WILFRID HYDE WHITE
as Mr. Marston

Wilfrid Hyde White, who plays the part of Sullivan's wealthy prospective father-in-law, is a master of subtle characterisation on stage or screen. Born at Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, he studied for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his first appearance on the West End stage in 1925 as the Juror in Beggar on Horseback. He made his screen debut in Rembrandt in 1934 and was so attracted by the new medium that he was soon concentrating entirely on films. Since the war, however, his brilliantly incisive character studies have delighted both theatre and screen audiences, notably in comedy parts such as George Prout in It Depends What You Mean on the stage and in roles with a sinister or shady streak in such films as The Third Man and The Golden Salamander. His role of Mr. Marston, the port-and-operetta-loving Victorian papa in Gilbert and Sullivan, is a new departure in comedy for Wilfrid Hyde White.

Page modified 14 September 2011