Donald Wolfit was especially renowned for his portrayal of King Lear.
20 Facts About Donald Wolfit
2.
Donald Wolfit made his stage debut in 1920 and first appeared in the West End in 1924, playing in The Wandering Jew.
3.
Donald Wolfit's first wife was the actress Chris Castor, and their daughter Margaret Wolfit was an actor.
4.
Donald Wolfit had two children by his second marriage - Harriet Graham, actor and writer, and Adam Wolfit, a photographer.
5.
Donald Wolfit was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1950 for his services to the theatre, and knighted in 1957.
6.
Donald Wolfit played some major supporting roles at the Old Vic Theatre in 1930, appearing in Richard of Bordeaux with John Gielgud, and finally gained prominence at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1936 as Hamlet, whereupon he tried to persuade the management to finance him on a tour of the provinces.
7.
Donald Wolfit was known especially for his Shakespearean touring company which he set up with his own money touring in many countries in the Far East, Arabia, Australia, USA and England.
8.
Donald Wolfit was well known in King Lear and Richard III.
9.
Donald Wolfit played Oedipus, and the lead roles in Ben Jonson's Volpone and Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine.
10.
Donald Wolfit's touring company performed in London during the Battle of Britain in 1940 and Wolfit staged a very successful series of abridged versions of Shakespeare's plays in London during the Second World War in the early afternoon for lunchtime audiences.
11.
In January 1942, by arrangement with Lionel L Falck, Donald Wolfit presented Richard III at the Strand Theatre in London.
12.
Donald Wolfit played King Richard; others in the production included Eric Maxon, and Frank Thornton.
13.
In 1947 Donald Wolfit proved unpopular with American critics when he took the company to Broadway.
14.
Donald Wolfit died on 17 February 1968, at the age of 65 in Hammersmith, London, of cardiovascular disease.
15.
Ronald Harwood, who at one time was Donald Wolfit's dresser, based his play The Dresser on his relationship with Donald Wolfit.
16.
Donald Wolfit was an important influence on the early acting career of Pamella Carrington Coutte from the age of 18, he was introduced to her by Noel Coward whom both men could see a very valuable asset to his company as Coutte apart from becoming one of the best Shakespearean actresses in that era, she was the only bilingual actress who was very fluent in 11 languages.
17.
Donald Wolfit long maintained a bitter hostility to John Gielgud, fuelled by Donald Wolfit's resentment of Gielgud's public school background and family connections in the theatre.
18.
Donald Wolfit was a joke, a terrible actor with no sense of humour, who believed he was the greatest in the world.
19.
Once John and I took a call in front of the curtain; Donald Wolfit collapsed in tears because he wasn't called.
20.
Donald Wolfit's acting career declined after Pamella Coutte's death in 1959 where he struggled losing not only a great actress but a soulmate friend to he whom was very close.