Felix Aylmer - Turner Classic Movies

Felix Aylmer

Actor

About

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Also Known As

Felix Edward Aylmer-Jones, Sir Felix Aylmer

Birth Place

Wiltshire, England, GB

Born

February 21, 1889

Died

September 02, 1979

Biography

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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

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Decline and Fall ... of a Bird Watcher (1969)

Hostile Witness (1968)

Masquerade (1965)

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Hands of Orlac (1964)

The Chalk Garden (1964)

Judge McWhirrey

Photos & Videos

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Separate Tables (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Mayfair From Head To Foot

Night Train To Munich (1940) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Suffering From An Eye Strain

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)

Hostile Witness (1968)

Masquerade (1965)

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Hands of Orlac (1964)

The Chalk Garden (1964)

Judge McWhirrey

The Boys (1963)

The Running Man (1963)

The Road to Hong Kong (1962)

Never Take Candy From a Stranger (1961)

Olderberry Senior

From the Terrace (1960)

James Duncan MacHardie

The Mummy (1959)

Stephen Banning

The Doctor's Dilemma (1959)

Sir Patrick Cullen

The Two-Headed Spy (1959)

Separate Tables (1958)

I Accuse! (1958)

Saint Joan (1957)

Anastasia (1956)

Russian chamberlain

Knights of the Round Table (1954)

The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp (1954)

The Master of Ballantrae (1953)

Lord Durrisdeer

Paris Express (1953)

No Highway in the Sky (1951)

I'll Never Forget You (1951)

Sir William Sutherland

Quo Vadis (1951)

So Long at the Fair (1950)

Eye Witness (1950)

Prince of Foxes (1949)

Edward, My Son (1949)

Alice in Wonderland (1949)

Voice Of Cheshire Cat

Alice in Wonderland (1949)

Dr Liddell--Dean Of Christ Church

The Calendar (1948)

The Years Between (1946)

The Way to the Stars (1945)

Reverend Charles Moss

Caesar And Cleopatra (1945)

The Wicked Lady (1945)

Escape to Danger (1944)

Sir Alfred Horton

The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fift with his Battell at Agincourt in France (1944)

Archbishop Of Canterbury

Mr. Emmanuel (1944)

The Young Mr. Pitt (1943)

Demi-Paradise (1943)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

Sons of the Sea (1942)

The Girl in the News (1941)

Prosecuting counsel

The Saint's Vacation (1941)

[Charles] Leighton

The Remarkable Mr. Kipps (1941)

The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941)

Major Barbara (1941)

Night Train (1940)

Dr. [John] Fredericks

Queen of Destiny (1940)

Lord Palmerston

Attorney general

Action for Slander (1938)

Sir Eustace Cunninghame [Prosecutor]

South Riding (1938)

Chairman of council

Victoria the Great (1937)

Dreaming Lips (1937)

Sir Robert Blaker

The Two of Us (1937)

As You Like It (1937)

The Mill On The Floss (1937)

Nine Days a Queen (1936)

Seven Sinners (1936)

Sir Charles Webber

Dusty Ermine (1936)

The Iron Duke (1935)

The Ace Of Spades (1935)

The Ghost Camera (1933)

The World Flesh, And The Devil (1932)

Cast (Special)

Victoria Regina (1961)

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

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.

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

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