Kynaston Reeves

Kynaston Reeves, born Philip Arthur Reeves on 29 May 1893 in London, England, was an English character actor whose career spanned film, television, and stage. He died on 5 December 1971 in Lewisham, London, of cerebral thrombosis, at the age of 78. He was the first of two sons born to Arthur Robert Reeves and Clarissa Mary Kynaston, and his brother was John Edward. He was married to Paula Sabina, an Australian Jewish stage actress, and the couple had two children, Thomas and Suzanne.

When launching his film career, Reeves adopted his mother's maiden name, Kynaston, as a professional middle name, initially performing as P. Kynaston Reeves before dropping the initial entirely. His reasoning was that the name would call to mind the celebrated actor Edward Kynaston and thereby attract the attention of directors. His screen debut came with a small part in the 1931 film Many Waters, and the following year he took a supporting role in The Lodger, playing an editor named Bob Mitchell in a cast that included Ivor Novello and Jack Hawkins. The film was later retitled The Phantom Fiend in 1935. His 1938 appearance as the Reverend Edmund Ovington opposite Otto Kruger in Housemaster marked the beginning of a specialization in authority figures, including judges, doctors, professors, and clergymen.

His film work continued steadily through subsequent decades. In 1941 he portrayed Lord Stanley alongside John Gielgud's Disraeli in the biographical film The Prime Minister. In 1948 he appeared as Dr. Chawner in Vice Versa, a production written, co-produced, and directed by Peter Ustinov, and that same year he played the Lord Chief Justice of the High Court in The Winslow Boy, starring Robert Donat. He returned to the subject of Disraeli in the 1950 film The Mudlark, this time taking the role of General Sir Henry Ponsonby in a story about a street urchin discovered in Windsor Castle, with Alec Guinness portraying Disraeli. In 1957 he played Professor Walgate in the science fiction film Fiend Without a Face, starring Marshall Thompson, and in 1961 he appeared in Carry On Regardless. His final film was The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes in 1970, starring Robert Stephens and Geneviève Page, in which he fulfilled a small role.

Television provided a significant and sustained source of work throughout Reeves's career. In 1950 he was invited by the BBC to play Mr. Growser in the children's programme The Cruise of The Toytown Belle, which led to further work in the BBC's children's department, including the role of Alonso, King of Naples, in an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest and the role of Mr. Steele in an adaptation of Philip Wade's Jenny Meade, both produced in 1951. He then took on the recurring role of Henry Quelch, form master in the long-running series Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, recording six episodes in 1952, one in 1954, two in 1956, and four in 1957. In 1958 he appeared in the six-part BBC production Leave It To Todhunter, based on Anthony Berkeley's 1937 book Trial and Error, playing Ambrose Chitterwick in an episode titled In Search Of A Corpse. The following year he played the Duke of Omnium across all six episodes of The Eustace Diamonds, a BBC series adapted from the Anthony Trollope novel. In early 1967 he appeared in seven of the twenty-six episodes of the BBC's The Forsyte Saga, portraying Nicholas Forsyte. His television work also included appearances in No Hiding Place, Armchair Theatre, The Wednesday Play, and a role as The Minister in an episode of The Prisoner. He appeared in a 1966 episode of The Avengers titled What the Butler Saw, playing Major General Goddard opposite Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg, and returned to the series in 1968 for the episode Legacy Of Death, playing a different character named Dickens, by which time Linda Thorson had taken over as John Steed's female sidekick. His final television appearance came in an edition of the BBC arts programme Omnibus, in which he played the French painter Renoir in a piece titled A Requiem for Modigliani.

In 1962, Reeves appeared on Broadway in The Affair, starring as Thomas Crawford. The production marked his entry into the New York stage.