Harcourt Williams
Biography
Ernest George Harcourt Williams was an English actor and director who started in touring companies before establishing himself in the West End as a character actor and director. Born in Croydon, Surrey, he joined Frank Benson's company in 1897, and first appeared in London at the Lyceum in 1900. At the Royal Court in 1901 he co-directed and starred in The Bennets, becoming the earliest known professional actor to take the role of Mr. Darcy. He worked with Ellen Terry's company and first performed in America in 1906 alongside H. B. Irving. His stage parts included General Lee in Abraham Lincoln, Darnley in Mary Stuart and John Hampden in Oliver Cromwell, and he played the Player King in John Barrymore's Hamlet. From 1929 to 1934 he led the Old Vic, recruiting John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson and staging roughly fifty plays. He kept acting with the company and in film and television, including Roman Holiday (1953). He died in 1957.
77years old at death
- Born Croydon
- Died London
- Star sign: AriesThe sign runs March 21 to April 19
- Also credited as Ernest George Harcourt Williams and E. Harcourt Williams
Movie Career
- Films
- 8
- Career span
- 12 years1944 to 1956
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A first
In a special matinee on 29 March 1901, Harcourt Williams took the role of Mr. Darcy in The Bennets, Rosina Filippi's adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, staged at the Royal Court Theatre. He shared directing duties with Winifred Mayo, who played Elizabeth Bennet, and became the first known actor to portray Darcy professionally on stage.
Big break
In 1929, at age forty-nine, Lilian Baylis appointed Harcourt Williams as director of the Old Vic theater company, where he engaged John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson as leading men.
First role
Harcourt Williams took drama lessons and then joined Frank Benson's touring company in 1897. He stayed with Benson five years, and in 1900 made his London debut at the Lyceum as Sir Thomas Grey in Henry V.
Behind the camera
Over four years, Williams directed roughly fifty plays for the company and also acted in many of them. He widened the Old Vic's usual repertoire, adding modern works by Bernard Shaw and others.
Harcourt Williams movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Laurence Olivier directed two of these films. Felix Aylmer appears in three of them, more than any other actor. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Felix Aylmer's page
Robert Newton's page
Leslie Banks's page
Basil Sydney's page
Also two films together2 more actors
- Wylie WatsonEye Witness (1950) and Brighton Rock (1948)
- Russell ThorndikeHamlet (1948) and Henry V (1944)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.