Miles Malleson

Jowly, sharp-nosed British theatrical personality Miles Malleson dabbled in virtually every aspect of the dramatic arts from his 1911 stage debut onward. As a writer (he penned his first play in 1913) he was responsible for the screenplays of such treasured films as Nell Gwyn (1934), Victoria the Great (1937) and Mister Emmanuel (1944). As a producer/director, Malleson staged several notable West End plays, among them the original production of Emlyn Williams' Night Must Fall. And as an actor, Malleson contributed a bottomless reserve of screen characterizations: the childish caliph in Thief of Baghdad (1940) (which he also scripted); the spectral coachman ("Room for one more, sir') in Dead of Night (1946); the cheery hangman in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949); Reverend Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest (1952); and a vast array of family retainers, doddering civil servants, faffling aristocrats, stern judges and rural rustics. Miles Malleson worked into his late 70s, until failing eyesight overtook him.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide