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Henry Hinchliffe Ainley ( 21 August 1879 - 31 October 1945 ) was an English Shakespearean stage and screen Actor , and father of actors Richard Ainley and Anthony Ainley . He was born in Leeds and brought up in Morley , and baptised at St. George's Parish Church, but moved to London to pursue his career as an actor. 1 He made his professional stage debut for F.R. Benson 's company of actors and later joined Herbert Beerbohm Tree 's company. He found fame in 1902 as Paolo in '' Paolo And Francesca ''. SHAKESPEAREAN ROLES Ainley's first stage role was as a messenger in '', Marcus Antonius in '' Julius Caesar '' and Macbeth himself. He played Malvolio (1912) and Leontes under the direction of Granville Barker and portrayed Hamlet several times, including a 1930 production that was chosen for a Royal Command Performance . John Gielgud , writing in the '' Sunday Times '' in 1996, described Ainley's Prospero as "disastrous". 3 Shakespearean screen credits include ''Henry VIII'' and '' As You Like It '', a 1936 film which also featured his son Richard and Laurence Olivier . OTHER ROLES Ainley played Joseph Quinney in '' Quinneys' '' on stage in 1915 and on film in 1919. He appeared in A. A. Milne's '' The Dover Road '' opposite Athene Seyler in 1922 and as the Bishop of Chelsea in Bernard Shaw's '' Getting Married '' at the Haymarket Theatre . In 1929, he played James Fraser in St. John Ervine's '' The First Mrs. Fraser '', a role he reprised for the film version in 1932. He also starred in stage and radio productions of James Elroy Flecker's ''Hassan''. BEHIND THE SCENES In 1921, Ainley became a member of the council of the Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts and served as its president from 1931 to 1933. 4 Ainley's own theatre company launched the stage career of Robert Eddison . In 1932, Ainley was part of the effort to save the debt-laden Sadler's Wells theatre. According to a report in '' The Times '' dated 15 March 1932 , Ainley considered Sadler's Wells stalwart Phelps the "greatest actor of all" and Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson "the greatest of Hamlets". 5 Fifteen letters in the possession of Laurence Olivier's widow suggest that Ainley may have had a sexual relationship with the younger actor in the late 1930s. The letters - said by Olivier's biographer Terry Coleman to be explicitly homosexual in content - suggest that Ainley was infatuated with Olivier, even if, as some members of Olivier's family insist, the feeling was not reciprocated. 67 Ainley was married and divorced twice. He died in London and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery , London. 8 REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
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