Walter Hudd

Walter Hudd (20 February 1897 – 20 January 1963) was a British actor and director whose career spanned stage, film, and drama education across four decades. His sole Broadway appearance came in 1948, when he performed in the Theatre Guild revival of You Never Can Tell at the Martin Beck Theatre.

Hudd began his stage career in 1919 with a debut in The Manxman, subsequently touring with the Fred Terry Company. His performance as Guildenstern in a 1925 modern dress production of Hamlet brought him his first significant critical recognition. Over the course of his career he became a member of the Malvern Festival, Stratford Memorial, and Old Vic theatre companies. In 1947 he directed productions at Stratford-on-Avon, including Richard II, Twelfth Night, and Doctor Faustus; for Twelfth Night he also appeared on stage in the role of Malvolio.

His West End career encompassed a wide range of theatres and productions. Early appearances included The Way Things Happen at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1923 and The Ghost Train at the Prince of Wales Theatre in 1925. Later credits included The Grain of Mustard Seed at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1930, Mile Away Murder at the Duchess Theatre in 1937, Geneva at the Saville Theatre in 1938, and Thunder Rock at St Martin's Theatre in 1941. He continued working in the West End into the following decade and beyond, appearing in A Month in the Country at the New Theatre in 1949, The Waltz of the Toreadors at the Criterion Theatre in 1956, and The Potting Shed at the Globe Theatre in 1958.

Hudd's film career began in 1935 with Anthony Asquith's Moscow Nights. The following year, Alexander Korda cast him as T. E. Lawrence in a planned biographical film, though the production was ultimately abandoned. Hudd had previously portrayed a character based on Lawrence in Bernard Shaw's play Too True to be Good, a performance that Lawrence himself had praised. His final two films, The Punch and Judy Man and It's All Happening, were released after his death. In his later years, Hudd served as Head of Drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama.