1. David Llewellyn Harding, known professionally as Lyn Harding, was a Welsh actor who spent 40 years on the stage before entering British made silent films, talkies and radio.
10 Facts About Lyn Harding
1. 2.
Lyn Harding had an imposing and menacing stage presence and came to be cast as the villain in many films, notably Professor Moriarty in dramatisations of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
3.
Lyn Harding was born in 1867 at St Brides Wentloog, in Monmouthshire, into a strict Congregationalist Welsh-speaking family.
4.
Lyn Harding began giving readings from Shakespeare at a chapel in Cardiff.
5.
Lyn Harding opened on 28 August 1890 in The Grip Of Iron at the Theatre Royal, Bristol.
6.
Lyn Harding toured "the provinces" and eventually made his London debut at the Shakespeare Theatre, Clapham on 19 July 1897.
7.
Lyn Harding later changed his name to "Lyn" to make it more acceptable to English audiences who found "Llewellyn" difficult to pronounce.
8.
Lyn Harding's career spanned stage, silent screen, talkies and radio productions and he toured in the United States, Japan, India and Burma.
9.
Lyn Harding worked at different times with John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Anthony Quayle.
10.
Lyn Harding lived for about ten years in Leverstock Green, near Hemel Hempstead where he played an active role in the local community, even staging plays and revues with fellow actors to help raise funds for a much needed parish hall.