Henry Daniell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Henry Daniell (5 March 1894 – 31 October 1963) was an English actor who had a long and prestigious career on stage as well as in films. He is perhaps best known for his villainous roles in films like The Great Dictator, The Philadelphia Story and The Sea Hawk. Daniell was given few opportunities to play a 'good guy', including a supporting part as Franz Liszt in the biographical film Song of Love (1947). His last name is sometimes spelled "Daniel". Daniell's film debut came in 1929 in Jealousy. He appeared as Professor Moriarty in the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes film The Woman in Green (1945). He appeared in other films such as Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940) (playing Garbitsch, to sound like "garbage", a parody of Joseph Goebbels), and The Body Snatcher (1945, with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi) – as well as two other films in the Sherlock Holmes/Basil Rathbone series: The Voice of Terror (1942) and Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) with fellow Moriarty George Zucco. Daniell played the sleazy Baron de Varville opposite Greta Garbo in Camille (1936). Another early triumph was his portrayal of Cecil in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939). He also played the treacherous Lord Wolfingham (no relation to Francis Walsingham) in The Sea Hawk (1940), fighting Errol Flynn in what is often considered one of the most spectacular sword fighting duels ever filmed. When Michael Curtiz cast him in this film, Henry Daniell initially refused because he couldn't fence. Curtiz accomplished the climactic duel through the use of shadows and over-shoulder shots, with a double fencing Flynn with ingenious inter-cutting of their faces. Towards the end of the Second World War, he appeared in one of his most memorable film roles, as the cruel Mr. Brocklehurst in Jane Eyre (1944), opposite Joan Fontaine who played Eyre. That same year he appeared in The Suspect as Charles Laughton's blackmailing next-door neighbour. In the 1950s and 1960s, he did much television, and also appeared as the malevolent Dr. Emil Zurich in Edward L. Cahn's The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959), and in an episode of Maverick, "Pappy" opposite James Garner the same year. An absolute professional, he was always on the set when needed, and impatient when delays in filming took place. Much in demand for his dry, sardonic delivery, Daniell moved easily from big-budget films, such as (uncredited) Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), to television without difficulty. In 1957, Daniell appeared as King Charles II of England in the NBC anthology series The Joseph Cotten Show in the episode "The Trial of Colonel Blood", with Michael Wilding in the title role. In the same year he played the instructing solicitor to Charles Laughton's leading counsel barrister in Witness for the Prosecution (1957). The actor claimed one of his favourite roles was as Tony Curtis' supervisor in the acclaimed Blake Edwards film Mister Cory (1957) at a time when the actor's career was clearly slowing down, but Daniell retained some of the best and most memorable lines in the movie, "A gentleman never grabs. Manners, Mister Cory. I find them a prerequisite in any circumstance."
Known For
Credits
- 2007 · Hitler: The Comedy Years as Garbitsch (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1964 · My Fair Lady as Ambassador (uncredited)
- 1962 · Mutiny on the Bounty as Court-martial Judge (uncredited)
- 1962 · The Chapman Report as Dr. Jonas
- 1962 · Combat! as Minister
- 1962 · Five Weeks in a Balloon as Sheik Ageiba
- 1962 · The Notorious Landlady as Stranger
- 1961 · The Comancheros as Gireaux
- 1961 · Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea as Dr. Zucco
- 1961 · Madison Avenue as Stipe
- 1960 · The Islanders as Jarden
- 1960 · Thriller as Dirk Van Prinn
- 1960 · Thriller as Squire Moloch
- 1960 · Thriller as Count Alexander Cagliostro
- 1960 · Thriller as Pierre Radin
- 1960 · Thriller as Vicar John Weatherford
- 1959 · The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake as Dr. Emil Zurich
- 1959 · Riverboat as Graham
- 1958 · From the Earth to the Moon as Morgana
- 1958 · 77 Sunset Strip as
- 1958 · Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse as
- 1958 · Peter Gunn as
- 1957 · Witness for the Prosecution as Mayhew
- 1957 · The Story of Mankind as Pierre Cauchon - Bishop of Beauvais
- 1957 · Les Girls as Judge
- 1957 · Maverick as
- 1957 · Wagon Train as Morton W. Snipple
- 1957 · The Sun Also Rises as Doctor
- 1957 · Mister Cory as Mr. Earnshaw
- 1956 · Lust for Life as Theodorus van Gogh
- 1956 · The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit as Bill Ogden
- 1956 · Telephone Time as
- 1956 · The Barretts of Wimpole Street as Edward Moulton-Barrett
- 1956 · Diane as Gondi
- 1955 · Matinee Theater as
- 1955 · The Prodigal as Ramadi
- 1954 · Producers' Showcase as
- 1954 · The Egyptian as Mekere
- 1951 · Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as Count Maverin
- 1950 · Lux Video Theatre as Lord Belmont
- 1950 · Buccaneer's Girl as Capt. Duval
- 1949 · Lights Out as
- 1949 · The Secret Of St. Ives as Maj. Edward Chevenish
- 1949 · Siren of Atlantis as Blades
- 1948 · Wake of the Red Witch as Jacques Desaix
- 1948 · Studio One as
- 1948 · The Philco Television Playhouse as Colonel Chart
- 1947 · The Exile as Colonel Ingram
- 1947 · Song of Love as Franz Liszt
- 1946 · The Bandit of Sherwood Forest as The Regent - William of Pembroke
- 1946 · Angel Street as Mr. Manningham
- 1945 · Captain Kidd as King William III
- 1945 · The Woman in Green as Professor James Moriarty
- 1945 · The Body Snatcher as Dr. Wolfe 'Toddy' MacFarlane
- 1945 · Hotel Berlin as Baron Von Stetten
- 1945 · The Suspect as Mr. Simmons
- 1943 · Jane Eyre as Henry Brocklehurst
- 1943 · Watch on the Rhine as Phili Von Ramme
- 1943 · Mission to Moscow as Minister von Ribbentrop
- 1943 · Sherlock Holmes in Washington as William Easter
- 1942 · Reunion in France as Emile Fleuron
- 1942 · The Great Impersonation as Frederick Seamon
- 1942 · Nightmare as Capt. Edgar Stafford
- 1942 · Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror as Sir Anthony Lloyd
- 1942 · Castle in the Desert as Watson King
- 1942 · Four Jacks and a Jill as Bobo
- 1941 · The Feminine Touch as Shelley Mason
- 1941 · Dressed to Kill as Julian Davis
- 1941 · A Woman's Face as Public Prosecutor
- 1940 · The Philadelphia Story as Sidney Kidd
- 1940 · The Great Dictator as Garbitsch
- 1940 · The Sea Hawk as Lord Wolfingham
- 1940 · All This, and Heaven Too as Broussais
- 1939 · We Are Not Alone as Sir Ronald Dawson
- 1939 · The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex as Sir Robert Cecil
- 1938 · Marie Antoinette as La Motte
- 1938 · Holiday as Seton Cram
- 1937 · The Firefly as General Savary
- 1937 · Madame X as Lerocle
- 1937 · The Thirteenth Chair as John Wales
- 1937 · Under Cover of Night as Professor Marvin Griswald
- 1936 · Camille as Baron de Varville
- 1936 · The Unguarded Hour as Hugh Lewis
- 1934 · The Path of Glory as King Maximillian
- 1930 · The Last of the Lone Wolf as Count von Rimpau (as Henry Daniel)
- 1929 · Jealousy as Clement
- 1929 · The Awful Truth as Norman Warriner