Cedric Hardwicke's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Cameo Theatre The Inca The Gertrude Berg Show Professor C… Who Pays? Cedric Hard… panelist

Main Movie Roles 1991 - Frankenstein: A Cinematic Scrapbook 1962 - Five Weeks in a Balloon 1957 - The Story of Mankind 1957 - Baby Face Nelson 1956 - Helen of Troy 1956 - The Ten Commandments 1956 - Around the World in Eighty Days 1955 - Richard III 1954 - Bait 1953 - The War of the Worlds 1953 - Salome 1951 - Mr. Imperium 1949 - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court 1948 - Rope 1948 - I Remember Mama 1947 - Ivy 1947 - Lured 1945 - The Picture of Dorian Gray 1944 - The Lodger 1944 - The Keys of the Kingdom 1943 - Forever and a Day 1942 - Invisible Agent 1942 - The Ghost of Frankenstein 1941 - Suspicion 1940 - The Invisible Man Returns 1940 - Tom Brown's School Days 1939 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939 - On Borrowed Time 1937 - King Solomon's Mines 1936 - Things to Come 1935 - Les misérables 1935 - Becky Sharp 1933 - The Ghoul

BIOGRAPHY:

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 success 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 misérables (1935), Stanley and Livingstone (1939), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Suspicion (1941), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), and The Ten Commandments (1956).

His last film was The Pumpkin Eater (1964) in 1964. Cedric Hardwicke died on August 6, 1964 in New York City, New York.


TRIVIA:

• Was nominated for Broadway's 1959 Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for "A Majority of One."
• Child: son 'Edward Hardwicke' (qv)
• Hardwicke was a favorite of 'George Bernard Shaw' (qv), having made notable appearances in the playwright's "The Apple Cart," "Too True To Be Good," and "_Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)_ (qv)." Shaw initially referred to Hardwicke as his fifth favorite actor, the other four being the Marx Brothers. Later, he referred to him as his fourth favorite actor, presumably after Zeppo retired from the act.
• 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.
• 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.".
• He was reputedly 'George Bernard Shaw' (qv)'s favourite actor.
• His hometown of Lye, is also home to independent filmmaker 'David J. Nock' (qv).