Emlyn Williams
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| Emlyn Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 November 1905 Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales, UK |
| Died | 25 September 1987 London, England, UK |
George Emlyn Williams CBE (26 November 1905–25 September 1987), known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor. He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working-class family in Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales. At the age of 11 he won a scholarship to Holywell Grammar School. At the end of his time at the grammar school he won a scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford.
In 1927, he joined a repertory company and began his stage career. By 1930, he had branched out into writing, and his first major success was with the thriller, Night Must Fall (1935), which was later made into a film. His other great play was very different: The Corn is Green (1938). In 1941 he starred in the film You Will Remember, directed by Jack Raymond and written by Sewell Stokes and Lydia Hayward. The film is based on the life of the popular late Victorian songwriter Leslie Stuart, played here by Robert Morley, with Williams as Stuart's best friend.
He often appeared in his own plays, and was famous for his one-man-show, with which he toured the world, playing Charles Dickens in an evening of readings from Dickens' novels.
His autobiography, in the volumes George (1961) and Emlyn (1973), was also highly successful. His novel, Headlong, was the basis of the film King Ralph, but little of the characters or story survived the transition to the screen.
Among William's other books was the popular best seller Beyond Belief: A Chronicle of Murder and its Detection (1968), a semi-fictionalized account of the Moors murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1962.
Emlyn Williams died in London, aged 81, from complications from cancer.
