ROBERT MORLEYFew actors of his generation were as instantly recognisable as Robert Morley who died on 3 June 1992 aged 84.His rotund figure, bushy eyebrows and goggle-eyed lugubriousness meant he was often typecast in the role of pompous establishment figure.Mr Morley was, however, a versatile performer and early in his career he played roles as diverse as Louis XVI and Oscar Wilde.His off-screen persona appeared little different from the characters he played in film and he was a renowned bon vivant and witty theatrical raconteur.Robert Adolph Wilton Morley was born on 26 May 1908 in Semley, Wiltshire, and was educated at Wellington College .Originally intending to enter the diplomatic corps he continued a cosmopolitan education in France , Germany and Italy .Deciding he wanted to be an actor Mr Morley joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and made his West End debut in 1929.His first notable stage success came playing the title role in Oscar Wilde in 1936 and he made his Broadway debut in the same play in 1938.When he was in America he made his first film, Marie Antoinette (1938) in which he played an ineffectually foolish Louis XVI opposite Norma Shearer – a performance which earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.He continued to make films on both sides of the Atlantic for a further 50 years, particularly relishing jovial comedic roles in classic British capers such as Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965).Mr Morley received wide critical acclaim for Too Many Chefs (1978) and further Oscar nominations for his roles in The African Queen (1951) and Oscar Wilde (1960).He was also wrote several plays, the most notable of which was Edward, My Son which was made into film in 1949 with Spencer Tracy in the lead role.Mr Morley married Joan Buckmaster in 1940 and together they had three children, Annabelle, Wilton and Sheridan who became a renowned theatre critic and biographer.Awarded a CBE in the 1957 New Year’s Honours List, Morley was also a regular race-goer and after his death a bench at Windsor race-track was inscribed with the legend: “Robert Morley Sat Here.”His autobiography Robert Morley “Responsible Gentleman” was published in 1966 and he wrote several other books of theatrical anecdotes and witty observations which had become his trademark.Good company to the end, his son Sheridan said: “If he had a dark night of the soul, we sure as hell never found out about it.”
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