Born Clifford Brook in London, his mother was an opera singer. He turned to acting as a profession after being invalided out of the army, with the rank of Major, in 1918. He began making films in England in 1920 and after various successes went to Hollywood (ostensibly just for one film) in 1924 - he stayed 10 years!
While in Hollywood he and his wife, actress Mildred Evelyn and co-star in Christie Johnstone, became stalwarts of the British Colony. He pursued a successful career as a leading man, his most famous American role being Captain Donald Harvey in Shanghai Express (1932) opposite Marlene Dietrich.

In 1935 he returned to England to star in Ludovico Toeplitz's The Dictator and remained here having parts in several films of the late 1930s and 1940s. In 1944 he starred in, produced, directed and co-wrote On Approval a comedy about boy-friend swapping, but it was not a great success. After the war he turned to the stage and only made on more film, in 1963.