1. Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger was an English stage and film actor.
24 Facts About Ernest Thesiger
1. 2.
Ernest Thesiger is noted for his performance as Doctor Septimus Pretorius in James Whale's film Bride of Frankenstein.
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Ernest Thesiger was the third of four children of Hon.
4.
Ernest Thesiger was the grandson of the 1st Lord Chelmsford, first cousin once removed of the explorer and author Wilfred Thesiger, and the nephew of the 2nd Lord Chelmsford.
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Ernest Thesiger attended Marlborough College and the Slade School of Art with aspirations of becoming a painter, but quickly switched to drama, making his professional debut in a production of Colonel Smith in 1909.
6.
Ernest Thesiger processed with the Men's League for Women's Suffrage at the mass rally in 1909.
7.
Ernest Thesiger played the comic hero Bertrand Tully over 1,200 times, and received very favourable reviews.
8.
In 1925, Ernest Thesiger appeared in drag in Noel Coward's On with the Dance, and later played the Dauphin in Shaw's Saint Joan.
9.
Ernest Thesiger wrote an autobiography Practically True, published in 1927, which covers his stage career.
10.
Ernest Thesiger made his film debut in 1916 in The Real Thing at Last, a spoof presenting Macbeth as it might be done by an American company, in which he did a drag turn as one of the Witches.
11.
Ernest Thesiger played the First Witch in a 1941 production of Macbeth directed by John Gielgud.
12.
Ernest Thesiger performed more small roles in films during the silent era, but worked mainly on the stage.
13.
Ernest Thesiger had a larger role in an early film for director Alfred Hitchcock, the silent Number 13, but this was never completed due to lack of funds.
14.
When he appeared in a Christmas production of The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1919, Ernest Thesiger met and befriended James Whale.
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Around this same time Ernest Thesiger published a book, Adventures in Embroidery, about needlework, which was his expert hobby.
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The remainder of Ernest Thesiger's career was centered on the theatrical stage, though he did appear in supporting roles in films, prominent among which is The Man in the White Suit, starring Alec Guinness.
17.
Ernest Thesiger plays "Sir John," the most powerful, the richest, and the oldest of the industrialists trying to suppress Guinness's invention of a fabric that never wears out and never gets dirty.
18.
Ernest Thesiger made a notable appearance in 1953 in the Golden Globe-winning The Robe as the Emperor Tiberius.
19.
Ernest Thesiger made several appearances on Broadway, notably as Jacques to Katharine Hepburn's Rosalind in the longest-running production of As You Like It ever produced on Broadway.
20.
In 1960, Ernest Thesiger was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
21.
Ernest Thesiger's last film appearance was a small role in The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone.
22.
Shortly after completing it, Ernest Thesiger died in his sleep from natural causes on the eve of his 82nd birthday.
23.
Ernest Thesiger's body was buried in Brompton Cemetery in London.
24.
The real Ernest Thesiger is seen in the film when Brendan Fraser, as Whale's gardener, sits at a bar watching a televised showing of the original 1935 Bride of Frankenstein.