Background
Cedric Hardwicke was born Cedric Webster Hardwicke on February 19, 1893 in Lye, Worcestershire, England. He was the son of Edwin Webster Hardwicke, a physician, and Jessie Masterson.
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(In 1461, French nobles fearing King Louis XI may seize th...)
In 1461, French nobles fearing King Louis XI may seize their lands, join forces with the rebellious Duke of Burgundy to overthrow the king. One of the Duke's captains suggests enlisting the aid of Francois Villon who is known to oppose the king and is leader of the Vagabonds, a group that robs the rich to aid the poor. In league with Burgundy, Villon and two of his cohorts enter Paris, but are captured by the king's men. The king, recognizing Villon's power over the people, proposes that Villon defend Paris against Burgundy and help uncover traitors in the court.
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Cedric Hardwicke was born Cedric Webster Hardwicke on February 19, 1893 in Lye, Worcestershire, England. He was the son of Edwin Webster Hardwicke, a physician, and Jessie Masterson.
Hardwicke attended Bridgnorth Grammar School in Shropshire, after which he intended to train as a doctor but failed to pass the necessary examinations. bHe turned to the theatre and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
Hardwicke's interest in the stage was apparent by 1905, when he "produced" The Merchant of Venice in the family kitchen and played the role of Antonio. Two years later, in another home performance, Hardwicke assumed the title role in Hamlet.
He made his professional debut as Brother John in The Monk and the Woman (1912), and later that year was appointed general understudy for productions at His Majesty's Theatre. The following year Hardwicke toured the provinces, South Africa, and Rhodesia, playing Shakespearean roles with F. R. Benson's Northern Company. He returned to London to play in the Old Vic Company's productions of Macbeth and Hamlet.
In 1914 Hardwicke served with the British army in France and, as a captain in the judge advocate's office, at the war's end was assigned to work on legal problems resulting from the British army's presence in Europe. He had the distinction of being the last British officer to leave the war zone officially, in October 1921.
In January 1922, Hardwicke joined Barry Jackson's Birmingham Repertory Theatre, which was notable for giving first productions of George Bernard Shaw's plays. That year Hardwicke played what he later described as his favorite Shavian role, Captain Shotover in Heartbreak House. Later in 1922 he played the He-Ancient in Back to Methuselah, and in 1924 his first popular success, the seventy-year-old Churdles Ash in The Farmer's Wife. The following year Hardwicke played Caesar in Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra. He went on to play Iago in Othello (1925), Richard Varwell in Yellow Sands (1926), and Sir Peter Teazle in The School for Scandal (1928), among other roles.
During these years he cultivated a close friendship with Shaw, who became, according to Hardwicke, "a sort of godfather to me. " Shaw supervised the first productions of many of his plays, and it was their close relationship that enabled Hardwicke to play King Magnus in the first production of The Apple Cart (1929) at the Malvern Festival. The play proved to be such a success that it was brought to London for a nine-month run. This led to a number of subsequent long runs for Hardwicke, including the 1930-1931 production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, in which he played Edward Moulton-Barrett.
Hardwicke embarked on a parallel career in films during this period, but this path proved to be less successful. His first film appearance was in Nelson (1926), and was followed by his starring in The Dreyfus Case (1931). In the next six years Hardwicke made fourteen motion pictures.
Hardwicke began to turn his attention toward the United States, and in 1935 made his American film debut in Becky Sharp. He appeared in Les Misérables. Hardwicke returned to England to appear as Prince Mikail in the play Tovarich (1935), and then directed a revival of The Apple Cart. He returned to the United States for his New York stage debut in the comedy Promise (1936). This play and the next one in which Hardwicke appeared, The Amazing Doctor Clitterhouse (1937), were failures. He had his first American stage triumph as Canon Skerritt in Shadow and Substance (1938).
During the next few years Hardwicke channeled most of his energy to Hollywood. Between 1937 and 1940 he made seven films, including Green Light (1937), Stanley and Livingstone (1939), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). According to film historian David Thomson, Hardwicke's film career "soon lost shape" when his studio, Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), "loaned him out at random. " He subsequently appeared in such films as The Invisible Man Returns (1940) and Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion (1941).
During World War II, Hardwicke organized the British actors living in Hollywood to produce the propaganda film Forever and a Day (1943), in which he played a leading part. After appearing in The Moon Is Down (1943) and Wilson (1944), he returned to England to act in the play The House on the Bridge. In 1945 he toured France, the Netherlands, and Belgium in a revival of Yellow Sands for the Entertainments National Service Association.
After the war Hardwicke returned to the United States, dividing his time between New York and Hollywood. In New York he directed Pygmalion (1946) and An Inspector Calls (1947). In addition he played Creon in Antigone (1946).
In 1948 Hardwicke returned to the Old Vic to appear in three plays. Then he was back in Hollywood to film A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), with Bing Crosby and William Bendix. Hardwicke's King Arthur was heralded as "a keen satirical interpretation. "
In addition to making more films both in America and in England during the 1940s, Hardwicke had one of his great successes on Broadway with a revival of Caesar and Cleopatra (1949). He directed the production as well as playing Caesar. In 1951, Hardwicke appeared with Agnes Moorehead, Charles Boyer, and Charles Laughton in a reading, without costumes or sets, of Shaw's Don Juan in Hell. His performance as the Statue may well have been his finest work. The company toured the United States extensively after its New York run.
Hardwicke's film career was increasingly undistinguished, however. One critic complained that he "made whatever he was offered. " Hardwicke made his television debut in 1956, re-creating his role of Caesar in the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) production of Caesar and Cleopatra. In 1959, after a number of small roles on the New York stage and in road productions, he had a major success on Broadway in A Majority of One, in which he played Koichi Asano, the Japanese suitor of a Brooklyn widow. In 1961 he appeared in the television series "Mrs. G. Goes to College, " and published his second volume of autobiography, A Victorian in Orbit.
His last two movies were Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962) and The Pumpkin Eater (1964). Early in 1963, Hardwicke directed A Wilde Evening with Shaw. He made his last stage appearance, as Mr. Bagot in a revival of Too True to Be Good, in New York City, where he died.
(In 1461, French nobles fearing King Louis XI may seize th...)
(Here is the most far-out courtroom thriller you'll ever s...)
(BRAY)
Quotations:
"I can't act. I have never acted. And I shall never act. What I can do is suspend my audience's power of judgement till I've finished. "
"I believe that God felt sorry for actors, so he created Hollywood to give them a place in the sun and a swimming pool. The price they had to pay was to surrender their talent. "
"Actors and burglars work better at night. "
Hardwicke never abandoned his British citizenship. He once remarked with a chipper smile: "England is my wife - America my mistress. It is very good sometimes to get away from one's wife. "
Quotes from others about the person
John Mason Brown wrote about Hardwicke's role of Creon in Antigone: "Hardwicke's Creon is all intellect . .. glacial, immobile, and commanding. "
Hardwicke was married twice. His first wife was the English actress Helena Pickard, whom he married on January 8, 1928; they had one son. They divorced in May 1950, and on July 27, 1950, he married the American actress Mary Scott. They had one son, and divorced in 1961.