Jack Watling

Baby-faced British character actor Jack Watling was trained at the Italia Conti school. On stage from age 12, Watling made his earliest appearances in such Christmas pantomimes as Where the Rainbow Ends. In 1938, he was cast in his first film, Sixty Glorious Years. Entering his teen years, Watling worked in Donald Wolfit's repertory company, then was cast in his favorite stage role, that of Flight Lieutenant Graham in the 1942 West End production Flare Path. Following three years' service in the RAF, he played his most celebrated role, cashiered naval cadet Dickie Winslow in The Winslow Boy, which he would repeat for the 1950 screen version. Among his choicer screen assignments of the 1950s was the wastrely Marquis of Rutleigh in Orson Welles' Mr. Arkadin. In the 1970s, Jack Watling was a semi-regular in the British TV series Father, Dear Father.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide