--- name: "Desmond Tester" canonical: "https://film.one/person/desmond-tester" fi1m_id: "desmond-tester" imdb_id: "nm0856469" tmdb_id: 102885 wikidata_id: "Q5264809" roles: ["Actor"] born: "17 February 1919" died: "31 December 2002" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-25T02:31:57.430681+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Desmond Tester ## Identity Desmond Tester - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/desmond-tester - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** desmond-tester - **IMDb ID:** nm0856469 - **TMDB ID:** 102885 - **Wikidata ID:** Q5264809 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tester, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5264809, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0856469/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/102885 Actor. Born 17 February 1919 in London, England. Died 31 December 2002. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 17 February 1919, London, England - **Died:** 31 December 2002 - **Also known as:** Десмонд Тестер - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tester, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5264809, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0856469/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/102885 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Sabotage*](https://film.one/film/sabotage.md) (77) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Desmond Tester > Desmond Tester’s natural playing gives *Sabotage* a younger brother worth worrying about. We rate him for helping to make Hitchcock’s threatened family feel real, a quiet contribution to a thriller whose suspense depends on our caring. The useful thing about Desmond Tester in *Sabotage* (1936) is how readily we accept Stevie as Mrs Verloc’s younger brother. Sylvia Sidney supplies much of the family’s emotional weight, but Tester’s guileless playing makes him seem at home in that relationship. We were anxious for Stevie because he felt like someone with a sister who mattered to him. The thriller gives us a reason to care about the boy before asking us to fear for him. The British child roles were not all variations on Stevie. Carol Reed’s *Midshipman Easy* (1935) cast him as Gossett, while *Tudor Rose* (1936) gave him Edward VI. Robert Stevenson’s *Non-Stop New York* (1937) used him as a musical prodigy, and he returned to Reed for *The Stars Look Down* (1940), playing Hughie Fenwick. That is a fair amount of different work to put behind one young face. It is worth remembering those parts when *Sabotage* becomes the only film we associate with him. Hitchcock gets a particular benefit from Tester’s natural playing: it makes the surrounding suspense harder to dismiss as a clever exercise. Our reservations about *Sabotage* lie elsewhere, in plotting that can be obscure and comedy that interrupts the fear at the wrong moment. Tester cannot make those interruptions less awkward. His work with Sidney does, however, keep the domestic scenes important; they are where the film establishes why its threats should trouble us. In Australia, the work changed: he hosted children’s television and later produced and directed it. His manner with that audience was not condescending, a quality worth having in a field where adults can become conspicuously pleased with themselves. Later screen appearances were in smaller, supporting parts. Start with *Sabotage*, provided a cruel thriller is what the evening calls for. ## Biography Desmond Tester was an English and Australian actor. Born in London on 17 February 1919, he began his career on the stage as a child and appeared in British films from the mid-1930s. His early screen roles included parts in *Midshipman Easy* (1935), *Tudor Rose* (1936), *The Drum* (1938) and *The Stars Look Down* (1940). He is credited as Stevie in Alfred Hitchcock's *Sabotage* (1936). After the Second World War he moved to Australia, where he worked in radio, theatre and television. He spent fifteen years at Channel Nine, including as host of children's programmes, and later joined Reg Grundy Productions. Tester revived his stage career in 1974 and appeared in occasional film roles such as *Barry McKenzie Holds His Own* (1974) and *The Wild Duck* (1983). He died in Sydney on 31 December 2002. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Sabotage* (1936), Fi1m 77, as Stevie - Her Young Brother — [page](https://film.one/film/sabotage.md) ## Complete filmography (13) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Rafferty's Rules* (1987), series, as Bonieczeck - *The Explorers* (1984), series, as Col. Warburton - *The Wild Duck* (1984), as Elderly Guest - *Barry McKenzie Holds His Own* (1974), as Marcel Escargot - *The Turners of Prospect Road* (1947), as Nicky - *An Englishman's Home* (1940), as Billy Brown - *The Stars Look Down* (1940), as Hughie Fenwick - Davey's brother - *The Drum* (1938), as Bill Holder - *Non-Stop New York* (1937), as Arnold James - *Sabotage* (1936), as Stevie - Her Young Brother — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/sabotage.md) - *Tudor Rose* (1936), as Edward VI - *The Beloved Vagabond* (1936), as Asticot - *Midshipman Easy* (1935), as Gossett --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/desmond-tester