Cavan Malone the Mysterious Page Boy

Cavan Malone as Giles the Page Boy with Joan Rice as Maid Marian


Four years ago I thought I had found the page boy that appeared, but was uncredited, in Walt Disney’s Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952). At the time, I thought the young actor was the stage and screen star Brian Smith (b.1932). His film career started in 1950 and he appeared as Taplow in the classic, The Browning Version (1951) alongside Michael Redgrave. Smith went on to appear in TV’s Billy Bunter in 1954, the colourful swashbuckler, Quentin Durward (1955) with Robert Taylor and the 1957 version of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. But Neil, one of my regular readers wasn’t sure and I must admit I later began to have doubts.

Now, after a lot of trawling the web, I can hopefully reveal, the person who played Giles, that mysterious page boy!

Cavan Malone (born 25th November 1939) was the son of the Irish tenor Danny Malone. His mother Hazel Malone ran the famous Corona Stage School in Chiswick, London, during WWII.  As a former child actor he had appeared with Alec Guinness in the movie classic Kind Hearts and Coronets in 1949 and also on television as far back as 1947.  On the small screen he starred in episodes of No Hiding Place, Dixon of Dock Green and also played Gordon Davies, husband to Joan Walker, in Coronation Street in 1961.  But after appearing in the classic war film 633 Squadron during the mid sixties he seems to have quit acting.
He sadly passed away in 1982, aged 42.

Below is Cavan Malone’s TV and Film Career:

 1964: 633: Squadron ... Ericson

1964: Downfall ... Driving Instructor

1964: The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre (TV series)
– Downfall (1964) … Driving Instructor

1962: Outbreak of Murder (TV series) ... PC Wright

1962: Suspense (TV series)
– Killer in the Band (1962) … Charlie

1962: Dixon of Dock Green (TV series)
– A Special Kind of Jones (1962) … Arthur Flint, as a Young Man

1961: Highway to Battle ...Hoffman

1961: The Cheaters (TV series)
– Fire! (1961) … Detective

1961:  Coronation Street (TV series)
– Episode #1.18 (1961) … Gordon Davies
– Episode #1.17 (1961) … Gordon Davies

1961 Return of a Stranger ... Detective

1960: Linda...Chief

1960: Emergency-Ward 10 (TV series)
– Episode #1.310 (1960) … Tony Aight

1959: No Hiding Place (TV series)
– The Sharp Knife (1959) … Eddie

1959: Julius Caesar (TV movie) ... Servant to Julius Caesar

1958: Further Up the Creek ... Signalman

1957: The Adventures of Peter Simple (TV series)
– The Plot Against Peter (1957) … Midshipman Thompson

1956: Over to William (TV series)
– The Begging Letter (1956) … Robert Brown
– Cats and White Elephants (1956) … Robert Brown
– William and the Three-Forty (1956) … Robert Brown
– The Browncheck Sports Coat (1956) … Robert Brown
– William and the Ebony Hairbrush (1956) … Robert Brown


Richard Todd (Robin Hood), Cavan Malone (Giles) and Martitia Hunt (Queen Eleanor)


1952: Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men... Giles the Page Boy (uncredited)

1952: Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School (TV series)

– The Siege (1952) … Lord Mauleverer

1951-1952 BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (TV series)
Earl of Warwick's page / Prince Henry
– The Life and Death of King John (1952) … Prince Henry
– Festival Drama: Saint Joan (1951) … Earl of Warwick's page

1949:  Kind Hearts and Coronets ... Young Graham (uncredited)

1949:  Macbeth (TV movie)...Macduff's son

1948:  It's Hard to Be Good ...Tommy Beckett (uncredited)

1948: Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill ... Benson

Bill Owen and Cavan Malone in When the Bough Breaks (1947)

1947: When the Bough Breaks ... Jimmy

1947: Captain Boycott ... Billy Killain

3 comments:

Clement Glen said...


"Cavan Malone the Mysterious Page Boy"
Cavan Malone (1939-1982)

Walt Disney's Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men (1952)

Cast

Neil said...

Well done Clement. Absolutely brilliant news that you have identified someong we have all wondered about. I do know his face well and this is maybe from the TV programmes of the early fifties including Billy Bunter. What makes you so sure it is him ? Also I wonder why he would be uncredited even though he has a speaking part and others like some of the Merrie Men are named. You must have trwaled through some stuff to find this and it must have been obscure because I too have tried hard to find out - and always failed I might add.

Neil said...

He was in Kind Hearts and Coronets as you say, and also a particular favourite of mine 'Mr Perrin and Mr.Traill - which now would be viewed as a rather dated private school drama - but I like it. It was from a novel by Hugh Walpole. He also did something that we would all have liked to do I think - share a close scene with Joan Rice who at that time looked very beautiful.