Reel Character Series

 

Henry Daniell (Charles Henry Pywell Daniell 1894-1963) was an English actor who had a long career in the US on stage and in cinema. He came to prominence for his portrayal of villainous roles in films many classics in the Thirties and Forties but it Is unfair to limit him to these roles.

Daniell made his first appearance on the stage 1913, and a year later on the London stage at the Globe Theatre in a walk-on role. By the 1920s he was appeaaring on Broadway which led to film roles in the early talkies. MGM cast him a few late Thirties films. But it was at Warner Bros where Daniell found fame in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) and the following year as the treacherously slimy Lord Wolfingham in The Sea Hawk (above). It proved to be a seminal year for Daniell with a small tole in the comedy/satire The Great Dictator, then it was back to MGM for The Philadelphia Story.

He had a lead role in The Body Snatcher (1945), with Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and many swashbuckling roles finished out the decade and into television in the early Fifties. He appeared on numerous popular series during this decade. Daniell was in countless dramatic roles of varying ethnicity and as a straight man in a few comedies. His last role was a small uncredited appearance as the British Ambassador in the 1964 film My Fair Lady.