Cedric Hardwicke

Infobox actor
name = Cedric Hardwicke


caption = on the radio show "Three Thirds of the Nation"
birthname = Cedric Webster Hardwicke
birthdate = birth date|1893|2|19
location = Lye, Worcestershire, England
deathdate = death date and age|1964|8|6|1893|2|19
deathplace = New York, New York, USA
spouse = Mary Scott (1950-1961)
Helena Pickard (1928-1948)
children = Edward Hardwicke
yearsactive =

Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke KBE (19 February 1893 - 6 August 1964) was a notable English actor.

Biography

Hardwicke was born in the village of Lye, in Worcestershire, England, the son of Edwin Webster Hardwicke by his spouse Jessie (née Masterson). He attended Bridgnorth School in Shropshire and then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He made his first appearance on stage at London's Lyceum Theatre in 1912 during the run of Frederick Melville's melodrama "The Monk and the Woman", when he took up the part of Brother John. During that year he was at Her Majesty's Theatre understudying, and subsequently appeared at the Garrick Theatre in Charles Klein's play "Find the Woman", and "Trust the People". In 1913 he joined Benson's Company and toured in the provinces, South Africa, and Rhodesia. During 1914 he toured with Miss Darragh (Letitia Marion Dallas, d.1917) in Laurence Irving's play "The Unwritten Law", and he appeared at the Old Vic in 1914 as Malcolm in Shakespeare's "Macbeth", Tranio in "The Taming of the Shrew", gravedigger in "Hamlet", etc.

From 1914 to 1921 he served with the British Army in France. In January 1922 he joined the Birmingham Repertory Company. He played many classical roles on stage, appearing at London's top theatres, making his name on the stage performing works by George Bernard Shaw, who said that Hardwicke was his fifth favourite actor after the four Marx Brothers. As one of the leading Shavian actors of his generation, Hardwicke starred in such Shavian works as "Caesar and Cleopatra", "Pygmalion", "The Apple Cart", "Candida", "Too True to Be Good", and "Don Juan in Hell", making such an impression that at age 41 he became one of the youngest actors to be knighted (this occurred in the 1934 New Year's Honours). Other stage successes included "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse", "Antigone" and "A Majority of One", winning a Tony Award nomination for his performance as a Japanese diplomat.

His first appearance in an English film was in 1931. In December 1935, Cedric Hardwicke was elected Rede Lecturer to Cambridge University for 1936. In 1939 Hardwicke went to Hollywood to begin a film career there but where he continued in stage performances in places including New York.

In 1944 he returned to England, again touring, and reappeared on the London stage, at the Westminster Theatre, on 29 March 1945, as Richard Varwell in a revival of Eden and Adelaide Phillpotts comedy "Yellow Sands", and subsequently toured in this on the Continent. He returned to America late in 1945 and appeared with Ethel Barrymore in December in a revival of Shaw's "Pygmalion", and continued on the New York the following year. in 1951-1952, he appeared on Broadway in Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell" with Agnes Moorehead, Charles Boyer, and Charles Laughton.

Despite having played in such film classics as "Les Misérables" (1935), "King Solomon's Mines" (1937), "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1944), "The Winslow Boy" (1948) and Olivier's "Richard III" (1955), Hardwicke is now remembered chiefly for his role as King Arthur in the comedy/musical, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1949), singing "Busy Doing Nothing" in a trio with Bing Crosby and William Bendix, and for his portrayal of the Pharaoh Seti I in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 film "The Ten Commandments". He also played Dr. David Livingstone opposite Spencer Tracy's Henry Morton Stanley in the 1939 film classic, "Stanley and Livingstone". He was also memorable as Frollo in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", with Charles Laughton as Quasimodo.

Hardwicke's son is the actor Edward Hardwicke, who became well-known for playing Dr. Watson on British television in the 1980s and 1990s.

He died at the age of 71 in New York City. He was buried in London's Golders Green Crematorium.

Memorial

Hardwicke is remembered by a sculpture by Tim Tolkien at Lye, commissioned by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. The memorial takes the form of a giant filmstrip, the illuminated cut metal panels illustrating scenes from some of Sir Cedric's best-known roles, which include "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Things to Come", and "The Ghost of Frankenstein". It was unveiled in November 2005. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

elected filmography

* "Rome Express" (1932)
* "The Ghoul" (1933)
* "Les Misérables" (1935)
* "Becky Sharp" (1935)
* "Things to Come" (1936)
* "Tudor Rose" (1936)
* "King Solomon's Mines" (1937)
* "On Borrowed Time" (1939)
* "Stanley and Livingstone" (1939)
* "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939)
* "The Invisible Man Returns" (1940)
* "Tom Brown's School Days" (1940), portraying educator Thomas Arnold
* "The Howards of Virginia" (1940)
* "Suspicion" (1941)
* "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942)
* "Invisible Agent" (1942)
* "Commandos Strike at Dawn" (1942)
* "Forever and a Day" (1943)
* "The Moon Is Down" (1943)
* "The Cross of Lorraine" (1943)
* "The Lodger" (1944)
* "Wilson" (1944)
* "The Keys of the Kingdom" (1944)
* "Tycoon" (1947)
* "Lured" (1947)
* "Nicholas Nickleby" (1947)
* "I Remember Mama" (1948)
* "Rope" (1948)
* "The Winslow Boy" (1948)
* "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" (1949)
* "" (1951)
* "The Green Glove" (1952)
* "Salome" (1953)
* "Botany Bay" (1953)
* "The War of the Worlds" (1953) (narrator)
* "Richard III" (1955)
* "Diane" (1956)
* "Helen of Troy" (1956)
* "Gaby" (1956)
* "The Vagabond King" (1956)
* "The Ten Commandments" (1956)
* "The Story of Mankind" (1957)
* "Five Weeks in a Balloon" (1962)
* "The Pumpkin Eater" (1964)

Bibliography

* "Let's Pretend: Recollections and Reflections of a Lucky Actor", Foreword by Sir Barry Jackson, (1932) Grayson & Grayson

* "A Victorian in Orbit", (1961) Methuen

References

*cite book | last=Parker | first=John | edition=Tenth revised edition | title=Who's Who in the Theatre | pages=pp. 714-15 | location=London | publisher=Pitman | year=1947 | oclc=6344958

External links

*imdb name|0362567

* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=44113 Cedric Hardwicke on Broadway on ibdb]
* [http://www.bl.uk/projects/theatrearchive/hardwicke.html Hardwicke Archive] in the British Library Manuscripts Collections

Persondata
NAME= Hardwicke, Cedric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Hardwicke, Cedric Webster
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1893-2-19
PLACE OF BIRTH= Lye, Worcestershire, England
DATE OF DEATH= 1964-8-6
PLACE OF DEATH= New York, New York, USA