1. Arthur Russell Thorndike was a British actor and novelist, best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels.
11 Facts About Russell Thorndike
1. 2.
Russell Thorndike was born in Rochester, Kent, where his father had recently become a canon at the cathedral.
3.
Russell Thorndike was a student at the King's School, Rochester and at St George's School, Windsor Castle and a chorister of St George's Chapel, an experience he later recounted in his book Children of the Garter.
4.
Russell Thorndike remained three-and-a-half years with the company, once giving three performances as Hamlet in three different versions of the text on the same day.
5.
Russell Thorndike rejoined Ben Greet's theatre company and his sister at the Old Vic in 1916, where he played in Shakespeare's King John, Richard II, and King Lear.
6.
Russell Thorndike acted with Sybil and her husband, Lewis Casson, in their touring repertory performing melodramas.
7.
Russell Thorndike played Macbeth in a silent version of the play opposite Sybil's Lady and played leads in silent versions of other classic plays, including Scrooge as Old Ebenezer, and The School for Scandal as Sir Peter Teazle.
8.
Russell Thorndike ended his film career in minor priest roles for Laurence Olivier in Hamlet and Richard III.
9.
Sybil was unable to sleep, so she asked Russell Thorndike to sit up with her.
10.
Russell Thorndike made a pot of tea while they talked, and the character of Doctor Syn was born.
11.
Russell Thorndike died in 1972, aged 87, and is buried in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul, Dymchurch, made famous by his Dr Syn novels.