Richard Ainley

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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 the All Movie Guide 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 1939 television movie of The Tempest and a Foreign Office official in the 1943 thriller Above Suspicion.

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 war wound while he was serving in the US Army 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, Tom Courtenay, Diana Rigg, Terry Palmer and Albert Finney. He died in London in 1967.