Robert Morley CBE (26 May 1908 – 3 June 1992) was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment. In Movie Encyclopedia, film critic Leonard Maltin describes Morley as "recognizable by his ungainly bulk, bushy eyebrows, thick lips, and double chin, […] particularly effective when cast as a pompous windbag". More politely, Ephraim Katz in his International Film Encyclopaedia describes Morley as a "a rotund, triple-chinned, delightful character player of the British and American stage and screen."
He was born Robert Adolph Wilton Morley in Semley, Wiltshire, England. Morley attended Elizabeth College (an independent school in Guernsey), followed by RADA, and made his West End stage debut in 1929 in Treasure Island at the Strand Theatre and his Broadway debut in 1938 in the title role of Oscar Wilde at the Fulton Theatre. Although soon won over to the big screen, Morley remained both a busy West End star and successful author, as well as tirelessly touring.
A versatile actor, especially in his younger years, he played roles as divergent as those of Louis XVI, for which he received an Academy Award Nomination as Best Supporting Actor (Marie Antoinette 1938). He gave powerful performances in Oscar Wilde (1960) and as a missionary in The African Queen (1951), but didn't receive Oscar nominations for either.
As a playwright he co-wrote and adapted several plays for the stage, having outstanding success in London and New York with Edward, My Son, a gripping family drama written in 1947 (with Noel Langley) in which he played the central role of Arnold Holt. But the disappointing film version, directed by George Cukor at MGM Elstree in 1949, instead starred the miscast Spencer Tracy, who turned Holt, an unscrupulous English businessman, into a blustering Canadian expatriate.
Morley also personified the conservative Englishman. He was also the face of BOAC (British Airways) in television commercials of the 1970s. British Airways: 'We'll take good care of you'. In many comedy and caper films. Later in his career, he received critical acclaim and numerous accolades for his performance in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?. Renowned for repartee and for being an eloquent conversationalist, Morley gained the epitheton of being a "wit".
Morley was honoured by being the first King of Moomba appointed by the Melbourne Moomba festival committee and, in typical humility, he accepted the crown in bare feet. Morley was in Australia touring his one-man show, The Sound of Morley.
He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1957. He was also offered a Knighthood during the Wilson government but declined it. He died in Reading, Berkshire from a stroke, aged 84. He was cremated and his ashes scattered across the graveyard of the parish church at Wargrave, Berkshire.
When Robert MORLEY, came to town I decided to try and get a portrait session with him. Telephoning the most likely hotels at which he would stay, I finally got hold of him.I explained who I was and that I would like to do a portrait of him. He mused, "A PO-leese photographer? Hmmmm! Why not, dear boy."
At the Central Police Station photographic studio, we discussed the session. I told him that I had always seen him as the epitome of "The British Colonial Administrator", lording it over the subjugated natives. He faced away from the camera, then ponderously turned his head to give the camera that cold, distant, disdainful look. It was captured on film and I knew, instinctively, that I had what I was after. The rest of the session was devoted to Robert MORLEY, in puckish mood, pulling faces for the camera.
After the session I took him on a tour of the Fingerprint Section where he asked informed questions and took a deep interest. As we left, he commented, "You know, Mr. Roberts, I feel sorry for those chaps as their world has shrunk to the size of a rolled impression." I later learned the Morley was an amateur criminologist and attended the full trial of the mass murderer, Charles Manson and became a friend of prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi.
This, too, was an award winning shot in what became the New Zealand route of the annual Australasian Police Photographers Competition. It was a pleasure to be able to send Robert Morley's son, who was living in Melbourne at the time, a copy of the photograph of his "dear old Dad' which he had seen on exhibition in the City Library.