Arthur Shirley (31 August 1886 â€" 24 November 1967) was an Australian
actor, writer, producer, and director of theatre and film. He was one
of the first Australians to enjoy success as a film actor in
Hollywood.Born Henry Raymond Shirley in Hobart to civil servant Henry
Shirley and Sarah Ann, née Morton, he was baptised Arthur and
attended Catholic schools. He then worked for Tattersall's Lottery and
as a junior solicitor's clerk, when at age sixteen he decided to join
a semi-professional troupe of entertainers which toured Tasmania in a
two horse caravan.In 1904 Shirley moved to Melbourne. For a time he
worked as door-to-door salesman for a wholesale grocery firm, then he
became a novice in a Sydney seminary, but left it in 1905 to try and
break into theatre. His first role was a three-line part in Sweet Nell
of Old Drury (1905), starring Nellie Stewart at the Princess Theatre
in Melbourne. He spent the next two years touring Victoria and New
South Wales with the John Cosgrove Company, after which he worked for
other theatre entrepreneurs, including William Anderson, George
Marlow, Beaumont Smith and George Willoughby. In 1909 he announced he
was going to star in a play especially written for him, an early
indication of Shirley's later flair for self-promotion. Arthur Shirley Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter