Robert Morley

Robert Morley was an English actor who was usually cast, often in supporting roles, as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment. Morley attended Elizabeth College followed by RADA, and made his West End stage debut in 1929 in TREASURE ISLAND at the Strand Theatre and his Broadway debut in 1938 in the title role of OSCAR WILDE at the Fulton Theatre. Although soon won over to the big screen, Morley remained both a busy West End star and successful author, and toured tirelessly. A versatile actor, especially in his younger years, he played roles as divergent as those of Louis XVI, for which he received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor (“Marie Antoinette,” 1938). He gave powerful performances in “Oscar Wilde” (1960) and as a missionary in “The African Queen” (1951), but did not receive Oscar nominations for either. As a playwright he co-wrote and adapted several plays for the stage, having outstanding success in London and New York with EDWARD, MY SON, a gripping family drama written in 1947 (with Noel Langley) in which he played the central role of Arnold Holt. But the disappointing film version, directed by George Cukor at MGM Elstree in 1949, instead starred the miscast Spencer Tracy, who turned Holt, an unscrupulous English businessman, into a blustering Canadian expatriate. Later in his career, Morley received critical acclaim and numerous accolades for his performance in “Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?” Morley was honored by being the first “King of Moomba,” appointed by the Melbourne Moomba festival committee and, in typical humility, he accepted the crown in bare feet. At the time, Morley was in Australia touring his one-man show, THE SOUND OF MORLEY.