Wolfit, Donald CBE (Sir)

1902

1968

The distinguished actor-manager Donald Wolfit was born on 20 April 1902, the son of William Pearce Woolfitt [sic] and his wife Emma (née Tomlinson). He began his theatrical career at York in September 1920 as an extra in “The Merchant of Venice” and first appeared in London in November 1924 at the Haymarket as Phirous in “The Wandering Jew”. He was with the Old Vic in 1929-30, toured Canada as Robert Browning in “The Barretts of Wimpole Street” in 1931-32, and played Mowbray in Gielgud’s “Richard of Bordeaux” in 1932. Then followed his long association acting in and producing Shakespearean plays at the Stratford Memorial Theatre; he also acted for many seasons at a number of London theatres and various festivals. During the Second World War Wolfit made an important contribution to home front morale with 112 performances of lunch-time Shakespeare at the Strand Theatre. Among his notable roles were the title role in “Tamburlaine” and Lord Ogleby in “The Clandestine Marriage” (Old Vic 1951), Oedipus in “Oedipus Rex” and “Oedipus at Colonus” (King’s Theatre, Hammersmith 1953), and many major leads in Shakespeare: Hamlet, Othello, Shylock, Richard III, Malvolio and Macbeth. Wolfit also made numerous film and television appearances. He was made CBE in 1950 and was knighted in 1957. Sir Donald served as President of the Royal General Theatrical Fund. His autobiography “First Interval” was published in 1955. He was married three times: to Chris Frances Castor, Susan Katherine Anthony and Rosalind Den Payne (the daughter of the actor-director B. Iden Payne). Rosalind Payne appeared with Wolfit in many of his productions. Sir Donald became a member of the Garrick Club in 1942. He died on 17 February 1968. An extensive collection of his papers, mainly dealing with his career as actor-manager, are at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin. (WWW, OCT)