View source for David Tree

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
[[File:Actor_David_Tree.jpg|thumb|right]]
'''David Tree''' (born '''Ian David Parsons'''; 15 July 1915 – 4 November 2009) was an English stage and screen actor from a [[Beerbohm family|distinguished theatrical family]] whose career in the 1930s included roles in numerous stage presentations as well as in thirteen films produced between 1937 and 1941, among which were 1939's ''[[Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939 film)|Goodbye Mr. Chips]]'' and two of producer [[Gabriel Pascal]]'s adaptations of [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]] classics, 1938's ''[[Pygmalion (1938 film)|Pygmalion]]'', in which he portrayed Freddy Eynsford-Hill, and 1941's ''[[Major Barbara (film)|Major Barbara]]'', in which he was Charles Lomax.

==Early stage experience==
Tree was born in [[Welwyn Garden City]], [[Hertfordshire]], the son of theatre critic Alan Parsons and actress [[Viola Tree]], the daughter of renowned [[Victorian era|Victorian]] actor-manager [[Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree]].<ref name=telegraph>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/6901542/David-Tree.html |title=David Tree |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=28 December 2009 |access-date=10 December 2020}}</ref> The young performer's first exposure to the stage came at the age of six, when he played a bear in his mother's 1921 revival of ''[[The Tempest]]'' at the [[Aldwych Theatre]] in London and continued through his childhood years, as exemplified by his portrayal, at eleven-and-a-half, of Lieutenant Spicer in a January 1927 juvenile production of ''[[Quality Street (play)|Quality Street]]''.<ref name=independent>{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/david-tree-film-star-of-the-prewar-years-who-worked-with-david-lean-alexander-korda-and-anthony-asquith-1832911.html |last=Brownlow |first=Kevin |title=David Tree: Film star of the pre-war years who worked with David Lean, Alexander Korda and Anthony Asquith |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=3 December 2009| access-date=10 December 2020}}</ref>

Taking as his stage name the famous surname from his mother's side of [[Beerbohm family|the family]], he spent a year studying drama at the [[Old Vic]] where, in his words, he "played spear carriers and said 'Hail Caesar!' a lot", such as in September 1934's production of ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]''.<ref name=independent/> Joining the repertory company at [[Oxford Playhouse]], he remained there, on and off, for three seasons and, by March 1937, was at the [[Embassy Theatre (London)|Embassy]] and [[Savoy Theatre|Savoy]] theatres, playing Mago in ''The Road to Rome''.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} In 1938, he was Robin in ''Only Yesterday'' at the [[London Borough of Enfield#Sport and recreation|Intimate]] Theatre during February, [[Ferdinand (The Tempest)|Ferdinand]] in ''The Tempest'' and [[Feste]] in ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' at [[Regent Park]]'s [[Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park|Open Air Theatre]] during June–July, Edgar Malleson in ''Serena Blandish'' at the [[Gate Theatre Studio]] during September, and Gerald in ''Ma's Bit O'Brass'' at the [[Q Theatre]] during October.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} In 1939 he had a notable success portraying Mervyn Brudge in ''[[Little Ladyship]]'' at the [[Strand Theatre (Novello)|Strand Theatre]] during February and, during March, played [[Christopher Hatton]] in ''Drake'' at the [[Coliseum Theatre]] for [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George]]'s Pension Fund for Actors.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

==Film work and new career path after World War II==
Tree entered films in 1937 and played a string of character parts in films such as that year's ''[[Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel]]'' and the role of Freddy in the following year's ''[[Pygmalion (1938 film)|Pygmalion]]'', which had special significance for him, because his grandfather, Herbert Beerbohm Tree originated the role of Henry Higgins in the play's initial English-language production in 1914. In a sentimental gesture, the film's producer, Gabriel Pascal, cast Tree's mother, Viola, in the cameo role of social reporter Perfide, giving Tree a final opportunity to work with his mother. Ill with [[pleurisy]], she died at the age of 54, five weeks after ''Pygmalion''{{'}}s 6 October 1938 London premiere.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

Tree supported [[Robert Donat]] in 1937's ''[[Knight Without Armour]]'' and played a young teacher in Donat's ''[[Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939 film)|Goodbye, Mr. Chips]]'' in 1939.<ref name=independent /> At the start of the [[World War II|wartime 1940s]], he appeared in four releases, ''[[French Without Tears (film)|French Without Tears]]'', ''[[Return to Yesterday]]'', ''[[Just William]]'' and ''[[Major Barbara (film)|Major Barbara]]'', but shortly after putting his promising film career on hold to aid the war effort, he lost his left hand due to a faulty grenade.<ref name=telegraph /> After his recovery, he volunteered for the [[Special Operations Executive|S.O.E.]], and was put in command of a school in the Scottish countryside to train agents.<ref name=telegraph />

The war came to an end during his extended recovery, and his former commanding officer having suggested that Tree become a teacher, he attended [[Magdalen College, Oxford]], where he earned a two-year degree in English.<ref name=telegraph /><ref name=independent /> He decided to become a gentleman farmer, moved to some land with an old schoolhouse in [[Broxbourne|Broxbourne, Hertfordshire]] that he had inherited from his mother, and converted it to a modern farm.<ref name=telegraph /> Since the property included the wall of 15th century house known as Baas Manor, he combined the cottages, creating Baas Manor Farm.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} Having met Mary Vick of [[Rickmansworth]] on an underground train on the last day of the war, he introduced himself and, within a short time, asked her to marry him.<ref name=independent /> Starting a farm where none had been before, they raised, in turn, bees, ducks, cows and [[Danish Landrace pig|Landrace pig]]s. In 1959, he exhibited his pigs at the [[Royal Show]] and broke a record by winning 1st prize in five classes as well as Supreme Champion.<ref name=telegraph />

From the mid-1960s he was a leading commercial lily grower and humorously chronicled his successes, failures and adventures as a postwar farmer in the autobiography, ''Pig in the Middle'' ([[Michael Joseph (publisher)|Michael Joseph]], 1966, reprinted by Noble Books, 2006). The book became the basis for the 1975–78 sitcom ''[[The Good Life (1975 TV series)|The Good Life]]'', for which he received no royalties or credit, except for recognition from cast member [[Felicity Kendal]].{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} In 1961 he became a founding member of the [[Hoddesdon]] Society "set up to protect the town from tower blocks and excessive development that did not fit in with its historic architecture", remaining the Society's president for a number of years.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

==Later years and death==
In 1973, Tree's friend, director [[Nicolas Roeg]], persuaded him to return to the screen in Roeg's [[horror film]] ''[[Don't Look Now]]'', playing the role of an ineffectual headmaster. The Tree family manor provided the exterior and interior for the opening sequences as did his lake, where the red anoraked girl drowns.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} Tree was deeply contented in his home life, his 63-year marriage and his passionate interests in gardening, natural history, ecology, history and the career of his renowned grandfather.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} He died at the [[Queen Elizabeth II Hospital]] in [[Welwyn Garden City]] three-and-a-half months after his 94th birthday, leaving his wife, Mary, daughters Belinda, Gay and [[Vicken Parsons|Vicken]], and son James. Another daughter, Susie, died in 1989.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

Tree is fondly remembered in the autobiographies of fellow performer [[James Mason]] (''Before I Forget'', [[Hamish Hamilton]], 1981), with whom he appeared in the supporting cast of ''Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel'', and actor-turned-documentary-maker [[Kenneth Griffith]] (''The Fools Pardon'', [[Little, Brown and Company]], 1994).

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| rowspan=3|1937
| ''[[Knight Without Armour]]'' 
| Maronin 
| Film debut
|-
| ''[[The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel]]'' 
| Lord Harry Denning 
|
|-
| ''[[Paradise for Two (1937 film)|Paradise for Two]]'' 
| Marcel 
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1938
| ''[[The Drum (1938 film)|The Drum]]'' 
| Lieut. Escott 
|
|-
| ''[[Pygmalion (1938 film)|Pygmalion]]'' 
| Freddy Eynsford Hill 
|
|-
| ''[[Old Iron]]'' 
| Michael 
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1939
| ''[[Over the Moon (1939 film)|Over the Moon]]'' 
| Journalist 
|
|-
| ''[[Q Planes]]'' 
| Robert Mackenzie 
|
|-
| ''[[Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939 film)|Goodbye, Mr. Chips]]'' 
| Jackson 
|
|-
| rowspan=3|1940
| ''[[French Without Tears (film)|French Without Tears]]'' 
| Chris Neilan 
|
|-
| ''[[Return to Yesterday]]'' 
| Peter Thropp 
|
|-
| ''[[Just William (film)|Just William]]'' 
| Marmaduke Bott 
|
|-
| 1941
| ''[[Major Barbara (film)|Major Barbara]]'' 
| Charles Lomax 
|
|-
| 1973
| ''[[Don't Look Now]]'' 
| Anthony Babbage 
| Final film 
|-
|}

==See also==
*[[Beerbohm family]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0871674|name=David Tree}}
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/6901542/David-Tree.html David Tree], Telegraph obituary

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, David}}
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:English male stage actors]]
[[Category:English male film actors]]
[[Category:Actors from Welwyn Garden City]]
[[Category:British Special Operations Executive personnel]]
[[Category:1915 births]]
[[Category:2009 deaths]]
[[Category:Beerbohm family]]
[[Category:Male actors from Hertfordshire]]