Griffith Jones

Griffith Jones was a Welsh and English actor who worked in film, stage and television. Born in Notting Hill, London, in 1909, he was studying law when the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art principal Kenneth Barnes saw him perform and steered him toward acting. He made his professional debut in 1930 and won RADA's Gold Medal in 1932, the year he first appeared on screen in The Faithful Heart. On stage he acted with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, and he starred in Escape Me Never with Elisabeth Bergner, repeating the role in the 1935 film. After wartime army service, he returned to the West End in 1945 and became a leading man in late 1940s British cinema, especially in comedies, including Miranda (1948) and Once Upon a Dream (1949). Later he took supporting roles such as The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954), and from 1975 to 1999 he was a Royal Shakespeare Company stalwart in 50 productions.