Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White was an English actor. Described by Philip French as a "classic British film archetype", Hyde-White often portrayed droll and urbane upper-class characters. He had an extensive stage and screen career in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and portrayed over 160 film and television roles between 1935 and 1987. He was twice nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, in 1957 for The Reluctant Debutante and in 1973 for The Jockey Club Stakes.
Early life
Wilfrid Hyde White was born in Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, England in 1903 to the Rev. William Edward White, canon of Gloucester Cathedral, and his wife, Ethel Adelaide. He was the nephew of actor J. Fisher White. He attended Marlborough College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, of which he said, "I learned two things at RADA – I can't act and it doesn't matter."
Career
Hyde-White made his stage debut in the farcical play Tons of Money on the Isle of Wight in 1922 and appeared in the West End for the first time three years later in the play Beggar on Horseback. He then gained steady work on the stage in a series of comedies produced at the Aldwych Theatre in London. He joined a tour of South Africa in 1932 before making his film debut in Josser on the Farm where he was credited as "Wilfrid Hyde White". He also appeared in some earlier films as plain "Hyde White". He later added the hyphen, as well as his first name.
Following a supporting role in The Third Man, he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. His other films of this period include Carry On Nurse and the Danny Kaye film On the Double. Two-Way Stretch displays a more roguish side than some of the characters he played in this period. He continued to act on the stage and played opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in the repertory performance of Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra in 1951. He also appeared on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1956 for his role in The Reluctant Debutante. His first Hollywood appearance came alongside Marilyn Monroe in the film Let's Make Love, followed by other films, including his best-known screen role as Col. Hugh Pickering in My Fair Lady.
Between 1962 and 1965, Hyde-White starred in the BBC radio comedy The Men from the Ministry. In the 1970s and 1980s, he featured on the Battlestar Galactica pilot episode "Saga of a Star World" and The Associates. He was a series regular on the revamped second season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as Doctor Goodfellow. He continued to appear on Broadway, and earned a second Tony nomination for his performance in The Jockey Club Stakes.
He appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. Although the first, "Dagger of the Mind", was set in Britain and concerned Columbo paying a visit to Scotland Yard, Hyde-White's UK tax problems meant that he was unable to take part in location filming in the UK. His scenes as a butler were therefore filmed in California. His second appearance on Columbo was in the episode "Last Salute to the Commodore" in 1976.
Personal life
On 17 December 1927, Hyde-White married Blanche Hope Aitken, a Glamorgan-born British actress known professionally as Blanche Glynne, who was a decade his senior. The couple had one son. Blanche Glynne died in 1946, aged 53, and in 1957 Hyde-White married actress Ethel Drew. He and Drew remained married until his death in 1991. The couple had two children, including actor Alex Hyde-White.
Hyde-White had a long reputation as a bon viveur, gambled heavily and spent money recklessly. In 1979, he was declared bankrupt by the Inland Revenue.
Hyde-White died from heart failure on 6 May 1991 at the age of 87, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, having lived in the United States for 25 years as a tax exile.
Filmography
Complete films
Josser on the Farm as BrooksSmith's Wives Night Mail Alibi Inn as HusbandAdmirals All as Mr. StallybrassMurder by Rope as Alastair DaneRembrandt as Civil Guardsman The Scarab Murder Case as Philo VanceSpring Handicap as Hawkins Elephant Boy as CommissionerBulldog Drummond at Bay as Conrad Change for a Sovereign as CharlesMurder in the Family as Purvitt – Estate Agent The Claydon Treasure Mystery as Holmes Meet Mr. Penny as Mr. WilsonI've Got a Horse as Police ConstableKeep Smiling as Assistant Hotel Clerk The Outsider as Patient The Lion Has Wings as Waiter Over the Moon as Dwight – Sanitarium Spokesman The Lambeth Walk as Lord BattersbyPoison Pen as PostmanThe Briggs Family as Man with Moustache at Party Turned Out Nice Again as Removal Man Lady from Lisbon as GanierAsking for Trouble as PettiferThe Demi-Paradise as Nightclub Waiter Night Boat to Dublin as Taxi DriverWanted for Murder as Guide in Madame Tussaud'sAppointment with Crime as CleanerWhile the Sun Shines as Male ReceptionistMeet Me at Dawn as Garin – News EditorThe Ghosts of Berkeley Square as Staff CaptainMy Brother Jonathan as Mr. GaigeThe Winslow Boy as Wilkinson Bond Street as JewellerMy Brother's Keeper as HardingQuartet as 2nd Clubman The Passionate Friends as LawyerThe Forbidden Street as Mr. CulverThat Dangerous Age as Mr. PottsThe Bad Lord Byron as Mr. HoptonAdam and Evelyne as Col. BradleyHelter Skelter as Dr. B. Jekyll / Mr. HydeConspirator as Lord PennistoneThe Third Man as CrabbinThe Man on the Eiffel Tower as Professor GrolletGolden Salamander as AgnoThe Angel with the Trumpet as SimmerlLast Holiday as ChalfontTrio as Mr. Gray The Mudlark as Tucker Highly Dangerous as Mr. Luke – British consulMidnight Episode as Mr. KnightBlackmailed as Lord DearsleyMister Drake's Duck as Mr. MayThe Browning Version as Dr. FrobisherNo Highway in the Sky as Fisher, Inspector of Accidents Outcast of the Islands as VinckMr. Denning Drives North as WoodsThe Card as Lord at Liverpool Boat Harbour Top Secret as Sir Hubert WellsThe Story of Gilbert and Sullivan as Mr. MarstonFour Sided Triangle as Government Minister The Million Pound Note as Roderick MontpelierThe Rainbow Jacket as Lord StoneleighDuel in the Jungle as PittBetrayed as Gen. Charles LarrabyTo Dorothy a Son as Mr. StarkeSee How They Run as Brig. BuskinJohn and Julie as Sir JamesThe Adventures of Quentin Durward as Master OliverThe March Hare as Col. KeeneMy Teenage Daughter as Sir JosephThe Silken Affair as Sir Horace HoggTarzan and the Lost Safari as 'Doodles' FletcherThat Woman Opposite as Sir Maurice LawesThe Vicious Circle as Maj. Harrington, aka Robert BradyThe Truth About Women as Sir George TavistockUp the Creek as Adm. FoleyWonderful Things! as Sir BertramThe Lady Is a Square as CharlesCarry On Nurse as The ColonelLife in Emergency Ward 10 as Professor Bourne-EvansNorth West Frontier as BridieLibel as Hubert Foxley Two-Way Stretch as Soapy StevensLet's Make Love as George WelchHis and Hers as Charles DuntonOn the Double as Colonel SomersetAda as Sylvester MarinOn the Fiddle as TrowbridgeCrooks Anonymous as Laurence MontagueIn Search of the Castaways as Lord GlenarvanAliki My Love as Richard CarawayMy Fair Lady as Colonel Hugh PickeringJohn Goldfarb, Please Come Home! as Mustafa GuzYou Must Be Joking! as Gen. LockwoodTen Little Indians as Judge CannonThe Liquidator as ChiefOur Man in Marrakesh as Arthur FairbrotherThe Sandwich Man as Lord UffinghamChamber of Horrors as Harold BlountThe Million Eyes of Sumuru as Colonel BaisbrookP.J. as Billings-BrowneThe Magic Christian as Captain Reginald K. KlausGaily, Gaily as The GovernorSkullduggery as EatonFragment of Fear as Mr. CopseyThe Cherry Picker as DobsonNo Longer Alone as Lord HomeThe Cat and the Canary as Cyrus WestKing Solomon's Treasure as Oldest Club MemberA Touch of the Sun as M-1Xanadu as Male Heavenly Voice In God We Tru$t as Abbot TheloniousOh, God! Book II as Judge Thomas MillerTarzan, the Ape Man as Club Member The Toy as BarkleyFanny Hill as Mr. John Barville
Partial television credits
Laburnum Grove as Bernard BaxleyA Month in the Country as BolshintsovAffairs of State The Reluctant Debutante as Jimmy BroadbentThe Twilight Zone: "Passage on the Lady Anne" as Tobias "Toby" McKenzieLucy in London as Madame Tussauds GuideMission: Impossible: "Echo of Yesterday" Daniel Boone: "Who Will They Hang From The Yardarm If Willy Gets Away" The Sunshine Patriot as Morris VandersFear No Evil as Harry SnowdenRun a Crooked Mile as Dr. Ralph SawyerIt Takes a Thief: "To Lure a Man" Ritual of Evil as Harry SnowdenColumbo: "Dagger of the Mind" A Brand New Life as Mr. BergerColumbo: "Last Salute to the Commodore" The Great Houdini as Supt. MelvilleBattlestar Galactica as Sire AntonBattlestar Galactica The Associates The Rebels as Gen. HoweVegas as Prof. TolanLaverne and Shirley as Colonel KalabackScout's Honor as Uncle Toby "Nuncle" BartlettDick Turpin as Governor Sir Basil AppleyardBuck Rogers in the 25th Century as Dr. GoodfellowFather Damien: The Leper Priest as Bishop MaigretThe Letter as Judge
Theatre
Hyde-White appeared in numerous plays, such as The Jockey Club Stakes, at first in London's West End in 1970, starring alongside Viviane Ventura, then on Broadway in 1973; he received a Tony award for "Best Actor in a Play" for the Broadway run.