David Hutcheson

David Hutcheson (14 June 1905 – 18 February 1976) was a British character actor whose career spanned stage, film, and television across five decades. Born in 1905, he made his Broadway debut in 1929 and appeared on the New York stage through 1931, with credits including the musical Free For All and the play Guns.

Hutcheson launched his film career with Fast and Loose in 1930, the same period as his Broadway work. His only leading role came four years later in Romance in Rhythm (1934). Over the course of his screen career he became closely associated with a particular range of comic and military types, including the hooray henry, the silly ass, and the career officer. Two of his most prominent film appearances came in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and Peter Ustinov's School for Secrets (1946), with a further Ustinov collaboration following in Vice Versa (1948). His work in film and television continued into the 1970s.

On the stage, Hutcheson was a recurring presence in productions of My Fair Lady during the 1960s, regularly taking on the role of Colonel Pickering.

His personal life intersected with public attention in 1949. Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, divorced his wife, Mary Kathleen Hopkinson, citing her adultery with Hutcheson. On 25 March 1949, Hutcheson married her; she held the title Mary, Countess of Warwick.