Hugh Griffith

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Hugh Emrys Griffith (30 May 1912 – 14 May 1980) was a Welsh actor known for playing tough, memorable characters. He appeared in more than 100 theatre, film and TV productions over about 40 years.

In 1959 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Ben-Hur, making him the second Welsh-born actor to win an Oscar after Ray Milland. He was nominated again for Tom Jones in 1963. As a stage actor he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and was nominated for a Tony Award for Look Homeward, Angel. He also earned three Golden Globe nominations (for Tom Jones, Oliver!, and The Fixer) and won a Clarence Derwent Award.

Early life: Griffith was born in Marian-glas, Anglesey, Wales, the youngest son of Mary and William Griffith; his sister Elen Roger Jones was an actress. He went to Llangefni County School. He narrowly missed entering university after failing the English exam, so he worked as a bank clerk in London while pursuing acting. He nearly joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, but had to pause to serve in the British Army during World War II.

Military service: He served from 1940 to 1946 with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in India and Burma.

Post-war career: In 1946 he returned to acting and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. He became famous for stage roles such as Falstaff, Lear and Prospero, and acted in London, New York and Stratford. In 1952 he appeared on Broadway in Legend of Lovers with Richard Burton, and in 1958 in Look Homeward, Angel with Anthony Perkins, a show that earned him a Tony nomination.

Film and television: He began in British films in the late 1940s and later worked in Hollywood. TV roles included Quatermass II (1955), The Citadel (1960) and Clochemerle (1972).

Later life: Griffith's career was affected by alcoholism in his later years. He played funeral director Caradog Lloyd-Evans in the 1978 BBC Wales comedy Grand Slam, a performance widely praised. He was once linked to Orson Welles' planned Treasure Island project. He received an honorary degree from the University of Wales, Bangor in 1965. He married Adelgunde Margaret Beatrice von Dechend in 1947 and was a close friend of poet Dylan Thomas. He died on 14 May 1980 in London, aged 67, and is buried at Golders Green Crematorium.