Robert Morley

For the Australian soap opera actor, see Bobby Morley.

Robert Morley
Robert Morley, 1975
Born	Robert Adolph Wilton Morley (1908-05-26)26 May 1908 Semley, Wiltshire, England, UK
Died	3 June 1992(1992-06-03) (aged 84) Reading, Berkshire, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1928–1989
Spouse(s)	Joan Buckmaster (m. 1940–1992)

Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment. In Movie Encyclopedia, film critic Leonard Maltin describes Morley as "recognisable by his ungainly bulk, bushy eyebrows, thick lips and double chin, [...] particularly effective when cast as a pompous windbag". More politely, Ephraim Katz in his International Film Encyclopaedia describes Morley as a "a rotund, triple-chinned, delightful character player of the British and American stage and screen."

Early life

Morley was born in Semley, Wiltshire, England, the son of Gertrude Emily (née Fass) and Robert Wilton Morley, a Major in the British Army. His mother came from a German family that had emigrated to South Africa. Morley attended Wellington College, Berkshire, which he hated, followed by RADA. As he was a famous "Old Wellingtonian", generations of headmasters tried to contact him, without success, with Morley stating "the only reason for me visiting Wellington would be to burn it down".

Career

Morley made his West End stage debut in 1929 in Treasure Island at the Strand Theatre and his Broadway debut in 1938 in the title role of Oscar Wilde at the Fulton Theatre. Although soon won over to the big screen, Morley remained both a busy West End star and successful author, as well as tirelessly touring.

Still from the trailer for Marie Antoinette (1938)

A versatile actor, especially in his younger years, he played roles as divergent as those of Louis XVI, for which he received an Academy Award Nomination as Best Supporting Actor (Marie Antoinette 1938). He gave powerful performances in the (1960) film Oscar Wilde and as a missionary in The African Queen (1951), but did not receive Oscar nominations for either.

As a playwright he co-wrote and adapted several plays for the stage, having outstanding success in London and New York with Edward, My Son, a gripping family drama written in 1947 (with Noel Langley) in which he played the central role of Arnold Holt. But the disappointing film version, directed by George Cukor at MGM Elstree in 1949, instead starred the miscast Spencer Tracy, who turned Holt, an unscrupulous English businessman, into a blustering Canadian expatriate. His 1937 play Goodness, How Sad was turned into a 1940 Ealing Studios film Return to Yesterday directed by Robert Stevenson.

Morley also personified the conservative Englishman in many comedy and caper films. He was also the face of BOAC (later British Airways) in television commercials of the 1970s. British Airways: 'We'll take more care of you'. Later in his career, he received critical acclaim and numerous accolades for his performance in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?. Renowned for repartee and for being an eloquent conversationalist, Morley gained the epitheton of being a "wit".

He narrated the Chuck Jones award-winning 1965 cartoon The Dot and the Line, a 10-minute animated short film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Morley was honoured by being the first King of Moomba appointed by the Melbourne Moomba festival committee and, in typical humility, he accepted the crown in bare feet. Morley was in Australia touring his one-man show, The Sound of Morley.

In his book British Film Character Actors, Terence Pettigrew wrote 'Morley, who has more wobbly chins than a Shanghai drinking club, enjoys poking fun at life's absurdities, among whom he generously includes himself.'

Personal life

He married Joan Buckmaster (1910–2005), a daughter of Dame Gladys Cooper. Their elder son, Sheridan Morley was a well-known writer and critic. They also had a daughter Annabel and another son Wilton.

Honours

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1957. He was also offered a knighthood in 1975 but declined it.

Death

Morley died in Reading, Berkshire from a stroke, aged 84.

Theatre career

• First stage appearance in Dr Syn (Hippodrome, Margate, 28 May 1928)
• First London role, a pirate in Treasure Island (Strand Theatre, Christmas 1929)
• Touring, plus Playhouse Oxford and Festival Cambridge repertory, (1931–1933)
• Oakes in Up In the Air (Royalty Theatre, London 1933)
• Touring with Sir Frank Benson (1934–35)
• Ran a repertory company with Peter Bull (Perranporth, Cornwall, 1935)
• Title role in Oscar Wilde (Gate Theatre Studio, Villiers Street, London, 1936)
• Alexandre Dumas in The Great Romancer (Strand Theatre and New Theatre, 1937)
• Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (Old Vic Theatre, 1937)
• Title role in Oscar Wilde (Fulton Theatre, New York, October 1938)
• Title role in Springtime for Henry (Perranporth, 1939)
• Descius Heiss in Play with Fire (try-out version of The Shop at Sly Corner, Theatre Royal, Brighton, 1941)
• Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner (Savoy Theatre — and on tour — 1941–43)
• Charles in Staff Dance (also wrote, touring UK, 1944)
• Prince Regent in The First Gentleman (New Theatre and Savoy, 1945–46)
• Arnold Holt in Edward, My Son (also co-wrote, His Majesty's Theatre, 1947; also played this role at the Martin Beck Theatre New York 1948, and in Australia and New Zealand, 1949–50)
• Philip in The Little Hut (Lyric Theatre, 1950)
• Hippo in Hippo Dancing (also adapted, Lyric, 1954)
• Oswald Petersham in A Likely Tale (Globe Theatre, 1956)
• Panisse in the musical Fanny (Drury Lane, 1956
• The Tunnel of Love (directed, Her Majesty's, 1957)
• Sebastian Le Boeuf in Hook, Line and Sinker (also adapted, Piccadilly Theatre, 1958)
• Once More, with Feeling (directed, New Theatre, 1959)
• Mr Asano in A Majority of One (Phoenix Theatre, 1960)
• Title role in Mr Rhodes (Theatre Royal Windsor, 1961)
• The Bishop in A Time to Laugh (Piccadilly, 1962)
• The Sound of Morley (One-man show, touring Australia 1966–67)
• Sir Mallalieu Fitzbuttress in Halfway Up the Tree (Queen's Theatre, 1967)
• Frank Foster in How the Other Half Loves (Lyric, 1970; also North America, 1972, and Australia, 1973)
• Barnstable in A Ghost on Tiptoe (also co-wrote, Savoy, 1974)
• Pound in Banana Ridge (Savoy, 1976)
• Toured Robert Morley Talks to Everyone (1978)
• Picture of Innocence (co-wrote and toured UK and Canada, 1978)
• Hilary in Alan Bennett's The Old Country (Theatre Royal, Sydney, 1980)

Filmography

• Marie Antoinette (1938) (King Louis XVI)
• Major Barbara (1941) (Andrew Undershaft)
• The Foreman Went to France (1942) (Mayor Coutare of Bivary)
• The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) (Charles James Fox)
• The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947) (Gen. "Jumbo" Burlap)
• The African Queen (1951) (Reverend Samuel Sayer)
• Outcast of the Islands (1952) (Almayer)
• The Final Test (1953)
• The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953) (W.S. Gilbert)
• Beat the Devil (1953) (Peterson)
• The Good Die Young (1954)
• The Rainbow Jacket (1954) (Lord Logan)
• Beau Brummell (1954) (King George III)
• The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955) (Louis XI of France)
• Loser Takes All (1956)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) (Ralph in the Reform Club)
• Law and Disorder (1958)
• The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1958)
• The Journey (1959)
• The Doctor's Dilemma (1959) (Sir Ralph Bloomfield-Bonington)
• The Battle of the Sexes (1959) (Robert MacPherson)
• Oscar Wilde (1960) (Oscar Wilde)
• The Young Ones with Cliff Richard (1961) (Hamilton Black)
• Go to Blazes (1962) (Arson Eddie)
• The Road to Hong Kong (1962) (Leader of the 3rd Echelon)
• The Old Dark House (1963) (Roderick Femm)
• Murder at the Gallop (1963) (Hector Enderby) (opposite Margaret Rutherford)
• Ladies Who Do (1963) (Colonel Whitforth)
• Take Her, She's Mine (1963) (Mr. Pope-Jones)
• Of Human Bondage (1964) (Dr. Jacobs)
• Topkapi (1964) (Cedric Page)
• Hot Enough for June (1964) (Colonel Cuncliffe)
• Genghis Khan (1965) (Emperor of China)
• Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965) (Lord Rawnsley)
• The Loved One (1965) (Sir Ambrose Ambercrombie)
• A Study in Terror (1965) (Mycroft Holmes)
• Life at the Top (1965) (Tiffield)
• The Alphabet Murders (aka The ABC Murders) (1965) (Captain Arthur Hastings)
• The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics (1965) (Narrator)
• Hotel Paradiso (1966) (Henri Cotte)
• The Trygon Factor (1966)
• Way...Way Out (1966) (Harold Quonset)
• Hot Millions (1968) (Caesar Smith)
• Cromwell (1970) (The Earl of Manchester)
• When Eight Bells Toll (1971) (Uncle Arthur)
• Theatre of Blood (1973) (Meredith Merridew)
• Great Expectations (1974) (ITC TVM) (Uncle Pumblechook)
• The Blue Bird (1976) (Father Time)
• Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (aka Too Many Chefs) (1978) (Max)
• The Human Factor (1979) (Dr Percival)
• Scavenger Hunt (1979) (Estate Lawyer)
• The Great Muppet Caper (1981) (British Gentlemen)
• The Old Men at the Zoo (1982) (BBC TV mini-series) (Lord Godmanchester)
• High Road to China (1983) (Bentik)
• Alice in Wonderland (1985) (CBS TV mini-series) (King of Hearts)
• "The Trouble with Spies" (1987) (Angus)
• Little Dorrit (1988) (Lord Decimus Barnacle)

Publications

• Robert Morley's Book of Bricks (1978, ISBN 0 330 25881 8)

External links

• Robert Morley at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Morley at the Internet Broadway Database
• Robert Morley at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Britmovie (Robert Morley)
• Robert Morley at Find a Grave