Hugh Griffith

Hugh Emrys Griffith (30 May 1912 – 14 May 1980) was a Welsh actor born in Marian-glas, Anglesey, the youngest son of Mary and William Griffith. His sister was actress Elen Roger Jones. Griffith was educated at Llangefni County School and, after failing the English examination required for university entrance, pursued a career in banking, eventually transferring to London as a bank clerk to be closer to acting opportunities. He gained admission to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts but was compelled to suspend those plans when he joined the British Army, serving six years with the Royal Welch Fusiliers in India and the Burma Campaign during the Second World War. He resumed his acting career in 1946 upon joining the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, Griffith appeared in over 100 theatre, film, and television productions. As a stage actor he earned particular recognition for his Shakespearean work, with acclaimed portrayals of Falstaff, Lear, and Prospero among his notable roles. He performed on both sides of the Atlantic, taking leading parts in London, New York City, and Stratford. His Broadway career ran from 1951 to 1963 and included three productions: Legend of Lovers, Look Homeward, Angel, and Andorra. In 1952, he starred in the Broadway adaptation of Legend of Lovers alongside fellow Welsh actor Richard Burton. In 1958, he took a lead role in the original production of Look Homeward, Angel alongside Anthony Perkins, and both actors received Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nominations for their performances.

Griffith began his film career in British productions during the late 1940s before expanding into Hollywood work in the 1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Ben-Hur (1959), becoming the second Welsh-born actor to win an Academy Award, following Ray Milland's win for The Lost Weekend. He received a second Academy Award nomination for his performance in Tom Jones (1963). In 1968, he appeared as the magistrate in Oliver!, one of three films that year for which he received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, the others being The Fixer, also from 1968. His total Golden Globe nominations in that category numbered three, with Tom Jones accounting for the first in 1963. He was also a BAFTA Award nominee and a Clarence Derwent Award winner. In 1978, he played funeral director Caradog Lloyd-Evans in the BBC Wales comedy Grand Slam, a performance that received widespread acclaim and contributed to the film's cult status, despite Griffith being visibly unwell during production. He had also been attached to Orson Welles' unproduced 1960s adaptation of Treasure Island.

On television, Griffith appeared in major roles in Quatermass II (1955), a miniseries adaptation of A. J. Cronin's The Citadel (1960), and Clochemerle (1972), as well as an episode of Colonel March of Scotland Yard. In 1965, he received an honorary degree from the University of Wales, Bangor. In his personal life, Griffith married Adelgunde Margaret Beatrice von Dechend in 1947 and was a lifelong friend of poet Dylan Thomas. His later career was affected by chronic alcoholism. He died in 1980 at his home in Kensington, London, at the age of 67.