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Today my husband Alan and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary, and in the context of our respective one-name studies I am particularly reminded today of a strange coincidence which we came across some time ago, concerning Ivy CLOSE (1890-1968).<\/div>\n
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Ivy Lilian CLOSE was born on 15 June 1890 in Stockton on Tees, County Durham, the daughter of watch maker and jeweller John Robert CLOSE (1867-1936) and his wife Emma BLACKBURN (1868-1927). <\/span>In the 1911 census she described herself as a vocalist, the Daily Mirror awarded her the title of \u201cMost beautiful woman in the world\u201d, but in her 20s she became much better known as a popular actress in silent films.<\/div>\n
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My husband is studying the surname NEAME, and I am researching CLOSE. <\/span>Imagine our surprise, then, when we discovered a marriage between a NEAME and a CLOSE, neither of whom, as far as we know, was related to us. <\/span>Not only that, but it was a marriage between two people who have made a significant impact on the world of entertainment.<\/div>\n
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We discovered that Ivy CLOSE married Stuart Elwin NEAME (1885-1923) on Boxing Day 1910 at St Mary, Finchley. <\/span>In his early days, Elwin NEAME was a press and private photographer, but he later became a film director. <\/span>Elwin and Ivy had two sons, Ronald (1911-2010) and Derek (1915-1979), both of whom also became film directors and screenwriters. <\/span>Not only that, but Ronald\u2019s son Christopher (1942-2011) followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, <\/span>producing many successful films and TV series. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Today the baton has been passed to a 4th<\/sup>generation. In a recent episode of Downton Abbey<\/a> <\/span><\/i>one of the characters referred to a film starring Ivy CLOSE. <\/span>I wonder how many viewers realised that she was the great-grandmother of the series\u2019 executive producer, Gareth NEAME (b.1967)? <\/div>\n
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