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 Daniells film debut came in 1929 in Jealousy He appeared as Professor Moriarty in the Basil RathboneNigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes film The Woman in Green 1945 He appeared in other films such as Charlie Chaplins 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 HolmesBasil 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 couldnt fence Curtiz accomplished the climactic duel through the use of shadows and overshoulder shots with a double fencing Flynn with ingenious intercutting 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 Laughtons blackmailing nextdoor neighbour In the 1950s and 1960s he did much television and also appeared as the malevolent Dr Emil Zurich in Edward L Cahns 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 bigbudget 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 Laughtons 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 actors 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