Robert Morley(1908-1992)
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Bushy-browed, triple-chinned and plummy-voiced English actor and
raconteur of wide girth and larger-than-life personality. The son of a
career army officer, Morley was expected to join the diplomatic corps.
As a 'compromise', he tried his hand as a beer salesman. However,
bitten by the acting bug since first performing in a kindergarten play,
he prevailed over the wishes of his parents and enrolled at RADA. He
made his theatrical debut at London's Strand Theatre, in a 1929
production of "Treasure Island", playing the part of a pirate for $5 a
week. During the next few years, Morley honed his craft by touring
regional theatres, writing or co-writing the occasional play, and, when
money was hard to come by, selling vacuum cleaners. For a while, he
managed his own repertory company in tandem with fellow actor
Peter Bull in the Cornish seaside
resort of Perranporth. Morley eventually returned to the London stage
in a much acclaimed performance as "Oscar Wilde", a role he took to
Broadway in October 1938.
On the strength of this, he was invited to Hollywood and garnered an
Oscar nomination for his first screen role as the effete, simple-minded
monarch Louis XVI, in MGM's lavish production of
Marie Antoinette (1938). Back in
Britain, he then played the armaments millionaire Andrew Undershaft in
George Bernard Shaw's
Major Barbara (1941), a performance
praised by Bosley Crowther as
"deliciously satanic, profoundly suave and tender" (NY Times, May 15
1941). Happily managing to avoid military participation in the Second
World War, Morley spent the remainder of the decade acting in such
prestigious theatrical showpieces as "The Man Who Came to Dinner", and
as star and co-author of "Edward, My Son". His defining performance in
the play led the critic Brooks Atkinson
to comment on his "studied authority ... which might sound like an
affectation in an actor of inferior style"(NY Times, June 4 1992).
Morley acted on screen in a variety of very British, sometimes
eccentric, sometimes giddy, often pompous, but rarely dislikeable
characters. At his best, he was the expatriate Elmer Almayer, at once
pitiable and overbearing, in
Outcast of the Islands (1951);
the Sydney Greenstreet parody
Peterson in John Huston's
Beat the Devil (1953); as another
languid monarch, George III in the colourful period drama
Beau Brummell (1954); as
Oscar Wilde (1960), recreating his
original stage triumph; and as a food critic in the hugely enjoyable
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978).
He also performed occasionally in TV movies and miniseries. His wit was
much appreciated on chat shows, both in Britain and the U.S., where was
a frequent and popular guest. He was also the voice of British Airways
in commercials of the 70's and early 80's, promising "we'll take good
care of you" -- something he did with his acting for over half a
century. Robert Morley was awarded a CBE in 1957. He died as the result
of a stroke in Reading, Berkshire, at the age of 84.
raconteur of wide girth and larger-than-life personality. The son of a
career army officer, Morley was expected to join the diplomatic corps.
As a 'compromise', he tried his hand as a beer salesman. However,
bitten by the acting bug since first performing in a kindergarten play,
he prevailed over the wishes of his parents and enrolled at RADA. He
made his theatrical debut at London's Strand Theatre, in a 1929
production of "Treasure Island", playing the part of a pirate for $5 a
week. During the next few years, Morley honed his craft by touring
regional theatres, writing or co-writing the occasional play, and, when
money was hard to come by, selling vacuum cleaners. For a while, he
managed his own repertory company in tandem with fellow actor
Peter Bull in the Cornish seaside
resort of Perranporth. Morley eventually returned to the London stage
in a much acclaimed performance as "Oscar Wilde", a role he took to
Broadway in October 1938.
On the strength of this, he was invited to Hollywood and garnered an
Oscar nomination for his first screen role as the effete, simple-minded
monarch Louis XVI, in MGM's lavish production of
Marie Antoinette (1938). Back in
Britain, he then played the armaments millionaire Andrew Undershaft in
George Bernard Shaw's
Major Barbara (1941), a performance
praised by Bosley Crowther as
"deliciously satanic, profoundly suave and tender" (NY Times, May 15
1941). Happily managing to avoid military participation in the Second
World War, Morley spent the remainder of the decade acting in such
prestigious theatrical showpieces as "The Man Who Came to Dinner", and
as star and co-author of "Edward, My Son". His defining performance in
the play led the critic Brooks Atkinson
to comment on his "studied authority ... which might sound like an
affectation in an actor of inferior style"(NY Times, June 4 1992).
Morley acted on screen in a variety of very British, sometimes
eccentric, sometimes giddy, often pompous, but rarely dislikeable
characters. At his best, he was the expatriate Elmer Almayer, at once
pitiable and overbearing, in
Outcast of the Islands (1951);
the Sydney Greenstreet parody
Peterson in John Huston's
Beat the Devil (1953); as another
languid monarch, George III in the colourful period drama
Beau Brummell (1954); as
Oscar Wilde (1960), recreating his
original stage triumph; and as a food critic in the hugely enjoyable
Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978).
He also performed occasionally in TV movies and miniseries. His wit was
much appreciated on chat shows, both in Britain and the U.S., where was
a frequent and popular guest. He was also the voice of British Airways
in commercials of the 70's and early 80's, promising "we'll take good
care of you" -- something he did with his acting for over half a
century. Robert Morley was awarded a CBE in 1957. He died as the result
of a stroke in Reading, Berkshire, at the age of 84.