[4] In fact, he had no connections to Scotland, but in 1996, a plaque commemorating him was unveiled by Scottish comedian Jimmy Logan in Crisp's supposed hometown of Aberfeldy.

[5] He claimed on alternative occasions that his father was a cattle farmer, a country doctor or a royal physician to King Edward VII.

[3] While travelling on the SS Carmania to the United States in July 1906, Crisp's singing talents during a ship's concert caught the attention of opera impresario John C. Fisher, who immediately offered him a job with his company.

Over the next fifteen years, Crisp directed some 70 films in all, most notably The Navigator (1924) with Buster Keaton and Don Q, Son of Zorro (1925) with Douglas Fairbanks.

[2] Between working for Griffith and other producers, along with his many acting roles, Crisp managed to return to the U.K., serving in British army intelligence during the First World War (1914–1918).

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, he appeared in a wide range of roles alongside some of the era's biggest stars, including Katharine Hepburn in The Little Minister (1934) and A Woman Rebels (1936), Charles Laughton and Clark Gable in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Bette Davis and Henry Fonda in That Certain Woman (1937) and Jezebel (1938), Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights (1939), Errol Flynn in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Sea Hawk (1940) and Gregory Peck in The Valley of Decision (1945).

During the same period he was playing loving father figures or charming old codgers in classic films like National Velvet and Lassie Come Home, he also turned in a well-received performance as Commander Beach, the tormented presumptive grandfather in Lewis Allen's The Uninvited (1944).

His "banker's sobriety", extensive contacts and clarity of thought allowed him to make good investments, particularly in the real estate market.

[citation needed] Crisp was in his eighties by the time he quit acting entirely, continuing to work long after it was financially necessary simply because he enjoyed it.

In addition to being one of the premier character actors of his era, he left behind an extensive list of contributions to the film industry he worked to promote for more than fifty years.

[13] On February 8, 1960, Crisp received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion pictures industry at 1628 Vine Street.