Felix Aylmer


Actor
Felix Aylmer

About

Also Known As
Felix Edward Aylmer-Jones, Sir Felix Aylmer
Birth Place
Wiltshire, England, GB
Born
February 21, 1889
Died
September 02, 1979

Biography

Accomplished stage performer, for many years president of the actors organization Equity, who entered film in the early 1930s and often played doddering clerics, bureaucrats or schoolteachers. Aylmer was twice cast as the Archbishop of Canterbury (in "Henry V" 1944 and "Becket" 1964) and played Polonius in Laurence Olivier's film, "Hamlet" (1948). He was knighted in 1965....

Biography

Accomplished stage performer, for many years president of the actors organization Equity, who entered film in the early 1930s and often played doddering clerics, bureaucrats or schoolteachers. Aylmer was twice cast as the Archbishop of Canterbury (in "Henry V" 1944 and "Becket" 1964) and played Polonius in Laurence Olivier's film, "Hamlet" (1948). He was knighted in 1965.

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

Decline and Fall ... of a Bird Watcher (1969)
Judge
Hostile Witness (1968)
Masquerade (1965)
Henrickson
Becket (1964)
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Hands of Orlac (1964)
Dr. Cochrane
The Chalk Garden (1964)
Judge McWhirrey
The Boys (1963)
Judge
The Running Man (1963)
Parson
Macbeth (1963)
Doctor
The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
Grand Lama
Never Take Candy From a Stranger (1961)
Olderberry Senior
From the Terrace (1960)
James Duncan MacHardie
Exodus (1960)
Dr. Lieberman
The Mummy (1959)
Stephen Banning
The Doctor's Dilemma (1959)
Sir Patrick Cullen
The Two-Headed Spy (1959)
Cornaz
Separate Tables (1958)
Mr. Fowler
I Accuse! (1958)
Edgar Demange
Saint Joan (1957)
The Inquisitor
Anastasia (1956)
Russian chamberlain
Knights of the Round Table (1954)
Merlin
The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp (1954)
Joshua Webman
The Master of Ballantrae (1953)
Lord Durrisdeer
Paris Express (1953)
Merkemans
Ivanhoe (1952)
Isaac
No Highway in the Sky (1951)
Sir Philip
I'll Never Forget You (1951)
Sir William Sutherland
Quo Vadis (1951)
Plautius
Trio (1950)
Bank manager
So Long at the Fair (1950)
Eye Witness (1950)
Prince of Foxes (1949)
Varano
Edward, My Son (1949)
Mr. Hanray
Quartet (1949)
Martin
Alice in Wonderland (1949)
Voice Of Cheshire Cat
Alice in Wonderland (1949)
Dr Liddell--Dean Of Christ Church
Hamlet (1948)
Polonius
The Calendar (1948)
The Years Between (1946)
The Way to the Stars (1945)
Reverend Charles Moss
Caesar And Cleopatra (1945)
Nobleman
The Wicked Lady (1945)
Hogarth
Escape to Danger (1944)
Sir Alfred Horton
The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with his Battell at Agincourt in France (1944)
Henry V (1944)
Archbishop Of Canterbury
Mr. Emmanuel (1944)
Mr Emmanuel
The Young Mr. Pitt (1943)
Lord North
Demi-Paradise (1943)
Mr Runalow
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Sons of the Sea (1942)
Bank president
The Girl in the News (1941)
Prosecuting counsel
The Saint's Vacation (1941)
[Charles] Leighton
The Remarkable Mr. Kipps (1941)
Architect
The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)
Major Barbara (1941)
Night Train (1940)
Dr. [John] Fredericks
Queen of Destiny (1940)
Lord Palmerston
The Rat (1938)
Attorney general
Action for Slander (1938)
Sir Eustace Cunninghame [Prosecutor]
South Riding (1938)
Chairman of council
Victoria the Great (1937)
Palmerston
Dreaming Lips (1937)
Sir Robert Blaker
The Two of Us (1937)
Benton
As You Like It (1937)
Duke Frederick
The Mill On The Floss (1937)
Nine Days a Queen (1936)
Edward Seymour
Seven Sinners (1936)
Sir Charles Webber
Dusty Ermine (1936)
The Iron Duke (1935)
Uxbridge
The Ace Of Spades (1935)
The Ghost Camera (1933)
The World Flesh, And The Devil (1932)

Cast (Special)

Victoria Regina (1961)
Lord Melbourne
Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1960)
Sir Howard Hallam

Life Events

1911

Stage acting debut

1950

Made president of Equity, a British organization for actors

Videos

Movie Clip

Separate Tables (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Mayfair From Head To Foot Early evening at the Hotel Beauregard, guests (Felix Aylmer, May Hallatt, Cathleen Nesbitt, Gladys Cooper) are not expecting Rita Hayworth, as Ann Shankland, greeted by proprietor Pat (Wendy Hiller), and seeking a guest we’ve not yet met, in Separate Tables, 1958.
Night Train To Munich (1940) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Suffering From An Eye Strain Substantial plot twist, to infuriate any viewer who was liking Paul Henreid as Karl Marsen, Czech concentration camp escapee who, now in London, reveals himself to be a Nazi mole, visiting an opthalmologist (Felix Aylmer) who, after a clever bit with an eye chart, does exposition, in Night Train To Munich, 1940, from director Carol Reed and producer Alexander Korda.
Henry V (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Unto Southampton! Leslie Banks, as "Chorus" conveys us to Southampton, where the king (director and star Laurence Olivier) launches his fleet, then the death of Falstaff (George Robey), faithful to the original Shakespeare, from Henry V, 1944.
Knights Of The Round Table (1954) -- (Movie Clip) We Are One People Politics very olde English style, as Arthur (Mel Ferrer) orates and Merlin (Felix Aylmer) explains about Stonehenge (with an altogether unfounded theory!), and Lancelot (Robert Taylor) sounds the alarm, in MGM's Knights Of The Round Table, 1953.
Henry V (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Globe Playhouse The innovative opening sequence from Laurence Olivier's first Shakespeare film production, the acclaimed wartime version of Henry V, 1944, co-starring Leslie Banks, Felix Aylmer and Robert Newton.
Separate Tables (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Lies With Such Sincerity We’ve just met Burt Lancaster as maybe-disreputable American writer John, and know only that he’s a guest involved with the proprietor of the English coastal hotel, when he discovers Rita Hayworth, as Ann Shankland, whom we learn is his ex-wife, in Separate Tables, 1958.
Exodus (1960) -- (Movie Clip) It's Good To Have Parties From the arrival of the first Jewish refugee kids from Cyprus, we meet Zionist leader Barak Ben Canaan (Lee J. Cobb, father of the hero, Paul Newman), at his kibbutz in Palestine, also John Derek as friendly Arab neighbor Taha, in Otto Preminger’s film from Leon Uris’ novel, Exodus, 1960.
Quo Vadis (1951) -- (Movie Clip) May A Traveler Interrupt? Arriving at the Roman home of Plautius (Felix Aylmer) and Pomponia (Nora Swinburne), saintly Greek Jew Paul (Abraham Sofaer), greets convert Lygia (Deborah Kerr) and meets amorous General Marcus Vinicus (Robert Taylor) in Quo Vadis, 1951.
Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Surgeons Are The Worst Opening narration by Felix Aylmer, whom we’ll learn is London psychologist Sir Patrick Cullen, ruminating about medicine as he visits his suddenly famous friend Dr. Ridgeon (John Robinson), Anthony Asquith directing from the Bernard Shaw play, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1959.
Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) They Daren't Be Ill Dr. Colenso Ridgeon (John Robinson) with colleagues congratulating him on his knighthood, poor Blenkinsop (Michael Gwynn) joins prosperous Sir Ralph, Walpole and Sir Patrick (Robert Morley, Alastair Sim, Felix Aylmer), in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1959, from the George Bernard Shaw play, starring Leslie Caron and Dirk Bogarde.
Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Intemperate, Disheveled, Dissolute Invited to dine by Ridgeon (John Robinson) and fellow doctors (Robert Morley, Alastair Sim et al) to assess his worthiness for a cure, consumptive artist Dubedat (Dirk Bogarde) and wife (Leslie Caron) appear to pass muster, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1958, from the Bernard Shaw play.
Doctor's Dilemma, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) I Loathe Money Producer and screenwriter Anatole de Grunwald adapts from George Bernard Shaw’s play, from doctors discussing one of their number’s proclaimed cure for consumption, to introduce top-billed Leslie Caron and Dirk Bogarde, as painter Dubedat and wife, in The Doctor’s Dilemma, 1959.

Trailer

Separate Tables - (Original Trailer) Producer (and co-star) Burt Lancaster himself pitches Separate Tables, 1958, featuring Academy Award winners David Niven and Wendy Hiller.
Mummy, The (1959) - (Original Trailer) A bandage-wrapped Christopher Lee stalks his victims in Hammer Film's version of The Mummy (1959).
Exodus - (Textless trailer) Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint lead an all-star cast in Otto Preminger's epic about the formation of the modern state of Israel, Exodus (1960).
Doctor's Dilemma, The - (Original Trailer) A woman tries to convince the medical profession to save her ill husband despite his lack of character in The Doctor's Dilemma (1958), starring Leslie Caron and Dirk Bogarde.
Becket - (Re-issue Trailer) England's King Henry II (Peter O'Toole) appoints his best friend (Richard Burton) Archbishop of Canterbury then turns on him in Becket (1964).
Anastasia - (Original Trailer) A group of exiled Russians claim to have found the living daughter (Ingrid Bergman) of the Tsar in Anastasia (1956).
Quo Vadis (1951) - (Original Trailer) A Roman commander falls for a Christian slave girl as Nero intensifies persecution of the new religion in Quo Vadis (1951) starring Robert Taylor.
Henry V (1944) - (Re-issue Trailer) Shakespeare's tale of the warrior king (Laurence Olivier) who learns the meaning of heroism during a daring invasion of France.
Sons of the Sea - (Original Trailer) A brave captain pilots the first steamboat line between England and the U.S. in Sons of the Sea (1942).
Ivanhoe - (Original Trailer) Robert Taylor stars in Ivanhoe (1952), Sir Walter Scott's classic tale of the noble knight torn between his fair lady (Joan Fontaine) and a beautiful Jew (Elizabeth Taylor).
Knights of the Round Table - (Original Trailer) Technical language and fanfare in the trailer for MGM's first Cinemascope feature, as Queen Guinevere is torn between love for her husband and Sir Lancelot in Knights of the Round Table, 1953, starring Ava Gardner & Robert Taylor.
Edward, My Son - (Original Trailer) Spencer Tracy plays a possessive father who destroys anyone who threatens his plans for Edward, My Son (1949).

Family

Dan Aylmer
Son
Actor. Born in 1933; died in 1964.

Bibliography