Edward Atienza

Edward Atienza (27 January 1924 – 16 September 2014) was a British stage and film actor born in London to Alvaro and Dulce Atienza (née Laws). He received his formal education at Sutton Valence School and King's College London before training for the stage at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Atienza launched his professional career in 1949 playing the Butler in a production of Up in Mabel's Room. He spent the years 1950 to 1954 with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company, and in December 1954 made his first London theatre appearance as Mole in Toad of Toad Hall at the Prince's Theatre. A musical adaptation of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors brought him further stage work in 1956. British venues where he performed over the course of his career included the Queen's Theatre, the Mermaid Theatre, and the Chichester Festival Theatre, and he made numerous appearances at Canada's Stratford Festival.

Atienza crossed to Broadway in 1957, making his debut in the comedy Romanoff and Juliet at the Plymouth Theatre, the first of several productions that would keep him active on the New York stage through 1966. His Broadway credits also encompassed Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Affair (1962), Becket, Ivanov, and Andorra.

His screen career began with the 1956 film The Battle of the River Plate, followed by Sword of Freedom in 1957 and the 1961 film adaptation of Romanoff and Juliet. Later film appearances included Lock Up Your Daughters in 1969 and Sarah in 1976. On television, his performance on Taking the Falls earned him a nomination for the 1997 Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role in a Dramatic Series.