STEWART ROME

Original 9 1/2 inch x 7 1/2 inch Black and White Portrait of STEWART ROME.

A slightly aloof and aristocratic-looking leading man, Stewart Rome (born Septimus Ryott in Newbury on 30 January 1886), closely associated with Cecil Hepworth in the silent era, became a kindly character actor in talkies, making more than 150 films. He studied to be a civil engineer, but instead went on the stage. After performing in Australia, Rome returned to the UK in 1912 and joined the Hepworth Company. Hepworth renamed him Stewart Rome, and when he left Hepworth, after WW1 service, to join Broadwest he was forced to sue to keep the name. He is memorable as the shell-shocked veteran in George Pearson’s Reveille (1924), but is obviously too old to remain an acceptable leading man. In 1942, Rome began appearing for Rank as Dr Goodfellow in a series of inspirational shorts, ‘A Sunday Thought for the Coming Week’, roundly jeered at by audiences.

Portrait by Hollywood photographer Albert Witzel with his facsimile signature within the portrait and his official stamp on the reverse.

Until 1924 Albert Witzel was the premier portraitist in Los Angeles, who frequently worked for hire as a still photographer for movie productions. He seldom worked in formats larger than 8×10.