Lewis Casson

Sir Lewis Thomas Casson was born on 26 October 1875 at 18 Alfred Road, Birkenhead, Cheshire, the third of seven children born to Laura Ann née Holland-Thomas and Thomas Casson, a bank manager and organ-builder of Welsh descent. The family relocated to Denbigh in Wales during his childhood, where Casson received his education at Ruthin School. In 1891, his father moved the household to London to pursue organ-building as a commercial enterprise, and Casson worked in that business. After it failed, he studied chemistry before training as a teacher at St Mark's College, Chelsea, earning a teaching certificate. His father launched a second organ-making venture in 1900, and Casson spent the following four years employed there.

Having participated in amateur theatrical productions from an early age, Casson left his father's business in 1904 to pursue acting professionally. He joined the Royal Court Theatre under Harley Granville-Barker, remaining there until 1908, when he became a member of Annie Horniman's repertory company at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester, recognized as the first repertory theatre in England. On 22 December 1908, in Aylesford, Kent, he married fellow company member Sybil Thorndike. The couple subsequently joined Charles Frohman's repertory season in London, and following the birth of their first son, John, in 1909, they accompanied Frohman on a tour of the United States. That American engagement marked the beginning of Casson's long association with Broadway, where he would appear in productions spanning from 1910 to 1957, including the drama Smith, Victoria Regina, and The Potting Shed.

Upon returning to England, Casson transitioned increasingly into theatrical direction, working again with Annie Horniman from 1911 to 1913. He then succeeded Alfred Wareing as producer of the Scottish Playgoers Company in Glasgow, a forerunner of the Citizens' Theatre. A second son, Christopher, was born in 1912. At the outbreak of World War I, Casson enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps and later transferred to the Royal Engineers, attaining the rank of major. He was wounded and invalided home in 1917, receiving the Military Cross. During the war years, Thorndike gave birth to their remaining two children, Mary in 1914 and Ann in 1915.

Following the war, Casson resumed his directing career, supporting his wife as her reputation as an actress grew substantially. Among his notable directorial credits were Saint Joan, starring Thorndike, as well as productions of The Trojan Women and Medea, both works of Euripides translated by Gilbert Murray. He directed Henry VIII in 1925 and Macbeth in 1926. The couple toured South Africa together in 1928 and traveled to the Middle East, Australia, and New Zealand in 1932. In 1934, Casson appeared as a performer in John Van Druten's Flowers of the Forest, and in 1938 he directed Henry V for Ivor Novello. He led an Old Vic tour around the Mediterranean in 1939 and the following year directed John Gielgud in King Lear at the Old Vic. During that same period he performed the role of Gonzalo in The Tempest.

During World War II, Casson organized Old Vic company tours to the South Wales valleys. He served as president of the British Actors' Equity Association from 1941 to 1945 and was knighted in 1945. Thorndike had been created a dame in 1931, making them one of a small number of married couples each holding titles in their own right. In 1947, Casson took the leading role in J.B. Priestley's The Linden Tree. In 1959, he and Thorndike marked the golden jubilee of their marriage by appearing together in Clemence Dane's Eighty in the Shade, a play written specifically for them. That same year, both appeared in the film Shake Hands with the Devil.

Casson's film work also included Escape (1930), Crime on the Hill (1933), The Night Club Queen (1934), Midshipman Easy (1935), Calling the Tune (1936), and South Riding (1938). He continued performing into his final years, with his last stage appearance coming in 1968 in Emlyn Williams's Night Must Fall. Casson died on 16 May 1969 at Nuffield Nursing Home, aged 93, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 20 May 1969, with his ashes scattered in the grounds. His widow, Sybil Thorndike, died in 1976, also at the age of 93.