ROBERT MORLEY
as Mr. Gilbert.

Robert Morley was born in Semley, Wiltshire, England, on May 26th, 1908. He was educated at Wellington College and on the continent — in France, Germany, and Italy, before embarking on a stage training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his first professional appearance as one of the pirates in Treasure Island. He then went on tour as assistant stage manager of And So To Bed before appearing again on the stage in 1931 at the Playhouse in Oxford. The next four years were spent in amassing experience in every type of role in London's West End and on tour with Sir Frank Benson.

In 1935, in conjunction with Peter Bull, he established the Repertory Theatre at Perranporth in Cornwall, where he continued to gain invaluable knowledge of the theatre in a wide range of roles and capacities. At the Gate Theatre in 1936 Morley made his first impact on the London critics when he gave a brilliant performance in the exacting role of Oscar Wilde. In 1937 Morley scored another success which reached a considerably wider public when he took the part of Alexandre Dumas in The Great Romancer, at the Old Vic Theatre, where he also attracted attention with his performance of Henry Higgins in Pygmalion. The following year marked his first success in the United States where he repeated his triumph in the role of Oscar Wilde at the Fulton Theatre, New York.

It was in 1941 that Robert Morley began the now famous run in the title role of The Man Who Came to Dinner, which was to keep him occupied and audiences in all parts of the country laughing during the next two years. He will also be remembered for his imaginative character study of the Prince Regent at the Savoy Theatre in The First Gentleman. Morley's next great comedy role was one which he helped to create himself in the co-authorship of Edward My Son, in which he played the brilliantly witty role of the fond father, who sheds all his principles to give his son the privileges that only money can buy.

Lately he has been combining his current great comedy hit, The Little Hut with a series of distinctive film roles in The African Queen, Outcast of the Islands and Curtain Up. The part of the witty, scathing and irrascible W.S. Gilbert, for which Robert Morley is ideally suited in appearance, personality and incisive talent for this particular type of characterisation, is undoubtedly his most important film role to date.

Page modified 16 April 2009