Wilfred Hyde-White

Wilfrid Hyde-White
Hyde-White in Ada (1961)
Born	Wilfrid Hyde White 12 May 1903 Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Died	6 May 1991(1991-05-06) (aged 87) Woodland Hills, California, United States
Resting place	Water Cemetery, Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	actor, singer
Years active	1934–83
Spouse(s)	Blanche Glynne (1927–1946; her death); 1 child Ethel Drew (1957–1991; his death); 2 children

Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was an English character actor of stage, film and television, who achieved international recognition in his later years as Colonel Pickering in the 1964 film My Fair Lady.

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 (née Drought). He attended Marlborough College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

He made his debut in Tons of Money on the Isle of Wight in 1922. 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 1934 (in Josser on the Farm, credited as "Wilfrid Hyde White"; he later added the hyphen). He appeared in the George Formby comedy, Turned Out Nice Again (1941). Following a memorable supporting role in The Third Man (1949), he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. Two-Way Stretch displays the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period. Between 1962 and 1965, he also starred in the BBC radio comedy The Men from the Ministry.

He continued to act on the stage, and played opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra in 1951. He also appeared on Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards as best actor. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was featured on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the Battlestar Galactica pilot episode "Saga of a Star World" and The Associates. His television films and guest appearances kept him busy from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.