Ernest Thesiger
A charcoal drawing of Ernest Thesiger by John Singer Sargent (circa 1911).
Born	Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger (1879-01-15)15 January 1879 London, England, U.K.
Died	14 January 1961(1961-01-14) (aged 81) London, England, United Kingdom
Years active	1916–61
Spouse	Janette Mary Fernie Ranken (1917-?)

Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger CBE (15 January 1879 - 14 January 1961) was an English stage and film actor. He is best known for his performance as Dr. Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

The grandson of the Baron Chelmsford, Thesiger was born in London, England and was the first cousin once removed of the explorer and author Wilfred Thesiger (1910–2003), and the nephew of General Frederic Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, who, exactly a week after Ernest's birth, famously led his troops in battle against — and defeat at the hands of — a Zulu army at the Battle of Isandlwana.

Thesiger attended Marlborough College and the Slade School of Art with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to drama, making his professional debut in a production of Colonel Smith in 1909. He enlisted in the armed forces at the outbreak of the World War I in 1914, allegedly hoping to be assigned to a Scottish regiment because he wanted to wear a kilt, but was wounded in the field and sent home (At a dinner party shortly after his return, someone asked him what it had been like in France, to which he is supposed to have responded "Oh, my dear, the noise! and the people!") In 1917, he married Janette Mary Fernie Ranken, sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Ranken. In her biography of Thesiger's friend, Ivy Compton-Burnett, Hilary Spurling suggests that Thesiger and Janette wed largely out of their mutual adoration of William, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement. Another source states more explicitly that Thesiger made no secret of his homosexuality.^[1]

Thesiger moved in several artistic, literary and theatrical circles. At various times, he frequented the studio of John Singer Sargent, befriended Mrs. Patrick Campbell, visited and corresponded with Percy Grainger and worked closely with George Bernard Shaw, who wrote the role of the Dauphin in Saint Joan for him. Somerset Maugham, on the other hand, responded to Thesiger's inquiry about why he wrote no parts for him with the quip "But I am always writing parts for you, Ernest. The trouble is that somebody called Gladys Cooper will insist on playing them."

Film career[link]

Thesiger's film debut was in 1916 in The Real Thing at Last, a spoof presenting Macbeth as it might be done by an American company, in which he did a drag turn as one of the Witches. Thesiger also played the First Witch in a 1941 production of Macbeth directed by John Gielgud. He did a few more small roles in films during the silent era, but worked mainly on the stage.

In 1919 he appeared in a Christmas production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, during which he met and befriended James Whale. In 1925, Thesiger appeared in Noël Coward's On With the Dance, again in drag, and later played the Dauphin in Shaw's Saint Joan. He wrote an autobiography Practically True, published in 1927, which covers his stage career. An unpublished memoir written near the end of his life is housed in the Ernest Thesiger Collection at the University of Bristol.

Work with James Whale[link]

After Whale had moved to Hollywood and found success with Journey's End and Frankenstein, the director was commissioned to direct the screen adaptation of J.B. Priestley's Benighted as The Old Dark House, starring Charles Laughton in his first American film together with Boris Karloff and Raymond Massey. Whale immediately cast Thesiger in the film as Horace Femm, launching his Hollywood career. The following year Thesiger appeared (as a Scottish butler) with Karloff in The Ghoul,

When Whale agreed to direct Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, he insisted on casting Thesiger as Dr. Septimus Pretorius, instead of the studio's choice of Claude Rains. Partly inspired by Mary Shelley's friend John Polidori and largely based on Renaissance physician and botanist Paracelsus, it became Thesiger's most famous role. Thanks to Thesiger's fey, flamboyant performance, Dr. Pretorius became one of the most memorable characters in classic cinematic horror.

Arriving in the United States for the filming of Bride of Frankenstein, Thesiger immediately set up a display in his hotel suite of all his needlework, each with a price tag and during the making of the film he would work on needlecraft, one of his hobbies, and referred to himself on at least one occasion as "The Stitchin' Bitch".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] After Bride

Originally cast to play the luddite sculptor Theotocopolous in H.G. Wells's Things to Come (1936), Thesiger's performance was deemed unsuitable by the author, and so was replaced by Cedric Hardwicke, although he was retained on the parallel production of Wells's The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Around this same time Thesiger published a book, Adventures in Embroidery, about needlework, which was his expert hobby.

The remainder of Thesiger's career was centered on the theatre but he did appear in supporting roles in films produced in Britain, prominent among which is The Man in the White Suit (1951), starring Alec Guinness. He plays "Sir John," the most powerful, the richest, and the oldest of the industrialists (jointly with the trade unions) trying to suppress Guinness's invention of a fabric that never wears out and never gets dirty.

Thesiger made several appearances on Broadway, notably as Jacques to Katharine Hepburn's Rosalind in the longest-running production of As You Like It ever produced on Broadway. Later films included The Horse's Mouth (1958) with Alec Guinness, Sons and Lovers (1960), and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty (1961). That same year he made his final stage appearance—a mere week before his death—in The Last Joke, with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.

Later life[link]

In 1960, Thesiger was granted the order of Commander of the British Empire (CBE). His last film appearance was a small role in Invitation to Murder (1962). He died in his sleep shortly after completing it, from natural causes, on the eve of his 82rd birthday, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.^[2]

Legacy[link]

• In the fictionalised James Whale biopic Gods and Monsters (1998), Thesiger was portrayed by Arthur Dignam. And the real Thesiger is seen in the film as Brendan Fraser, as Whale's gardener, sits at a bar watching televised repeats of the original 1935 Bride of Frankenstein.
• Quentin Crisp's brief appearance as Dr Zahlus in Franc Roddam's 1985 film The Bride evokes Thesiger's role as Dr Pretorius in The Bride of Frankenstein.

Selected filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Ernest Thesiger at the Internet Movie Database
• Ernest Thesiger at the Internet Broadway Database
• Ernest Thesiger at Find a Grave
• The Importance of Being Ernest
• Ernest Thesiger archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
• Classic Horror Movie Players T
• The Doctor Is In!

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Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.

Life and career[link]

Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February 1926 in Bingfield Street, King's Cross, London,^[1] the son of Louisa ("Lou" or "Louie") and Charles Williams, a barber. Williams had a half-sister, Alice Patricia, born before Louie had met Charlie Williams. He was educated at Lyulph Stanley School, later becoming apprenticed as a draughtsman to a mapmaker. He joined the Army in 1944 at 18. As part of the Royal Engineers survey section in Bombay, he first performed on stage in the Combined Services Entertainment alongside Stanley Baxter and Peter Nichols.^[2] He was a voracious reader able to quote poems or literary extracts from memory. Excerpts from the diaries he kept as an adult show he adored his supportive, theatrical mother but despised his homophobic, morose and selfish father.

Comic performer[link]

His professional career began in 1948 in repertory theatre. Failure to become a serious dramatic actor disappointed him, but his potential as a comic performer gave him his break when he was spotted playing the Dauphin in George Bernard Shaw's St Joan in 1954 by radio producer Dennis Main Wilson. Main Wilson was casting Hancock's Half Hour, a radio series starring Tony Hancock. Playing mostly funny voice roles, Williams stayed in the series almost to the end, five years later.^[3] His nasal, whiny, camp-cockney inflections (epitomised in his "Stop messing about...!" catchphrase) became popular with listeners.^[4] Despite the success and recognition the show brought him, Williams thought theatre, film and television were superior forms of entertainment.

When Hancock moved the show away from what he considered gimmicks and silly voices, Williams had less to do on the programme. Tiring of his reduced status, he joined Kenneth Horne in Beyond Our Ken (1958–1964), and its sequel, Round the Horne (1965–1968). His roles in Round the Horne included Rambling Syd Rumpo, the eccentric folk singer; Dr Chou En Ginsberg, MA (failed), Oriental criminal mastermind; J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock, telephone heavy breather and dirty old man; and Sandy of the camp couple Julian and Sandy (Julian was played by Hugh Paddick). Their double act was notable for double entendres and Polari, the homosexual slang.

Williams appeared in West End revues including Share My Lettuce with Maggie Smith, written by Bamber Gascoigne, and Pieces of Eight with Fenella Fielding. The latter included material written by Peter Cook, then a student at Pembroke College, Cambridge. Cook's One Leg Too Few and Interesting Facts were part of the show and became routines in Cook's own performances. Williams's last revue was One over the Eight, with Sheila Hancock. In 1972, Williams starred opposite Jennie Linden in My Fat Friend. He also appeared with Ingrid Bergman in a stage production of George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion in 1971.

[edit] Carry On

Williams worked regularly in British film during the 1960s and 1970s, mainly in the Carry On series (1958–1978) with its British double entendre-laced humour. He appeared in the series more than any other actor.^[5] The films were commercially successful but Williams and the rest of the cast were poorly paid. In his diaries, Williams wrote that he earned more in a British Gas commercial than for any Carry On film. He often criticised Carry On films, his own performances and those of others, considering them beneath him. This was the case with many of the films, television programmes, stage plays and radio shows in which he appeared. He was quick to find fault with his own work. Despite this, he spoke fondly of the Carry On films in interviews. Peter Rogers, producer of the series, recollected, "Kenneth was worth taking care of because, while he cost very little – £5,000 a film, he made a great deal of money for the franchise."^[6]

Radio and television shows[link]

Williams was a regular on the BBC radio panel game Just a Minute from its second season in 1968 until his death. From 1972, when he felt he wasn't being appreciated, he would scream, "I've come all the way from Great Portland Street." (It was a short distance to the studio from his home.) He also talked for almost a minute^[7] about a supposed Austrian psychiatrist called Heinrich Swartzberg, guessing that show creator Ian Messiter had just made the name up.^[8]

On television he was a frequent contributor to the 1973-1974 revival of What's My Line?, hosted the weekly entertainment show International Cabaret and was a reader for the children's story-reading series Jackanory on BBC1. He appeared on Michael Parkinson's chat show on eight occasions, during which he told anecdotes from his career. Williams was a stand-in host on the Wogan talk show in 1986.

Personal life and death[link]

On 14 October 1962, Williams's father, Charlie, was taken to hospital after drinking carbon tetrachloride that had been stored in a cough mixture bottle. Williams refused to visit him, and the following day went out for lunch and then to the cinema. Charlie died that afternoon and, an hour after being informed, Williams went on stage in the West End. The coroner's court recorded a verdict of accidental death due to corrosive poisoning by carbon tetrachloride.^[9]

Several years later Williams turned down work with Orson Welles in America because he did not like the country and had no desire to work there. Many years after his death, The Mail on Sunday, quoting Wes Butters, co-writer of the book Kenneth Williams Unseen: The Private Notes, Scripts And Photographs, claimed Williams had been denied a visa because Scotland Yard considered him a suspect in his father's death.^[10]

Williams insisted that he was celibate, and his diaries substantiate his claims – at least from his early 40s onwards. He lived alone all his adult life and had few close companions apart from his mother, and no romantic relationships of significance. His diaries contain references to unconsummated or barely consummated homosexual dalliances, which he describes as "traditional matters" or "tradiola" (since male homosexual activity was a criminal offence in the UK before 1967, outright admission would have been held against him if anyone had read the diaries). He befriended gay playwright Joe Orton, who wrote the role of Inspector Truscott in Loot (1966) for him, and had holidays with Orton and his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, in Morocco. Other friends included Stanley Baxter, Gordon Jackson and his wife Rona Anderson, Sheila Hancock, Maggie Smith and her playwright husband, Beverley Cross.^[11]

Williams lived in a succession of small rented flats in North London from the mid-1950s. After his father died, his mother, Louisa, lived close by him and, finally, in the flat next to his. His last home was a flat on Osnaburgh Street, now demolished. Williams was fond of fellow Carry On regulars Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims (whom he once proposed marriage to but she rejected it) and Bernard Bresslaw.^{[citation needed]}

Williams rarely revealed details of his private life, though he spoke openly to Owen Spencer-Thomas about his loneliness, despondency and sense of underachievement in two half-hour documentary programmes entitled Carry On Kenneth on BBC Radio London.^[12] In later years his health declined, along with that of his elderly mother, and his depression deepened. He died on 15 April 1988 in his flat;^[13] the cause of death was an overdose of barbiturates.^[14] An inquest recorded an open verdict, as it was not possible to establish whether his death was a suicide or an accident.^[15] His diaries reveal he had often had suicidal thoughts and as far back as his earliest diaries he noted there were times when he could not see any point in existence. His authorised biography argues that Williams did not take his own life but died of an accidental overdose. The actor had doubled his dosage of antacid without discussing this with his doctor, which, combined with the aforementioned mixture of medication, is the widely accepted cause of death. He had a stock of painkilling tablets and it is argued that he would have taken more of them if he had been intending suicide.^[16]

His mother died in July 1991 and his half-sister, Pat, died in 1994.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Diaries and biographies[link]

Posthumous publication of his diaries and letters, edited by Russell Davies, caused controversy—particularly Williams's caustic remarks about fellow professionals—and revealed bouts of despair, often primed by feelings of personal isolation and professional failure. Williams wrote his diaries from the age of 14 in 1940 until his death 48 years later, although the earliest to survive to publication was for 1942 when he reached 16. Williams kept pocket-sized diaries for 1942 and 1947 (he kept no diaries for 1943 to 1946 as he was touring the Far East in the army); a desk diary for 1948; pocket-sized diaries for 1949 and 1950; desk diaries for 1951 to 1965; standard edition desk diaries for 1966 to 1971, and finally A4-sized executive desk diaries for 1972 to 1988. He claimed that writing in his diaries eased the loneliness he often felt.

In April 2008, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the two-part The Pain of Laughter: The Last Days of Kenneth Williams.^[17] The programmes were researched and written by Wes Butters and narrated by Rob Brydon. Butters purchased a collection of Williams's personal belongings from the actor's godson, Robert Chidell, to whom they had been bequeathed.^[18]

The first of the programmes said that, towards the end of his life and struggling with depression and ill health, Williams abandoned Christian faith following discussions with the poet Philip Larkin. Williams had been a Methodist, though he spent much of his life struggling with Christianity's teachings on homosexuality.^[17]

Kenneth Williams Unseen by Wes Butters and Russell Davies, the first Williams biography in 15 years, was published in October 2008.^[19]

An authorised biography, Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams, by Christopher Stevens,^[20] was published in October 2010. This drew for the first time on the full Williams archive of diaries and letters, which had been stored in a London bank for 15 years following publication of edited extracts.^[21] The biography said Williams used a variety of handwriting styles and colours in his journals, switching between different hands on the page.^[22]

Portrayals[link]

Williams' blue plaque at 57 Marchmont Street

Williams has been portrayed in two made-for-television films. In 2000, Adam Godley played him in the story of Sid James and Barbara Windsor's love affair, Cor, Blimey! (Godley had originated the role in the 1998 National Theatre play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick on which Cor Blimey! was based). Subsequently in 2006, Michael Sheen played him in the BBC Four drama Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!.

David Benson's 1996 Edinburgh Fringe show, Think No Evil of Us: My Life with Kenneth Williams, saw Benson playing Williams; after touring, the show ran in London's West End. Benson reprised his performance at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe and continues to tour.^[23]

From 2003 to 2005, Robin Sebastian took on Williams in the West End stage show Round the Horne... Revisited, recreating his performance in 2008 for a production called Round the Horne: Unseen and Uncut.

Recognition[link]

The flat Williams had lived in on Osnaburgh Street from 1972 until his death was bought by Rob Brydon and Julia Davis for the writing of their comedy series Human Remains. The building was demolished in May 2007.^[24]

The English singer-songwriter John Howard's song "Who's Listening? (For Kenneth Williams)" appeared on Howard's 2007 album Barefoot with Angels.^[25] In 2011, Howard wrote:

This wasn't written about Kenneth Williams per se, but, after I'd composed it and was playing it through, I realised the lyric sort of summed Kenneth up − I think I'd recently been reading his published Diaries and I had ended the song with the same words Williams had written in his diary before he died. The dichotomy of the man was fascinating, how he was everyone's camp comedic hero but yearned to be taken seriously as an actor; hated the Carry Ons but couldn't escape them; had a kind of self-loathing but also found himself beautiful. His friendship with the louche Joe Orton also seemed out of step with his image of every housewife's favourite funny man. The character in the lyric of "Who's Listening?" is similarly hard to weigh up, so I decided to dedicate the song to Kenneth. My partner was in a play with him in the '70s and said he was a lovely man, very generous with friends and generous with fellow actors on stage as well. But a very complex character.^[26]

Williams is commemorated by a blue plaque at the address of his father's barber shop in Marchmont Street, London, where he lived from 1935 to 1956. The plaque was unveiled on 11 October 2009 by Bill Pertwee and Nicholas Parsons, with whom Williams performed.^[27]

In September 2010, a plaque commissioned by the British Comedy Society was unveiled in the foyer of the New Diorama Theatre by the Mayor of Camden accompanied by David Benson, the actor known for his performances of his own work dedicated to Williams, Think No Evil of Us - My Life With Kenneth Williams. The theatre stands in the Regents Place development, site of the demolished Osnaburgh Street.

Performances[link]

Films[link]

Albums[link]

• Kenneth Williams on Pleasure Bent 1967, Decca LK 4856. Music by Ted Dicks, lyrics by Myles Rudge. Arrangements and musical direction by Barry Booth, sound supervision by Roger Cameron.
• The World of Kenneth Williams 1970, Decca SPA 64. Stereo edition of recordings from the 1950s and 1960s.

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Williams, Kenneth (1993), Russell Davies, ed. The Kenneth Williams Diaries. London: HarperCollins.

External links[link]

• Kenneth Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• Kenneth Williams at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Kenneth Williams at Find a Grave

Colin Clive
Clive in the play Journey's End (1929)
Born	Colin Glenn Clive-Greig (1900-01-20)20 January 1900 Saint-Malo, Brittany, France
Died	25 June 1937(1937-06-25) (aged 37) Hollywood, California, U.S.
Years active	1930-1937 (his death)
Spouse	Jeanne de Casalis (1929-1937) (his death)

Colin Clive (20 January 1900, Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine – 25 June 1937) was an English stage and screen actor best remembered for his portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein in James Whale's two Universal Frankenstein films Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein.^[1]

Early life[link]

Clive was born in Saint-Malo, France, to an English colonel, and he attended Stonyhurst College and subsequently Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where an injured knee disqualified him from military service and contributed to his becoming a stage actor. On stage, one of his roles was Steve Baker, the white husband of racially mixed Julie LaVerne, in the first London production of Show Boat. This production also featured Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson.

Clive first worked with James Whale in the Savoy Theatre production of Journey's End and subsequently joined the British community in Hollywood in the 1930s, repeating his stage role in the 1930 film version of Journey's End, which was directed by Whale.

Hollywood[link]

Although Colin Clive made only three horror films, Whale's two Frankenstein films and Mad Love (1935), he is widely regarded as one of the essential stars of the genre by many film buffs. His portrayal of mad Dr. Frankenstein has proved inspiration and a launching pad for scores of other mad scientist performances in films over the years.

Clive's first screen role, in Journey's End, was incidentally directed by James Whale. Clive played the alcoholic and tormented Captain Stanhope, a character that (much like Clive's other roles) tragically mirrored his personal life.

Clive was also an in-demand leading man for a number of major film actresses of the era, including Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Corinne Griffith and Jean Arthur. He also starred as Edward Rochester in a 1934 adaptation of Jane Eyre opposite Virginia Bruce. He was related to Clive of India and appeared in a featured role in a film biography of his relative in 1935.^[1]

From June 1929 until his death, Clive was married to actress Jeanne de Casalis. Although she worked in films and on stage, her greatest success was as a comedienne on radio sitcoms in England, playing the dithering "Mrs. Feather". De Casalis did not accompany her husband to Hollywood. There has been speculation that de Casalis was a lesbian and Clive either gay or bisexual, and their marriage was one of convenience. David Lewis, the longtime companion of Clive's frequent director James Whale, flatly states that Clive was not gay.^[2]

Death[link]

Colin Clive suffered from severe chronic alcoholism and died from complications of tuberculosis in 1937 at age 37.^[1]

Clive's alcoholism was very much apparent to his co-stars, as he was often seen napping on set and sometimes was so intoxicated that he had to be held upright for over-the-shoulder shots. Clive was also tormented by the medical threat of amputating his long-damaged leg.^[3]

Forrest J Ackerman recalls visiting Clive's body in the funeral parlour. "As I recall, he had a dressing gown on and he was calmly lying there. And he looked very much like that scene in Bride". Over 300 mourners turned out for the lonely soul that died alone. One of the pallbearers was Peter Lorre.^[3]

His cenotaph is located at Chapel of the Pines Crematory, but his ashes were scattered at sea in 1978 after they spent over 40 years unclaimed in the basement of the funeral parlour where his body was brought after his death.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[link]

• Journey's End (1930)
• The Stronger Sex (1931)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Lily Christine (1932)
• Christopher Strong (1933)
• Looking Forward (1933)
• The Key (1934)
• One More River (1934)
• Jane Eyre (1934) (as Mr. Rochester)
• Clive of India (1935)
• The Right to Live (1935)
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• The Girl from 10th Avenue (1935)
• Mad Love (1935)
• The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935)
• The Widow from Monte Carlo (1935)
• History Is Made at Night (1937)
• The Woman I Love (1937)

Notes[link]

3. ^ Mank pg. 150

References[link]

• Curtis, James (1998). James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters. Boston, Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-19285-8.

• Mank, Gregory. Hollywood cauldron: thirteen horror films from the genre's golden age. Jefferson, NC: 1994. pg. 150

External links[link]