Key player: Croydon-born Harcourt Williams appeared in more than 20 films, such as Roman Holiday here with Audrey Hepburn
CROYDON CHRONICLES: An outstanding producer-director at The Old Vic who performed alongside the likes of Sir Henry Irving and Sir Laurence Olivier, and appeared in some of the most notable films of the 1940s and ’50s, Harcourt Williams’ acting talent was first spotted at Whitgift School.
DAVID MORGAN traces his career
The Croydon newspaper was full of praise for a local boy made good who was returning to perform at the Grand Theatre. February 1939 saw the return of a theatrical prodigal son to his local patch, starring in Dorothy L Sayers’ play The Zeal of Thy House. As well as directing the play, he was to take the part of William of Sens, the master mason responsible for rebuilding the choir at Canterbury Cathedral after the fire of 1174.
It was while actor and director Harcourt Williams was at Whitgift School that the possibility of a stage career first emerged. For reciting an original poem for Founder’s Day, he won a prize. In addition, the Lord Chancellor, who was the school’s guest of honour that day, was so impressed with young Williams’ performance that he went and spoke with a governor about the lad’s promise.
The school governor called in Harcourt’s father, John, who was persuaded that his son should have stage training instead of going into the church, as had been his original wish. From pulpit to stage is one leap!
Actor-manager: Harcourt Williams in 1939
Thus began Harcourt Williams’ long career as an actor and director, with appearances on radio and in some significant, award-winning films, too.
Born Ernest George Harcourt Williams on March 30 1880 in Croydon, he went first to school at Beckenham Abbey before attending Whitgift Grammar School (which was then on North End, in the town centre, where the shopping centre stands today).
On leaving school, Williams trained with the renowned actress Jessie Bateman during the day and spent his evenings watching the great Henry Irving on stage. Williams thought that he wouldn’t ever be able to get close to the high standards of Irving, the first actor to receive a knighthood for services to the theatre.
Williams got to meet and talk to Irving, who persuaded Sir Frank Benson to take the teenager on. In 1897, Williams joined his touring company and made his stage debut in the same year as the Duke of Bedford in Shakespeare’s Henry V at the Theatre Royal, Belfast.
“The king himself is rode to view their battle,” were his first words as a professional actor.
This minor role, with only a handful of lines, gave Williams the break he needed.
When asked about Benson’s influence on his early career, Williams said: “It wasn’t that he taught. He inspired. It was his spirit and enthusiasm which attracted people with the same feeling and one learnt from them.”
Homecoming: Williams’ appearances on the stage in Croydon were well-received
Williams remained with Benson’s company for five years, making his London debut in 1900 at the Lyceum Theatre, again in Henry V, this time as Sir Thomas Grey. The part had a few more lines than Bedford, with the character pleading for his life in front of the king for his part as a conspirator in the Southampton plot. Williams was progressing.
In these early years, Williams appeared on stage with some of the very best actors of the time. He acted with Ellen Terry, who became a lifelong friend, as well as Sir Henry Irving and Sir George Alexander.
March 1901 saw the fruition of a significant project for Williams. He co-directed and starred in The Bennets at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square. Written by Rosina Filippi, an adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, it was the first time that Jane Austen’s work had been adapted for the stage. Williams starred as Fitzwilliam Darcy, making him the first actor to ever play that role professionally on stage.
A review said his performance spoke of “an earnestness of style and incision that are admirable”.
Williams’ co-director was Winifred Mayo, a well-known actress and Suffragette. She played Elizabeth Bennet.
Williams made his first return to the stage in Croydon in 1905 at the Grand Theatre. He appeared in an adaptation of Mehalah; A Story of the Salt Marshes. The book was written in 1880 by Sabine Baring-Gould, a Victorian clergyman best-known for writing the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers”.
The play in four acts was set in The Fens at the end of the 18th Century and was compared to Wuthering Heights as an intense, Gothic romance. Williams played De Witt, the lover of Mehalah, the spirited young woman battling against the smugglers, played by Hutin Britton.
A year later, Williams made his American stage debut, touring with HB Irving for a year.
In 1908, Williams married Jean Sterling MacKinlay, an actress who had also been part of the Benson touring company.
The First World War proved to be a difficult time for Williams. As a conscientious objector, he volunteered for the Friends’ Ambulance Unit and served at the front for a while at the beginning of the war as a driver.
Robot roles: Williams appeared in RUR, the work which invented the word ‘robot’
After the war, there were many challenges facing the theatre. The role of actor-manager was dying out. Rents were souring and financial syndicates were springing up in London to fund new productions. Williams found jobs, though. He played the Chronicler and General Lee in Abraham Lincoln at the Lyric, Hammersmith, and again when the play transferred to the Lyceum.
In 1925, he was the Player King in a memorable production of Hamlet at the Haymarket, with John Barrymore as Hamlet and Fay Compton as Ophelia. In the same year, he created another new role, that of Martin in The Offence by Mordant Sharp, at the Wyndham’s.
Perhaps Williams’ greatest achievements in the theatre began in 1929 when Lillian Baylis appointed him as director at her Old Vic company in Waterloo. Over the next four years he was responsible for a golden period, hiring high-calibre actors John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson to join the company, as well as a young Peggy Ashcroft.
Williams wrote a book about his time there, in which time he produced more than 50 plays and introduced modern works, such as plays by George Bernard Shaw, into its repertoire.
While Williams was establishing himself as one of the major figures on the English theatre scene, he was also gaining a reputation for work on the radio. His first broadcast was on June 24 1924, on the London Children’s Hour, when he told a traditional fairy story. He became a familiar voice as a children’s storyteller in the years to come.
In 1926, he began his radio acting career, featuring in popular productions such as Lady Windermere’s Fan. He appeared in Karel Capek’s R U R (Rossum’s Universal Robots) in July 1933. The work was the first occasion that the word “robot” had been used when it was published in the 1920s.
In another radio role, his Fagin in Oliver Twist, from 1934, was described as “unforgettable”.
Final role: Harcourt Williams played the loyal steward at the Reform Club in Around The World In Eighty Days
His stage career was far from over, and he appeared as the Waiter in Shaw’s You Never Can Tell. This started at the beginning of October 1947 at the Wyndham’s Theatre, and on January 3 1948, there was an aftershow party to celebrate 100 performances and to mark Williams’ Golden Jubilee as an actor.
It was during the Second World War that Williams began to land some significant roles in films, starting, just as his stage career had begun, in Henry V, appearing as Charles VI of France in Laurence Olivier’s famous production.
Williams would go on to appear in more than 20 movies, and had a few parts on the emerging medium of television. His big screen roles included some notable films, including in Olivier’s 1948 Hamlet, where Williams was First Player in a cast that included Jean Simmons, Patrick Troughton, Peter Cushing and Anthony Quayle.
In 1953, he was in Roman Holiday alongside Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, playing the ambassador who was charged with looking after “Princess Ann” as she embarked on a European tour, staying in Rome, but rebelling against her royal duties.
His final film, completed a year before his death, was a cameo appearance as Hinshaw, the aged Reform Club steward in David Niven’s Around the World in Eighty Days.
Williams remained a modest man, living in Ebony Cottage, Tenterden, and enjoying nothing more than “living in the country”. One of his illustrated books for children, published in 1934, was titled Tales from Ebony Cottage.
Williams died on December 13 1957, aged 77, having spent time in University College Hospital earlier in the year.
He is still remembered today at Whitgift School, where there is a Harcourt Williams Society. Originally set up by Williams himself, it began as a debating society but now meets with outside speakers from literature and the world of entertainment.
- David Morgan has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for almost a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups
If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page
Some previous articles by David Morgan:
- Cycle Carnival saw thousands lining the streets for good cause
- Gertrude Massey’s masterstrokes showed Royalty in best light
- Nickel Support group is providing people with real life skills
- The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history
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