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| Dell Henderson |
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| born: 05 July 1877 St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada |
died: 02 December 1956 Hollywood, California, United States of America (age 79) |
| Tall Canadian actor from the stage who turned his hand to directing between 1913-1927. His father’s name was Alexander Campbell Henderson, and his mother’s Margaret McClusky Henderson. He was baptized a month later, on August 4th. On October 23, 1914, Henderson applied for US citizenship. His affidavit for naturalization purposes records some interesting personal information. At this time, Henderson reported his age as 37. He is 6’1” tall, weighs 228 pounds, and has blue eyes, brown hair, and a “fair” complexion. Henderson had resided in the US since 7 August 1889. His present occupation is “Motion Picture Director” and he is living at 1816 Warwick Avenue, New York City. His wife, Florence Nicholas, is 35, born on 12 March 1882. Although Henderson states he arrived in the US via the Michigan Central Railroad in 1889, his port of entry is New York. Possibly Henderson’s motivation for changing his citizenship derived from the onset of the First World War, which began 3 August 1914. As a Canadian, Henderson was open to conscription; as a US citizen, he was not, as the US was still neutral. Henderson’s application was granted (after three years) on October 26, 1917. A year later, on September 12, 1918, Henderson registered for the draft. He gave his age as 41, employed as a “Moving Picture Director” by the “World Film Co.” at 130 West 46th St. (same place as Oscar Apfel). His permanent address indicates he was a member of the noted actors’ club the Lambs, as he gives the club’s address on 44th St. as contact information. He and Florence are residing at the Hotel Claridge in New York NY. Physical characteristics: height “tall,” build “medium,” eyes “blue,” hair “gray brown.” Despite his age, he didn’t receive an exemption from the draft, but the war ended two months later. In the 1930 census, Henderson is listed as “Dell G. Henderson,” and living at 148 South Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. They’re renting this home for $52 a month. Henderson’s occupation is “Asst. director – motion pictures” rather than actor, but he wasn’t working at that particular time. (This occupation information is curious in that Henderson hadn’t had a known credit for film directing since 1927, whereas he had numerous recent credits for acting and within a month of the census report would make one of his better-known film appearances as the homicidal transvestite in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case). Henderson’s age is listed as 52, Florence’s 45, and they’ve been married since around 1905 (he was 27 at time of marriage, she 20). The Hendersons’ next door neighbors were John Hyams and Leila McIntyre Hyams, long-time vaudeville and film actors (both appear in Pick A Star). TheHendersons lived less than half a mile from Stan and Lois Laurel, who resided at 718 North Bedford. In 1940 living at 402 [? The street name is indecipherable] in Los Angeles, renting his home at $55 a month. George (i.e. Dell) is an “actor – motion pictures” but has been out of work nearly a year (46 weeks, or roughly since June 1939). Despite this, Dell had an income of $2100 in 1939. The Hendersons live just down the block from other film actors such as Keith Hitchcock and Jack Mulhall. Dell’s age is given as 61 and he completed 8 years of school. His wife Florence is 57. They’ve lived here since at least 1935. Dell Henderson passed away at 7 a.m. on December 2, 1956, at the Motion Picture Country Home, 23430 Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills, CA. He’d been living at the home 3 ˝ years, or since mid-1953, accompanied by Florence. His cause of death was “pulmonary edema” due to “aortic regurgitation,” a condition he’d had for 5 years. Notes indicate Henderson had suffered heart problems for 16 years, or since around 1940. He was buried at Valhalla Memorial Park on December 5. Some sources list his middle name incorrectly as "Delbert". |
| Real name: George Adelbert Henderson Height: 6'1" |
Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography; plus all films with Laurel & Hardy; plus all films with Charley Chase. |
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