Tearle, Godfrey Seymour (Sir)

1884

1953

Godfrey Tearle was born in New York on 12 October 1884, the son of the Shakespearean actor Osmond Tearle (1852-1901) and his second wife Marianne Conway, the daughter of the American actor F. B. Conway. He began his stage career in 1893 by acting in his father’s company. Tearle had a long and distinguished career on stage and in films. Some of his roles were Maddoc Thomas in "The Light of Heart" (1940), Antony in "Antony and Cleopatra" (G0202, London 1947 and New York 1948), Othello and Macbeth (Stratford 1948-49) and Sloper in "The Heiress" (1950). He also produced some plays as actor-manager. In 1951 he received a knighthood for his services to the stage. He had a four-year relationship with the actress Jill Bennett (q.v.), whom he had met when they were performing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford in 1949. In 1983 Jill Bennett published "Godfrey: A Special Time Remembered". Tearle became a member of the Garrick Club in 1923. He died on 8 June 1953. (WWW, OCT)