Felix Aylmer

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Felix Aylmer in his garden (1973), portrait by Allan Warren

Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones , OBE (born February 21, 1889 in Corsham , Wiltshire , England , † September 2, 1979 in Sussex , England) was a British theater and film actor .

Life

Aylmer was born Felix Edward Aylmer Jones in Corsham, England in 1889 . After attending Almondbury Grammar School near Huddersfield in West Riding of Yorkshire , he studied at the prestigious University of Oxford and was a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society. In 1911 he made his debut as a stage actor at the London Coliseum and later belonged to the Birmingham Repertory Company, with which he played, among other things, Orsino in Shakespeare's Was ihr wollt .

During the First World War he served in the British Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and did not return to the stage until the end of the war, where he made a name for himself mainly in plays by George Bernard Shaw . From 1930 he was also used in British film. He often worked with Laurence Olivier , for example in Hokuspokus (1930) or the two Shakespeare adaptations Heinrich V (1944) and Hamlet (1948), where he played Polonius.

In the 1950s he was also a busy character actor in Hollywood , for example in Mervyn LeRoy's Quo Vadis? (1951) Plautius, in Ivanhoe - The Black Knight (1952) Isaac von York, in The Knights of the Round Table (1953) Merlin or in the award-winning films Anastasia (1956) and Separated from Table and Bed (1958). He had one of his last cinema roles in 1964 in Das Haus im Kreidegarten alongside Deborah Kerr as judge McWhirrey, whom he had already played on stage eight years earlier. In the 1960s he appeared more frequently on British television, including as Father Anselm in 19 episodes of the BBC series Oh, Brother! (1968-1970).

From 1949 to 1969 he was President of the British Actors' Equity Association (now called Equity). In 1950 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire and in 1965 he was knighted for his services to the theater.

Aylmer was married to British actress Cecily Byrne until her death in 1975. The marriage resulted in son David (1929–1964) and daughter Jennifer. He died in 1979 at the age of 90 in a private hospital in Sussex , England.

Filmography (selection)

Plays (selection)

  • 1912-1913: The Winter's Tale ( The Winter's Tale ) - Savoy Theater , London
  • 1918–1919: Judith - Kingsway Theater, London
  • 1919–1920: The School for Scandal - Birmingham Repertory Theater
  • 1920–1930: Badger's Green - Prince of Wales Theater, London
  • 1922–1923: Loyalties - Gaiety Theater, New York
  • 1925–1926: The Last of Mrs. Cheyney - Fulton Theater, New York
  • 1933–1934: The Voysey Inheritance - Sadler's Wells , London
  • 1934–1935: St. Joan - Old Vic Theater , London
  • 1935–1936: Out of the Dark - Ambassadors Theater, London
  • 1937–1938: Power and Glory - Savoy Theater, London
  • 1937–1938: Yes and No - Ambassadors Theater, London
  • 1938–1939: The Flashing Stream - Lyric Theater, London
  • 1939: The Flashing Stream - Biltmore Theater, New York
  • 1953–1954: The Prescott Proposals - Broadhurst Theater, New York

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sir Felix Aylmer . In: Daytona Beach Morning Journal , September 4, 1979.
personal data
SURNAME Aylmer, Felix
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jones, Felix Edward Aylmer (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater and film actor
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Corsham , Wiltshire , England
DATE OF DEATH 2nd September 1979
Place of death Sussex , England