Hugh Williams

Hugh Williams
Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (6 March 1904 – 7 December 1969) was a British actor and dramatist of Welsh descent.
Early life and career
Hugh Anthony Glanmor Williams (nicknamed "Tam") was born at Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex to Hugh Dafydd Anthony Williams (1869-1905) and Hilda (née Lewis). The Williams family lived at Bedford Park, in Chiswick, West London. His paternal grandfather was Hugh Williams (1796-1874), a Welsh solicitor and anti-establishment political activist. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He was a popular film and stage actor, who became a major film star in the British cinema of the 1930s. In 1930 he toured America in the cast of the R.C. Sheriff play Journey's End and appeared in his first film Charley's Aunt during a spell in Hollywood. He then returned to Britain and became a mainstay of the British film industry. He made 57 film appearances as an actor between 1930 and 1967. He collaborated with his second wife on several plays, such as The Grass Is Greener and the screenplay for the subsequent film. He died from an Aortic aneurysm, aged 65, in London.
During the Second World War, he served as a Captain in “Phantom” GHQ Liaison Regiment.
Marriages and grandchildren
He was married twice:
Gwynne Whitby (1925–1940) (two children)
Lou Williams
Prue Williams
Margaret Vyner (1940–1969) (three children):
Hugo Williams (born 1942), poet
Simon Williams (born 1946), actor who married Belinda Carroll and Lucy Fleming
Polly Williams (1950-2004), actress who married Nigel Havers
and his grandchildren included:
Kate Dunn, actress
Amy Williams, actress
Tam Williams, actor
Filmography
Charley's Aunt (1930) as Charlie Wykeham
A Night in Montmartre (1931) as Philip Borell
A Gentleman of Paris (1931) as Gaston Gerrard
Down Our Street (1932) as Charlie Stubbs
Insult (1932) as Captain Ramon Nadir
In a Monastery Garden (1932) as Paul Ferrier
White Face (1932) as Michael Seeley
Rome Express (1932) as Tony
This Acting Business (1933) as Hugh
After Dark (1933) as Richard Morton
The Jewel (1933) as Frank Hallam
Bitter Sweet (1933) as Vincent
Sorrell and Son (1934) as Kit Sorrell as an Adult
Elinor Norton (1934) as Tony Norton
All Men Are Enemies (1934) as Tony Clarendon
Outcast Lady (1934) as Gerald March
Lieutenant Daring R.N. (1935) as Lt. Bob Daring
David Copperfield (1935) as Steerforth
Let's Live Tonight (1935) as Brian Kerry
The Happy Family (1936) as Victor Hutt
The Last Journey (1936) as Gerald Winter
The Amateur Gentleman (1936) as Ronald
Her Last Affaire (1936) as Alan Heriot
The Man Behind the Mask (1936) as Nick Barclay
The Windmill (1937) as Peter Ellington
Side Street Angel (1937) as Peter
The Perfect Crime (1937) as Charles Brown
Gypsy (1937) as Brazil
Brief Ecstasy (1937) as Jim Wyndham
Premiere (1938) as Rene Nissen
The Dark Stairway (1938) as Dr. Thurlow
Bank Holiday (1938) as Geoffrey
His Lordship Goes to Press (1939) as Lord Bill Wilmer
Wuthering Heights (1939) as Hindley Earnshaw
Dead Men Tell No Tales (1939) as Detective Inspector Martin
Inspector Hornleigh (1939) as Bill Gordon, Ann's Brother
The Dark Eyes of London (1939) as Det. Insp. Larry Holt
Ships with Wings (1942) as Wagner, Papa's Pilot
The Day Will Dawn (1942) as Colin Metcalfe
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942) as Frank Shelley, Observer/Navigator in B for Bertie
Secret Mission (1942) as Major Peter Garnett
Talk About Jacqueline (1942) as Dr. Michael Thomas
A Girl in a Million (1946) as Tony
Take My Life (1947) as Nicholas Talbot
An Ideal Husband (1947) as Sir Robert Chiltern
Elizabeth of Ladymead (1948) as John Beresford in 1946
The Blind Goddess (1948) as Lord Brasted
The Romantic Age (1949) as Arnold Dickson
Paper Orchid (1949) as Frank McSweeney
Gift Horse (1952) as Captain David G. Wilson, Division Commander
The Holly and the Ivy (1952) as Richard Wyndham
Twice Upon a Time (1953) as James Turner
The Fake (1953) as Sir Richard Aldingham
Star of My Night (1954) as Arnold Whitman
The Intruder (1953) as Tim Ross
Khartoum (1966) as Lord Hartington
Doctor Faustus (1967) as Scholar
Writing credits
The Grass Is Greener (play) (1952, book)
Plaintiff in a Pretty Hat (1957, play, with Margaret Williams)
The Grass Is Greener (1960, screenplay)
The Irregular Verb to Love (1961, play, with Margaret Williams)
Charlie Girl (book, with Margaret Williams)
Selected stage roles
Journey's End (1930)
Grand Hotel (1931)
While Parents Sleep (1932)
Flowers of the Forest (1935)
Notable television appearances
Masterpiece Playhouse in episode: Richard III (episode No. 1.2) (1950)
The Count of Monte Cristo playing Millet in episode: "Flight to Calais"
Colonel March of Scotland Yard playing Harold Hartley in episode: "The Talking Head" (episode No. 1.11) (1956)
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents as Shayar (sic!) in "Scheherezade" (episode No. 5.10) (1956)
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan playing Inspector Marlowe in episode: "Dateline Execution" (episode No. 1.18) (1957)
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan playing Inspector Marlowe in episode: "No Future for Frederick" (episode No. 1.23) (1958)
The New Adventures of Charlie Chan playing Inspector Marlowe in episode: "Safe Deposit" (episode No. 1.24) (1958)
References
Bibliography
Sweet, Matthew. Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema. Faber and Faber, 2005.
External links
1904 births
1969 deaths
English people of Welsh descent
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
People from Bexhill-on-Sea
Deaths from throat cancer
Deaths from cancer in England
20th-century English male actors
Male actors from Sussex
20th-century English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
Alumni of RADA
20th-century English male writers