- Born
- Died
- Birth nameErnest Frederic Graham Thesiger
- Height1.83 m
- Although he made nearly 60 films in a 50-year acting career, it is for the two he made with director James Whale that Ernest Thesiger will be best remembered. Born Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger in London on January 15, 1879, he was the grandson of the first Baron of Chelmsford. Educated at Marlbrough college and the Slade, he originally hoped to become a great painter. Greatness proved elusive, however (though he remained an accomplished watercolour artist), and he quickly turned to the theatre, making his first appearance on stage in a production of "Colonel Smith" in 1909. He put his career on hold when, in 1914, he enlisted as a private in the British army when World War I broke out (he originally hoped to join a Scottish regiment because he wanted to wear a kilt). He did see some action in the trenches but had to be sent home after being wounded (he was quoted afterwards as saying of these experiences, "My dear, the noise! And the people!"). He made his first film appearance in 1916 with The Real Thing at Last (1916) and then returned to the theatre with "A Little Bit of Fluff",' which ran for over 1200 performances and led to him appearing in a film adaptation (A Little Bit of Fluff (1919)).
In 1925 he appeared in Noël Coward's production of "On With the Dance", in which he got to show off his knack for camp performances by playing one of two elderly women sharing a boarding house. In the early 1930s his old friend, actor-turned-director James Whale (who had moved to Hollywood and was enjoying huge success with Frankenstein (1931)), requested that his friend join him there to play the role of Horace Femm in Whale's upcoming production of Une soirée étrange (1932). Thesiger agreed and, along with co-star Eva Moore, stole the film, which became a huge success. He returned to Britain to make Le Fantôme vivant (1933) with Boris Karloff. Whale requested Thesiger's services in Hollywood again, this time to appear in his sequel to Frankenstein (1931), La Fiancée de Frankenstein (1935). Thesiger was given the role of the sinister Dr. Pretorious, after Whale had refused the studio's suggestion of Claude Rains for the role. With help from Whale's direction, some classic dialogue ("Have some gin. It's my only weakness . . .", "To a new world of gods and monsters") and expert camera work (which helped accentuate his skeletal frame), Thesiger stole the show once more. He returned to Britain and, unfortunately, never worked with Whale again. He appeared in the Alexander Korda-produced L'Homme qui pouvait accomplir des Miracles (1936) and had a memorable role in the thriller They Drive by Night (1938). He appeared with Will Hay in My Learned Friend (1943) and Don't Take It to Heart! (1944). His other notable films of the 1940s include Henry V (1944) and Winslow contre le roi (1948). He returned briefly to America to appear in "As You Like It" on Broadway and afterwards divided his time between theatre and film. Notable later films include Vacances sur ordonnance (1950) (as Sir Trevor Lampington, discoverer and eponym of Lampington's disease), Rires au paradis (1951), Scrooge (1951) and L'homme au complet blanc (1951) (as an elderly industry magnate). He made his last film appearance in Le visage du plaisir (1961) and his last stage performance, opposite Sirs Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, in a production of "The Last Joke". He passed away shortly afterwards, on the eve of his 82nd birthday, at his home on Gloucester Road in Kensington, London.- IMDb mini biography by: Crisso (jaycag@hotmail.com)
- SpouseJanette Mary Fernie Ranken(May 29, 1917 - January 14, 1961) (his death)
- Chiseled elfin nose
- Strong British accent
- Lived in what is generally regarded as a lavender marriage (she was his beard) with Janette Ranken (16 December 1877 - 21 May 1970), the sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Bruce Ellis Ranken (11 April 1881 - 31 March 1941), who painted Thesiger's portrait in 1918. Janette was said to be herself in love with the poet Margaret Jourdain.
- He used to lay lilies at the feet of the handsome doorman at the Savoy Hotel in London.
- Alec Guinness recounted in his journal "A Positively Final Appearance" a story about Thesiger, saying he was once stopped by a woman while walking through Piccadilly, who asked him, "Didn't you used to be Ernest Thesiger?" To which he replied bluntly, "Still am!" and hurried on.
- His famous role of mad scientist Dr. Pretorius in La Fiancée de Frankenstein (1935) was initially turned down by Bela Lugosi. Universal then wanted Claude Rains to do the part but director James Whale insisted on Thesiger.
- He was a great friend (and crochet partner) of Queen Mary and is even said to have based his later appearance on her.
- Anyone with a modicum of intelligence and the right kind of physique ought to make a film actor, if they are lucky enough to be told exactly what to do, and I cannot see that the actor for the screen deserves any more credit than a schoolboy who is good at dictation should have for writing admirable prose.
- Often I am laughed at when I first am given a part, because I say at once: 'What rings shall I wear?' Luckily I have some hundred and fifty to choose from, and I can generally find one that suits the character.
- There is no occupation in the world so absorbing as trying to paint. Everything, every worry, is for the moment forgotten in the effort, however unsuccessful, of creating a masterpiece. To the surprise of many and the horror of some, I have also found great pleasure in needlework, which, after all, is only another way of making pictures.
- I have a shelf all round my dining room about a foot from the ceiling and there my luster lives, out of reach of possible breakages, or so I thought. During the war I took every piece down and stored them in safety. When the bombing stopped they went back to form a glittering frieze which brightens the room. But, alas, I didn't realize that the foundations of the shelves on which my treasures stood had been weakened by the vibration of the guns, and one day I heard a terrifying crash as one third of the shelf came away from the wall and with it about twenty pieces of glass which lay in smithereens on the floor, among them some of my much valued 'Varnish London' pieces, which though heavier and more solid than the fairings, were too badly damaged to be repaired. In order to console myself I told myself that the fewer pieces there were in existence of this particular make the more valuable the survivors would be.
- La Fiancée de Frankenstein (1935) - $1,000 per week
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