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Cedric Hardwicke |
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Real Name: Hardwicke, Cedric Webster
Height: 5' 6"
Born: 19 February 1893, Stourbridge, England, UK
Deceased: 6 August 1964, New York, New York, USA. (lung ailment)
Married to: 'Mary Scott (I)' (1950 - 1961) (divorced) 'Helena Pickard' (1928 - 1948) (divorced), child: son |
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Sir Cedric Hardwicke, one of the great character actors in the first decades of the talking picture, was born in Lye, England on February 19, 1893. Hardwicke attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his stage debut in 1912. His career was interrupted by military service in World War I, but he returned to the stage in 1922 with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, distinguishing himself as Caesar in George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra", which was his ticket to the London stage. For his distinguished work on the stage and in films, he was knighted by King George V in 1934, a time when very few actors received such an honor. Hardwicke first performed on the American stage in 1936 and emigrated to the United States permanently after spending the 1948 season with the Old Vic. Hardwicke's sucess on stage and in films and television was abetted by his resonant voice and aristocratic bearing. Among the major films he appeared in were Les Miserables, Stanley and Livingstone, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Suspicion, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and The Ten Commandments. His last film was The Pumpkin Eater in 1964. Cedric Hardwicke died on August 6, 1964 in New York City, New York. Guy Lazarus Trivia:
Child: son 'Edward Hardwicke'
Received his knighthood in 1934.
When Hardwicke was knighted in 1934, the hard-of-hearing King George V,
after being prompted by a courtier, announced after dubbing the
kneeling actor: "Rise, Sir Cedric Pickwick."
When Hardwicke died, his money was so eaten up by hospital expenses
incurred during his final illness that there was no money left to pay
for a funeral. Several actors' funds, in honor of his long,
distinguished career, donated the money.Quotes:
"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."
"God felt sorry for actors, so he gave 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."
"England is my wife. America is my mistress. It is very good sometimes
to get away from one's wife."
[On TV commercials] "The last refuge of optimism in a world of
gloom."
[On 'sneak previews'] "Let one dim-witted schoolboy scrawl 'lousy' on
his card, and the entire studio may be stampeded the following morning
in an executive meeting to discuss slicing and revising the picture to
shreds. On Hollywood's theory that the customer must know best, the
schoolboy's 'lousy' is regarded as the last word in dramatic
criticism." |
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