Henry Ainley
| Henry Ainley | |
|---|---|
Henry Ainley early in his career
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| Born |
Henry Hinchliffe Ainley 21 August 1879 Morley, West Yorkshire, England, UK |
| Died | 31 October 1945 (aged 66) London, England, UK |
| Years active | 1900 – 1936 |
| Spouse(s) | Suzanne Sheldon Elaine Fearon Bettina Riddle, later Baroness von Hutten zum Stolzenberg |
Henry Hinchliffe Ainley (21 August 1879 – 31 October 1945) was an English Shakespearean stage and screen actor.
He was born in Leeds on 21 August 1879. He was baptised in St. George's Parish Church and brought up in Morley by his father Richard, a cloth finisher, and his mother Ada, but moved to London as an adult to pursue an acting career. He made his professional stage debut for F.R. Benson's company of actors and later joined Herbert Beerbohm Tree's company. He found fame in 1902 as Paolo in Paolo and Francesca.
Ainley's first stage role was as a messenger in Macbeth. He subsequently appeared as Glo'ster in Henry V at the Lyceum in London and returned to Leeds to play at the Grand Theatre. Later roles included Oliver Cromwell, Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Macbeth himself. He played Malvolio (1912) and Leontes under the direction of Granville Barker and portrayed Hamlet several times, including a 1930 production that was chosen for a Royal Command Performance.
John Gielgud held Ainley in high regard and fulfilled a longstanding ambition to perform with him when Gielgud played Iago opposite Ainley's Othello in a 1932 BBC Radio broadcast. But he described Ainley's Prospero as "disastrous", writing in the Sunday Times in 1996,
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