Ernest Thesiger

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Ernest Thesiger
A charcoal drawing of Ernest Thesiger in about 1911 by John Singer Sargent
Born 15 January 1879
London, England, UK
Died 14 January 1961
London, England, UK

Ernest Thesiger, CBE (January 15, 1879 - January 14, 1961), sometimes credited as Ernst Thesiger, was a British stage and film actor. He is best known for his performance as Dr. Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein in 1935.

The grandson of the Baron Chelmsford, Thesiger was born Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger in London.

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[edit] Early career

Thesiger attended Marlborough College and the Slade school of art with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to drama, making his professional debut in a production of Colonel Smith in 1909. He enlisted in the military at the outbreak of the First World War, but was wounded on the field and sent home. As a result of his wounds he could no longer paint but pursued his artistic bent through embroidery and published books on the subject.

Thesiger's film debut was in 1916 in The Real Thing at Last, a spoof presenting Macbeth as it might be done by an American company, in which he did a drag turn as one of the Witches. He did a few more small movies during the silent era, but worked mainly on the stage.

In 1919 he appeared in a Christmas production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, during which he met and befriended James Whale. In 1925, Thesiger appeared in Noel Coward's On With the Dance, again in drag, and later played the Dauphin in Shaw's Saint Joan. He wrote an autobiography entitled Practically True, published in 1927, which covers his stage career.

[edit] Working with James Whale

After Whale had moved to Hollywood and found success with Journey's End and Frankenstein, he was commissioned to direct the screen adaptation of J. B. Priestley's The Benighted, entitled The Old Dark House, starring Charles Laughton in his first American film together with Boris Karloff and Raymond Massey. Whale immediately cast Thesiger in the film as Horace Femme, launching his Hollywood career.

The following year Thesiger appeared with Karloff in The Ghoul, a film about a man who seeks to achieve immortality with a sacred Egyptian jewel. The film was later lost but rediscovered in 1969. It was remade as the comedy What a Carve Up in 1961 and probably provided some of the basis for the Vincent Price movie Dr. Phibes Rises Again in 1974, as well as The Mummy Returns in 2001.

When Whale agreed to direct Bride of Frankenstein in 1935, he insisted on casting Thesiger as Dr. Pretorius, instead of the studio's choice of Claude Rains. Partly inspired by Mary Shelley's friend John Polidori and largely based on Renaissance alchemist Paracelsus, it became Thesiger's most famous role. Thanks to Thesiger's fey, flamboyant performance, Dr. Pretorius became one of the most memorable characters in classic cinematic horror.

[edit] After Frankenstein

Originally cast to play the luddite Theotocopolous in Things to Come (1936), Thesiger was replaced by the "more marketable" Cedric Hardwicke, but went on to appear that same year in another film adaptation of an H.G. Wells work, The Man Who Could Work Miracles. Around this same time Thesiger published a book, Adventures in Embroidery, about one of his favorite hobbies, needlework.

The remainder of Thesiger's career was centered around the theater and supporting roles in films produced in Britain. He made sveral appearances on Broadway, notably as Jacques to Katharine Hepburn's Rosalind in the longest-running production of As You Like It to ever be produced on the Great White Way. Later films included The Horse's Mouth (1958) with Alec Guinness, Sons and Lovers (1960), and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, with Vivien Leigh and Warren Beatty (1961). That same year he made his last stage appearance in The Last Joke, with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. His last film appearance was a small role in Invitation to Murder (1962), which was released the year after his death. He died shortly after completing it from natural causes.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links

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