Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger CBE (15 January, 1879 - 14 January, 1961), sometimes credited as Ernst Thesiger, was an English stage and film actor. He is best known for his performance as Dr. Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein in 1935.
Ernest Thesiger | |
|---|---|
_-_Ernest_Thesiger_(c._1911).jpg?lang=en) A charcoal drawing of Ernest Thesiger from around 1911 by John Singer Sargent | |
| Born | 15 January 1879 |
| Died | 14 January 1961 (aged 81) |
Early life and career
The grandson of the Baron Chelmsford, Thesiger was born in London, England, 15 January, 1879. He was the cousin of the explorer and author Wilfrid Thesiger (1909-2003), and the nephew of General Frederic Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, who, exactly a week after Ernest's birth, famously led his troops in battle against, and defeat at the hands of, a Zulu army at the Battle of Isandlwana.
Thesiger attended Marlborough College and the Slade School of Art with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to drama, making his professional debut in a production of Colonel Smith in 1909. He enlisted in the military at the outbreak of the World War I, but was wounded in the field and sent home. In 1917 he married Janette Mary Fernie Ranken, sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Ranken. In her biography of Thesiger's friend Ivy Compton-Burnett, Hilary Spurling suggests that Thesiger and Ranken wed largely out of their mutual adoration of William, who shaved his head when he learned of the engagement.
Thesiger moved in several artistic, literary and theatrical circles. At various times, he frequented the studio of John Singer Sargent, befriended Mrs. Patrick Campbell, visited and corresponded with Percy Grainger and worked closely with George Bernard Shaw, who wrote the role of the Dauphin in "Saint Joan" for him. Somerset Maugham, on the other hand, responded to Thesiger's inquiry about why he wrote no parts for him with the quip "But I am always writing parts for you, Ernest. The trouble is that somebody called Gladys Cooper will insist on playing them."
Film career
Thesiger's film debut was in 1916 in The Real Thing at Last, a spoof presenting Macbeth as it might be done by an American company, in which he did a drag turn as one of the Witches. Thesiger also played the First Witch in a 1941 production of "Macbeth" directed by John Gielgud. He did a few more small movies during the silent era, but worked mainly on the stage.
In 1919 he appeared in a Christmas production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, during which he met and befriended James Whale. In 1925, Thesiger appeared in Noel Coward's On With the Dance, again in drag, and later played the Dauphin in Shaw's Saint Joan. He wrote an autobiography entitled Practically True, published in 1927, which covers his stage career. An unpublished memoir written near the end of his life is housed in the Ernest Thesiger Collection at the University of Bristol.
Work with James Whale
After Whale had moved to Hollywood and found success with Journey's End and Frankenstein, he was commissioned to direct the screen adaptation of J. B. Priestley's The Benighted, entitled The Old Dark House, starring Charles Laughton in his first American film together with Boris Karloff and Raymond Massey. Whale immediately cast Thesiger in the film as Horace Femm, launching his Hollywood career.
The following year Thesiger appeared with Karloff in The Ghoul, a film about a man who seeks to achieve immortality with a sacred Egyptian jewel. The film was later lost but rediscovered in 1969. It was remade as the comedy What a Carve Up in 1961 and probably provided some of the basis for the Vincent Price movie Dr. Phibes Rises Again in 1974, as well as The Mummy Returns in 2001.
When Whale agreed to direct Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, he insisted on casting Thesiger as Dr. Septimus Pretorius, instead of the studio's choice of Claude Rains. Partly inspired by Mary Shelley's friend John Polidori and largely based on Renaissance alchemist Paracelsus, it became Thesiger's most famous role. Thanks to Thesiger's fey, flamboyant performance, Dr. Pretorius became one of the most memorable characters in classic cinematic horror. Arriving in the United States for the filming of "Bride of Frankenstein, Thesiger immediately set up a display in his hotel suite of all his needlework, each with a price tag. During the filming of "Bride of Frankenstein" Thesiger would work on needlecraft, one of his hobbies, and referred to himself on at least one occasion as "The Stitchin' Bitch".
After Frankenstein
Originally cast to play the luddite sculptor Theotocopolous in H.G. Wells's Things to Come (1936), Thesiger's performance was deemed unsuitable by the author, and so was replaced by Cedric Hardwicke, although he was retained on the parallel production of Wells's The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Around this same time Thesiger published a book, Adventures in Embroidery, about one of his favorite hobbies, needlework.
The remainder of Thesiger's career was centered around the theater and around supporting roles in films produced in Britain, prominent among which is The Man in the White Suit(1951) which starred Alec Guinness and which is perhaps the highpoint of the Ealing Studios productions. He plays "Sir John," the most powerful, the richest, and the oldest of the industrialists (jointly with the trade unions) trying to suppress Guinness's invention of a fabric that never wears out and never gets dirty.
Thesiger made several appearances on Broadway, notably as Jacques to Katharine Hepburn's Rosalind in the longest-running production of As You Like It to ever be produced on the Great White Way. Later films included The Horse's Mouth (1958) with Alec Guinness, Sons and Lovers (1960), and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty (1961). That same year he made his last stage appearance in The Last Joke, with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson.
Later life
His last film appearance was a small role in Invitation to Murder (1962), which was released the year after his death. He died shortly after completing it from natural causes, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
In Gods and Monsters, he was portrayed by Arthur Dignam.
Selected filmography
External links
- Ernest Thesiger at IMDb
- The Importance of Being Ernest
- Ernest Thesiger archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
- Internet Movie Database - Ernest Thesiger
- Classic Horror Movie Players T
- Grave of Ernest Thesiger
- The Doctor Is In!
- This article originally appeared on the Outcyclopedia website