Richard Ainley

Richard Ainley (22 December 1910 – 18 May 1967) was a stage and film actor, son of Henry Ainley and half-brother of Anthony Ainley.

Although according to Allmovie his date of birth was 22 October 1910, The Internet Movie Database places it on 22 December. In any case, he was born in Stanmore, Middlesex and made his stage debut in 1928 and initially used the stage name Richard Riddle/Riddell. His first motion picture appearance was in 1936 as Sylvius in As You Like It, which starred his father. Other roles included Ferdinand in the television movie of The Tempest (1939), Dr. Hale in Shining Victory (1941), and a Foreign Office official in the thriller Above Suspicion (1943).

Ainley married three times. He was divorced from his first two wives; his third wife Rowena Woolf died in 1968.

He retired from film work following a disabling wound while he was serving in the army during World War II to return to the stage. He was briefly principal of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the early 1960s, and as a teacher his pupils included Tom Baker (who lived with him for a time, and appeared alongside his half-brother in the Doctor Who serials "The Keeper of Traken" and "Logopolis"), Tom Courtenay, Diana Rigg, Terry Palmer and Albert Finney. He died in London in 1967.

Partial filmography

• As You Like It (1936)
• The Frog (1937)
• Our Fighting Navy (1937)
• The Gang Show, aka The Gang (1937)
• Old Iron (1938)
• Lily of Laguna (1938)
• There Ain't No Justice (1939)
• An Englishman's Home, aka Mad Men of Europe (1940)
• Lady with Red Hair (1940)
• Shining Victory (1941)
• The Smiling Ghost (1941)
• Passage from Hong Kong (1941)
• White Cargo (1942)
• Above Suspicion (1943)
• Three Hearts for Julia (1943)
• I Dood It (1943)

References

• Allmovie biography. Accessed 11 October 2005.

External links

• Richard Ainley at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Ainley (1910-1967), Actor from the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom)