# Lyn Harding

David Llewellyn Harding (12 October 1867 – 26 December 1952), known professionally as Lyn Harding, was a Welsh actor who spent 40 years on the stage before entering British made silent films, talkies and radio. He had an imposing and menacing stage presence and came to be cast as the villain in many films, notably Professor Moriarty in dramatisations of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

## Early years

He was born in 1867 at St. Brides Wentloog, in Monmouthshire, into a strict Congregationalist Welsh-speaking family.

## Acting career

He started his career as an apprentice draper in Newport, Wales and but he was drawn to an acting career. He began giving readings from Shakespeare at a chapel in Cardiff. In 1890 a chance meeting with a touring group on a train led to him standing in for a sick actor and his first professional engagement. He opened on 28 August 1890 in The Grip Of Iron at the Theatre Royal, Bristol.
He toured "the provinces" and eventually made his London debut at the Shakespeare Theatre, Clapham on 19 July 1897.
He later changed his name to "Lyn" to make it more acceptable to English audiences who found "Llewellyn" difficult to pronounce.
In 1910, he portrayed Dr Grimesby Rylott in Arthur Conan Doyle's play The Speckled Band.
His career spanned stage, silent screen, talkies and radio productions and he toured in the United States, Japan, India and Burma. He worked at different times with John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Anthony Quayle.
His last stage appearance was as Abu Hassan in Chu Chin Chow in the West End in 1941 when he was 74 years old. At the age of nearly 80 he played Owain Glyndŵr in Shakespeare's Henry IV for BBC radio.
He lived for about ten years in Leverstock Green, near Hemel Hempstead where he played an active role in the local community, even staging plays and revues with fellow actors to help raise funds for a much needed parish hall. He died in London in 1952, aged 85.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1920 | The Barton Mystery | Beverley | Harry T. Roberts | |
| 1920 | A Bachelor Husband | Feather Dakers | Kenelm Foss | |
| 1922 | When Knighthood Was in Flower | Henry VIII | Robert G. Vignola | |
| 1922 | Tense Moments with Great Authors | Jean Valjean | H. B. Parkinson, Walter Courtney Rowden and George Wynn | (segment "Miserables, Les") |
| 1924 | Yolanda | Charles the Bold | Robert G. Vignola | |
| 1927 | The Further Adventures of the Flag Lieutenant | The Sinister Influence | W.P. Kellino | |
| 1927 | Land of Hope and Glory | Roger Whiteford | Harley Knoles | |
| 1930 | Sleeping Partners | It | Seymour Hicks | |
| 1931 | The Speckled Band | Dr. Grimesby Roylott | Jack Raymond | |
| 1932 | The Barton Mystery | Beverly | Henry Edwards | |
| 1933 | The Constant Nymph | Albert Sanger | Basil Dean | |
| 1934 | The Man Who Changed His Name | Selby Clive | Henry Edwards | |
| 1934 | The Lash | Bronson Haughton | Henry Edwards | |
| 1934 | Wild Boy | Frank Redfern | Albert de Courville | |
| 1935 | The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes | Professor Moriarty | Leslie S. Hiscott | |
| 1935 | Escape Me Never | Herr Heinrich | Paul Czinner | |
| 1935 | An Old Spanish Custom | Gonzalo Gonzalez | Adrian Brunel | |
| 1936 | Spy of Napoleon | Otto von Bismarck | Maurice Elvey | |
| 1936 | The Man Who Changed His Mind | Professor Holloway | Robert Stevenson | |
| 1937 | Fire Over England | Sir Richard Ingolby | William K. Howard | |
| 1937 | Please Teacher | Wing Foo | Stafford Dickens | |
| 1937 | Underneath the Arches | Pedro | Redd Davis | |
| 1937 | The Pearls of the Crown | John Russell | Christian-Jaque | |
| 1937 | Knight Without Armour | Bargee | Jacques Feyder | |
| 1937 | Silver Blaze | Professor Moriarty | Thomas Bentley | |
| 1937 | The Mutiny of the Elsinore | Mr. Pike | Roy Lockwood | |
| 1937 | I, Claudius | Vespasian | Josef von Sternberg | |
| 1939 | Goodbye, Mr. Chips | Dr. John Hamilton Wetherby | Sam Wood | |
| 1939 | The Missing People | Joseph Bronstone | Jack Raymond | |
| 1941 | The Prime Minister | Otto von Bismarck | Thorold Dickinson | Uncredited, (final film role) |

## Selected stage credits

* The Speckled Band (1910, Conan Doyle)
* Henry VIII (1916, Shakespeare)
* Wild Heather (1917, Brandon)
* Grand Hotel (1931, Knoblock)