Born into a farming family in Herne in 1908, Dudley Pout went on to become one of the leading poster artists of the British cinema industry. He was awarded a full-time art scholarship for Margate School of Art and, at thirteen, became its youngest ever student. He left art school at fifteen however, to work on the family farm. When a new cinema opened in Dover in 1930, he was captivated by the cinema poster artwork and applied for a job. He was taken on and, two years later, he became manager of the Stoll Art Studios, producing billboards, posters and press advertisements for the Stoll Empire Theatre. He soon came to the attention of film studio managers in London, where he worked providing posters for the major British studios until 1938.

Moving back to Kent during the Second World War, Pout continued working as a freelance commercial artist. Uncertainty in the film industry led him to taking on wider advertising work and throughout the 1950s and 1960s he worked on comic strips. However, due to a decline in sales and his wife’s worsening health, he stopped working on comic strips and resumed farming until 1973, when he retired and started painting again for pleasure, focusing on farm scenes. Pout’s work, in particular his film posters, continues to attract a dedicated following.