Search a film or person :
FacebookConnectionRegistration
Miles Malleson is a Actor and Scriptwriter British born on 24 may 1888 at Croydon (United-kingdom)

Miles Malleson

Miles Malleson
If you like this person, let us know!
Birth name William Miles Malleson
Nationality United-kingdom
Birth 24 may 1888 at Croydon (United-kingdom)
Death 15 march 1969 (at 80 years) at London (United-kingdom)

William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969), generally known as Miles Malleson, was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the hypochondriac and fee-hungry local doctor. Malleson was also a writer on many films, including some of those in which he had small parts, such as Nell Gwyn (1934) and The Thief of Bagdad (1940). He also translated and adapted several of Molière's plays (The Misanthrope, which he titled The Slave of Truth, Tartuffe, and The Imaginary Invalid)

Biography

Malleson was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, the son of Edmund Taylor Malleson (1859-1909), a manufacturing chemist, and Myrrha Bithynia Frances Borrell (1863-1931), a descendant of the numismatist Henry Perigal Borrell and the inventor Francis Maceroni. He was educated at Brighton College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. At Cambridge, he created a sensation when it was discovered that he had successfully posed as a politician and given a speech instead of the visitor who had failed to attend a debating society dinner.

Malleson made his first appearance on stage as an actor in September 1911, turning professional two months later. He studied acting at Herbert Beerbohm Tree's Academy of Dramatic Art, which later was renamed the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Here he met his first wife in 1913. In September 1914 he enlisted in the Army, and was sent to Malta, but was invalided home and discharged in January 1915. By June 1916 he was writing in support of conscientious objectors.

He married three times and had many relationships. In 1915, he married writer and aspiring actress Lady Constance Annesley. Like she, he was interested in social reform, one of his plays being on the subject of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Theirs was an open marriage and they divorced amicably in 1923 so that he could marry Joan Billson; they divorced in 1940. His third wife was Tatiana Lieven, who he married in 1946 and from whom he had been separated for several years at the time of his death.

He was tall and slender, but with a round double-chin like Robert Morley's, and a sharp nose. His manner was gentle and absent-minded; his voice, soft and high. He is best remembered for his roles as the Sultan in The Thief of Bagdad (1940), the poetically-inclined hangman in Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and as Dr. Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest (1952).

Failing eyesight led to his being unable to work in his last years. He died in March 1969 following surgery to remove cataracts and was cremated in a private ceremony. A memorial service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields during which Sybil Thorndike and Laurence Olivier both gave readings.

Best films

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
(Dialogue)

Usually with

Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Wilcox
(18 films)
Roy Boulting
Roy Boulting
(9 films)
Freddie Young
Freddie Young
(12 films)
John Boulting
John Boulting
(10 films)
Irene Handl
Irene Handl
(15 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Miles Malleson (124 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

You Must Be Joking, 1h40
Directed by Michael Winner
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Themes Military humor in film
Actors Michael Callan, Lionel Jeffries, Denholm Elliott, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Bernard Cribbins, Terry-Thomas
Roles Salesman
Rating59% 2.9520152.9520152.9520152.9520152.952015
A collection of British soldiers and one US Air Force officer are tested in initiative by being given a scavenger hunt to perform. They are instructed to obtain six status symbols of the British way of life, in a sort of modern rendition of the "feats of Hercules". Among the feats to be accomplished in 48 hours are escaping from a maze, obtaining a rare rose and the hood ornament off a Rolls-Royce, and taking a lock of hair from a popular singer.
Murder Ahoy, 1h33
Directed by George Pollock
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Comedy thriller, Crime
Actors Margaret Rutherford, Stringer Davis, Lionel Jeffries, Bud Tingwell, Derek Nimmo, Joan Benham
Roles Bishop
Rating69% 3.4988953.4988953.4988953.4988953.498895
The action takes place mainly on board an old wooden-walled battleship, HMS Battledore, which has been purchased by a Trust for the rehabilitation of young criminals, and intended by the founder to put backbone into young jellyfish.
Circus World, 2h16
Directed by Henry Hathaway, Richard Talmadge
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Western
Themes Circus films
Actors John Wayne, Claudia Cardinale, Rita Hayworth, Lloyd Nolan, John Smith, Richard Conte
Roles Billy Hennigan
Rating61% 3.050263.050263.050263.050263.05026
In 1901, Matt Masters (John Wayne), a Wild West circus star in the mold of Buffalo Bill Cody, bought a bankrupt circus in 1885 and successfully rebuilt it into a combination three ring and Wild West extravaganza, mixing Wild West Show acts with conventional circus acts in a winning combination. He has successfully toured the United States for more than a decade. Now that the century is about to turn, he wants to take his show to Europe.
First Men in the Moon, 1h43
Directed by Ray Harryhausen, Nathan Juran
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Adventure
Themes Space adventure films, Sur la Lune, Films based on science fiction novels, Alternate history films, Space opera, Sur la Lune, Films about extraterrestrial life
Actors Lionel Jeffries, Edward Judd, Martha Hyer, Miles Malleson, Norman Bird, Hugh McDermott
Roles Dymchurch Registrar
Rating64% 3.2476953.2476953.2476953.2476953.247695
In 1964, the United Nations (UN) has launched a rocket flight to the Moon. A multi-national group of astronauts in the UN spacecraft land on the Moon, believing themselves to be the first lunar explorers. They discover a British Union Jack on the surface and a note naming Katherine Callender, claiming the Moon for Queen Victoria. Attempting to trace Callender, UN authorities find she has died, but find her husband Arnold Bedford now an old man in an old people's home. The nursing home staff do not let him watch television reports of the expedition because, according to the matron, it "excites him", dismissing his claims to have been on the Moon as insane delusion. The UN representatives question him about the Moon and he tells them his story. The rest of the film, as a flashback, shows what Bedford and Professor Cavor did in the 1890s.
Heavens Above!, 1h58
Directed by John Boulting, Roy Boulting
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Peter Sellers, Bernard Miles, Cecil Parker, Isabel Jeans, Ian Carmichael, Brock Peters
Roles Bishop Rockeby
Rating66% 3.344953.344953.344953.344953.34495
The plot features Sellers as a naive but caring prison chaplain accidentally assigned as vicar to a small and prosperous country town of Orbiston Parva, in place of Ian Carmichael's upper class cleric, with whom he shares a name. His belief in charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good, Christian people are in Smallwood's view belied by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman (Brock Peters) as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans) to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. However, all his good works lead to trouble.
Go to Blazes
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Robert Morley, Daniel Massey, Dennis Price, Coral Browne, Norman Rossington, Maggie Smith
Roles Salesman
Rating59% 2.9578952.9578952.9578952.9578952.957895
Three incompetent criminals steal a fire engine as a getaway vehicle. Recently released from prison, Bernard, Harry and Alfie have planned the perfect bank robbery, for which they need the perfect getaway. This is the part that let them down last time, hence their prolonged stay at ‘Her Majesty’s Pleasure…’
The Phantom of the Opera, 1h24
Directed by Freddie Francis, Terence Fisher, Peter Medak, John Peverall
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Musical theatre, Horror, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about music and musicians, Ghost films, Musical films
Actors Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Edward de Souza, Michael Gough, Harold Goodwin, Thorley Walters
Roles 2nd Cabby
Rating63% 3.198693.198693.198693.198693.19869
The film opens in Victorian London on a December night in 1900. The first night of the season at the London Opera House finds the opening of a new opera by Lord Ambrose D'Arcy (Michael Gough), a wealthy and pompous man, who is annoyed and scornful when the opera manager Lattimer (Thorley Walters) informs him the theatre has not been completely sold out. No one will sit in a certain box because it is haunted. Backstage, despite the soothing efforts of the opera's producer, Harry Hunter (Edward de Souza), everyone, including the show's star, Maria, is nervous and upset as if a sinister force was at work. The climax comes during Maria's first aria, when a side of the scenery rips apart to reveal the body of a hanged stage hand. In a panic, the curtain is rung down, and Maria refuses to sing again.
Postman's Knock, 1h28
Directed by Robert Lynn
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Barbara Shelley, Spike Milligan, John Wood, Warren Mitchell, Lance Percival, Arthur Mullard
Roles Psychiatrist
Rating53% 2.667842.667842.667842.667842.66784
Harold Petts (Spike Milligan) is a conscientious village postman who receives a promotion that takes him to London, to be trained at London's busiest post office. However, after his first day in the big city he is soon in trouble. In the main sorting office he succeeds in beating the new mail sorting machine at pigeonholing letters for delivery (the machine blows up in the process). As a result he is placed safely out of the way in the parcels department, but sorts parcels at such speed that he puts everyone else in the department out of work. This leads him to a meeting with the staff Psychiatrist, and then to Jean (Barbara Shelley), an ambitious art student, and the pair find themselves the main suspects in a mail theft ring, with the police and Post Office officials hot on their heels.
Fury at Smugglers' Bay, 1h20
Directed by John Gilling
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Adventure
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Pirate films
Actors Peter Cushing, Bernard Lee, Michèle Mercier, John Fraser, William Leo Franklyn, George Coulouris
Roles Duke of Avon
Rating55% 2.7602852.7602852.7602852.7602852.760285
En 1789, des pirates naufrageurs, Black John et ses hommes, s'opposent aux pêcheurs d'un village de Cornouailles que le seigneur Trevenyan refuse de protéger.
The Hellfire Club
Directed by Robert S. Baker, Monty Berman
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Adventure
Actors Peter Cushing, Keith Michell, Adrienne Corri, Peter Arne, Kai Fischer, David Lodge
Roles Judge
Rating52% 2.615752.615752.615752.615752.61575
Les Chevaliers du Démon sont un cercle de libertins se livrant à l'orgie. Le fils de leur précurseur décide de renverser son neveu, qui a usurpé son titre et poursuit ces activités assez immorales.
Double Bunk, 1h32
Directed by C.M. Pennington-Richards
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Comedy
Actors Ian Carmichael, Sid James, Janette Scott, Liz Fraser, Dennis Price, Reginald Beckwith
Roles Rev. Thomas
Rating61% 3.096543.096543.096543.096543.09654
When newlyweds Jack (Ian Carmichael) and Peggy (Janette Scott) face eviction from their rented London flat, they are tricked into buying a rundown houseboat by its current owner Alfred Harper (Reginald Beckwith) and his put-upon wife (Irene Handl). Mr Watson (Dennis Price) owns Jack and Peggy’s mooring and soon makes their acquaintance by introducing them to his mooring tariffs and associated surcharges.
Peeping Tom, 1h41
Directed by Michael Powell
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror, Slasher
Themes Films about films, Snuff films in fiction, Films about television, Serial killer films
Actors Karlheinz Böhm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley, Shirley Anne Field, Pamela Green
Roles Elderly Gentleman Customer
Rating75% 3.7977753.7977753.7977753.7977753.797775
Mark Lewis meets Dora, a prostitute, covertly filming her with a camera hidden under his coat. Shown from the point of view of the camera viewfinder, tension builds as he follows the woman into her home, murders her and later watches the film in his den as the credits roll on the screen.
Kidnapped
Kidnapped (1960)
, 1h37
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Action, Adventure
Themes Children's films
Actors Peter Finch, James MacArthur, Bernard Lee, Finlay Currie, John Laurie, Peter O'Toole
Roles Mr. Rankeillor
Rating65% 3.296413.296413.296413.296413.29641
In 18th century Scotland, young David Balfour (James MacArthur) is directed by his recently deceased father's letter to go to the House of Shaws, where he is greeted without much enthusiasm by his miserly uncle Ebenezer (John Laurie). An attempt to arrange a fatal accident makes it clear that Ebenezer has no affection for his nephew. Since David is not sufficiently on his guard, he accompanies Ebenezer to a meeting with a seafaring business associate, Captain Hoseason (Bernard Lee). The captain lures David aboard his ship and shanghais him, at Ebenezer's instigation.