Indians on the Pyramid Lake Reservation of Nevada. Hughes spent almost 14 years with his “children” as he liked to call them.

Later years

In 1958 Hughes decided to return to Llanelli to spend his final years. But he longed for the sunshine of the West Coast, and after five months he returned to California. Later Hughes moved into the Motion Picture Country Home, in Woodland Hills, where he had his own cottage. He baptised silent film actress Clara Kimball Young prior to her death. There he died at the age of seventy, and his cremains were buried in a Masonic Cemetery at Reno, Nevada.

In 2000, Official Hughes biographer, Stephen Lyons, toured the USA while assisting in the production of an hour long TV documentary on Hughes's life in Welsh, which was broadcast on Welsh TV Channel S4C. That year Stephen also raised the money to install a bronze plaque to Hughes's memory at Llanelli's Parc Howard Museum. The plaque is accompanied by a cabinet display which includes documentation, photographs and some of Hughes's possessions which Stephen now owns. Stephen's web site www.intothelonging.com contains film clips, audio clips and photographic galleries.

In 2008, Hughes relative Kelvin Guy made made the film Desert Padre, which premiered in Llanelli.^[1]

References

External links

• Brother David A site set up by a relative of Gareth Hughes
• Gareth Hughes Site run by official biographer Stephen Lyons
• A mention of Hughes