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Castle (VERNON an English actor)

VERNON, an English actor and aviator; born at Norwich, England, May 2, 1887. His last name was Blythe, but he dropped it for professional purposes, retaining his first two names. He was educated at Birmingham University and expected to become a civil engineer.

He turned, however, to the stage, coming to America and making his début in 1907. He soon discovered that his real talent lay in dancing and inventing new steps. With his his wife, formerly Miss Irene Foote, whom he married in 1911, he speedily became the vogue as an exhibition dancer and teacher. Shortly after the opening of the World War, he studied aviation, received a pilot's certificate from the Aero Club of America, and in March, 1917, attached himself to the British Royal Flying Corps on the western front. He did good service there for a year. He then came to America to act as instructor to the Canadian units of the flying corps, who were having winter training in Texas, and was killed in an airplane accident, Feb. 5, 1918.