Henry Daniell
Acting • Born 1894-03-04 – Died 1963-10-31
Biography
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."
Filmography
90 credits
The Great Dictator
Movie • 1940
Garbitsch
The Philadelphia Story
Movie • 1940
Sidney Kidd
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Movie • 1961
Dr. Zucco
Siren of Atlantis
Movie • 1949
Blades
The Body Snatcher
Movie • 1945
Dr. Wolfe 'Toddy' MacFarlane
The Comancheros
Movie • 1961
Gireaux
Jane Eyre
Movie • 1943
Henry Brocklehurst
The Sun Also Rises
Movie • 1957
Doctor
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
Movie • 1942
Sir Anthony Lloyd
The Sea Hawk
Movie • 1940
Lord Wolfingham
A Woman's Face
Movie • 1941
Public Prosecutor
The Woman in Green
Movie • 1945
Professor James Moriarty
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Movie • 1956
Bill Ogden
Wake of the Red Witch
Movie • 1948
Jacques Desaix
Lust for Life
Movie • 1956
Theodorus van Gogh
Castle in the Desert
Movie • 1942
Watson King
Witness for the Prosecution
Movie • 1957
Mayhew
The Story of Mankind
Movie • 1957
Pierre Cauchon - Bishop of Beauvais
Les Girls
Movie • 1957
Judge
All This, and Heaven Too
Movie • 1940
Broussais
Sherlock Holmes in Washington
Movie • 1943
William Easter
Marie Antoinette
Movie • 1938
La Motte
Madame X
Movie • 1937
Lerocle
The Firefly
Movie • 1937
General Savary
Camille
Movie • 1936
Baron de Varville
From the Earth to the Moon
Movie • 1958
Morgana
Holiday
Movie • 1938
Seton Cram
The Awful Truth
Movie • 1929
Norman Warriner
Buccaneer's Girl
Movie • 1950
Capt. Duval
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Movie • 1939
Sir Robert Cecil
Hitler: The Comedy Years
Movie • 2007
Garbitsch (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Notorious Landlady
Movie • 1962
Stranger
Madison Avenue
Movie • 1961
Stipe
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake
Movie • 1959
Dr. Emil Zurich
The Feminine Touch
Movie • 1941
Shelley Mason
The Exile
Movie • 1947
Colonel Ingram
Under Cover of Night
Movie • 1937
Professor Marvin Griswald
The Secret Of St. Ives
Movie • 1949
Maj. Edward Chevenish
Song of Love
Movie • 1947
Franz Liszt
The Chapman Report
Movie • 1962
Dr. Jonas
Mister Cory
Movie • 1957
Mr. Earnshaw
Hotel Berlin
Movie • 1945
Baron Von Stetten
The Thirteenth Chair
Movie • 1937
John Wales
We Are Not Alone
Movie • 1939
Sir Ronald Dawson
Diane
Movie • 1956
Gondi
The Unguarded Hour
Movie • 1936
Hugh Lewis
Angel Street
Movie • 1946
Mr. Manningham
Four Jacks and a Jill
Movie • 1942
Bobo
The Suspect
Movie • 1945
Mr. Simmons
Watch on the Rhine
Movie • 1943
Phili Von Ramme
The Egyptian
Movie • 1954
Mekere
Dressed to Kill
Movie • 1941
Julian Davis
The Last of the Lone Wolf
Movie • 1930
Count von Rimpau (as Henry Daniel)
The Path of Glory
Movie • 1934
King Maximillian
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Movie • 1956
Edward Moulton-Barrett
The Great Impersonation
Movie • 1942
Frederick Seamon
Captain Kidd
Movie • 1945
King William III
Mission to Moscow
Movie • 1943
Minister von Ribbentrop
Nightmare
Movie • 1942
Capt. Edgar Stafford
Reunion in France
Movie • 1942
Emile Fleuron
The Bandit of Sherwood Forest
Movie • 1946
The Regent - William of Pembroke
Five Weeks in a Balloon
Movie • 1962
Sheik Ageiba
The Prodigal
Movie • 1955
Ramadi
My Fair Lady
Movie • 1964
Ambassador (uncredited)
Mutiny on the Bounty
Movie • 1962
Court-martial Judge (uncredited)
Jealousy
Movie • 1929
Clement
Confession
Movie • 1956
Hubbel
The Grim Reaper
Movie • 1961
Pierre Radin
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Studio One
TV • 1948
Combat!
TV • 1962
Minister
The Islanders
TV • 1960
Jarden
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
TV • 1958
Thriller
TV • 1960
Dirk Van Prinn
Peter Gunn
TV • 1958
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Lord Belmont
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Count Maverin
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Colonel Chart
Riverboat
TV • 1959
Graham
Producers' Showcase
TV • 1954
Lights Out
TV • 1949
Telephone Time
TV • 1956
Maverick
TV • 1957
Thriller
TV • 1960
Count Alexander Cagliostro
Thriller
TV • 1960
Squire Moloch
Thriller
TV • 1960
Pierre Radin
Thriller
TV • 1960
Vicar John Weatherford
Wagon Train
TV • 1957
Morton W. Snipple
MGM Parade
TV • 1955