| Richard Waring | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 May 1910 Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, U.K. |
| Died | 18 January 1993 (aged 82) City Island, Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
Richard Waring (27 May 1910 – 18 January 1993) was a British-born American actor, appearing in both Hollywood movies and in many Broadway plays.
Waring was born Richard Stephens in Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, UK, the son of Thomas E. Stephens, a painter, whose portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower hangs in the Smithsonian Gallery of Presidents. Waring took on his mother Evelyn M. Stephens's maiden name, Waring, as his stage name.
He was the brother of Peter John Stephens who was a playwright and writer of books for teenagers. He had no natural children by his later wife, Kathy Waring. He was previously married and divorced (1934) to Florida Friebus known for her portrayal of the mother of the TV character Dobie Gillis.
Waring began his career in 1931 with Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory Theater in New York City in minor roles in Romeo and Juliet, Camille, and Cradle Song. In 1940 he played opposite Ethel Barrymore in The Corn is Green and later with Eva Le Gallienne and was signed to play the role in Hollywood opposite Bette Davis, but entered the army during World War II. Before that he was filmed in his best-known screen role in Mr. Skeffington (1944) as Fanny Trellis' brother Trippy, whose theft to pay off his gambling debts forces her to marry the eponymous lead character played by Claude Rains. ironically ended Waring's Hollywood career just like his character ended his life in World War I.
After his service he appeared on Broadway as the Duke of Buckingham in Henry VIII, John Shand in J. M. Barrie's What Every Woman Knows and as the Captain in George Bernard Shaw's, Androcles and the Lion.
He also appeared in many performances of the American Shakespeare Festival directed by John Houseman and the Phoenix Theatre in New York City, playing both bit roles and major parts in many of Shakespeare's plays, playing opposite Katharine Hepburn in both The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, and one performance in A Midsummer Night's Dream as Oberon before she had to leave the production.
He died of a heart attack 18 January 1993 in City Island, Bronx, New York at the age of 82.(He has been incorrectly confused to be related to Derek Waring on other major sites, but according to his nephew this is not true.)
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