Valentine Dyall

British actor Valentine Dyall was a well-known radio performer of the '40s, introducing a weekly "scare" series with "This is your storyteller....the Man in Black." In films, Dyall looked more like a bank president than the voice of doom, and was cast accordingly. On stage since 1930 and films since 1942, Dyall remained busy into the '80s. Some of Dyall's best-known films include The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Henry V (1945) (as the Duke of Burgundy), Caesar and Cleopatra (1946), Brief Encounter (1946), The Haunting (1963), The Wrong Box (1967) and Casino Royale (1967). Valentine Dyall made many of his final appearances where he began, on radio: he was indispensable to many Halloween broadcasts of the '70s and '80s, sometimes nostalgically recreating "The Man in Black." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide