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Wilfrid Hyde-White
Life Time
12 May 1903 - 6 May 1991
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Wilfried Hyde-White was born on May 12, 1903 in Borton-on-Water (Gloucestershire) in the family of a priest. After graduating from primary school, he studied at Marlborough College and later at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His theatre debut took place in 1922 on the Isle of Wight. Since 1925 he has played in London theatres. Hyde-White came to the cinema in the mid-thirties. He began with small passing roles, and the next decade became a recognizable characteristic actor of the British screen.
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Wilfried Hyde-White was born on May 12, 1903 in Borton-on-Water (Gloucestershire) in the family of a priest. After graduating from primary school, he studied at Marlborough College and later at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His theatre debut took place in 1922 on the Isle of Wight. Since 1925 he has played in London theatres. Hyde-White came to the cinema in the mid-thirties. He began with small passing roles, and the next decade became a recognizable characteristic actor of the British screen. In his early films, he was credited simply as Hyde White.
The first notable role he received in 1949, playing the chairman of the Crabbin Literary Society in the psychological thriller "The Third Man" Carol Reed. Thanks to his soft, subtle voice, slender posture and graceful English accent, Hyde-White specialized in depicting representatives of the upper class, usually amiable, but often arrogant. However, during his fifty-year acting career, he played a variety of characters, and his role was not limited to old-school aristocrats and high-ranking figures. Among the most famous roles of Hyde-White are the director of the Frobisher school in the melodrama “The Browning Version” (1951, dir. Anthony Equit), one of the wealthy Montpellier brothers in the comedy “The Million Pound Bank Ticket” (1954, dir. Ronald Niem) and of course Colonel Pickering in the famous musical “My Fair Lady” (1964, dir. John Cukor). In this film, the actor also took part in two musical numbers - "Rain in Spain" and "You did it."
With the director of "My Fair Lady" George Cukor Hyde-White met during one of the performances at the theater "Aldrich". Filming on both sides of the Atlantic, he did not leave the theater: in 1951 he played on the same stage with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in the play Caesar and Cleopatra. Despite the fact that already in the seventies his creative activity decreased noticeably, Wilfried Hyde-White continued to play in movies until the mid-eighties. In addition to numerous films, he also starred in television series - detective "Colombo", fantastic "Galaxy of Warring Stars", "Buck Rogers in the XXV century" and comedy "Colleagues" (nomination for the Golden Globe Award in the category "Best TV Actor" in 1980). Wilfried Hyde-White died on May 6, 1991 in Woodland Hills, California. His son Alex Hyde-White also became an actor and starred in such films as “Pretty Woman” (1990, Gary Marshall) and “Biggles” (1986, John Hugh).