Our friend Vernon Conway, who has died of cancer aged 88, was an actor, theatrical agent and firm friend to many people.
He was born Werner Cohn into a Jewish family in Berlin. When Nazi threats turned to violence, his parents, Albert Cohn, who worked in the textile business, and Hedwig (nee Rosenau), moved with him to Britain in 1936 and settled in north London, changing the family name to Conway.
Vernon attended Christ Church elementary school, then Kilburn grammar, before being evacuated to Northampton. In 1944, after leaving school, he insisted he should go to Rada to study drama, where his contemporaries included Jill Bennett and Roger Moore. Leaving Rada in 1945, Vernon acted in repertory, touring companies, theatre clubs and in films such as The White Unicorn (1947).
In 1951 he followed his parents to the US and carried on acting. With the outbreak of the Korean war he was drafted into the US army. Following basic infantry training in Virginia’s steamy marshes, he was posted to Texas. “I was,” he told us, “very lucky not to be sent to Korea.”
After a spell with the Flynn Dinsmore advertising agency in New York and Cleveland, Vernon was recruited by Abbott House, New York, which provides services for children in care. He was proud to have persuaded Martin Luther King to speak at a fundraiser.
In 1968 he returned to London, joining the new Elspeth Cochrane theatrical agency. In 1976, he set up on his own as Vernon Conway Ltd. His list of clients included Alan Dobie, Hildegard Neil, Polly James and an actor who became a close personal friend, Rula Lenska.
In 1981 Vernon met his soulmate, Brian Hill, who in 2007 became his civil partner. Vernon retired in 1995 and the couple moved to Cheltenham, where they enjoyed several years together travelling to see relatives and friends, and to hear opera. In 2009, Brian died from Parkinson’s disease.
In his last years Vernon read voraciously – describing it as “my great escape”. With his remarkable memory still clear, he remained fluent in his childhood German.
Vernon’s stories and thoughtfulness were loved by many. We will miss his telling the story about Queen Mary, the lord chamberlain, a pick-up girl … and Vernon.
He is survived by a nephew and two nieces.
