André Morell
Encyclopedia
André Morell was a British
actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as Professor Bernard Quatermass
in the BBC Television
serial Quatermass and the Pit
(1958–59), and as Doctor Watson
in the Hammer Film Productions
version of The Hound of the Baskervilles
(1959). He also appeared in the Academy Award-winning films The Bridge on the River Kwai
(1957) and Ben-Hur
(1959), in several of Hammer's well-known horror film
s throughout the 1960s and in the acclaimed ITV
historical drama The Caesars
(1968).
His obituary in The Times
newspaper described him as possessing a "commanding presence with a rich, responsive voice... whether in the classical or modern theatre he was authoritative and dependable."
, England, the son of André and Rosa Mesritz. Prior to taking up acting professionally he trained as a motor engineer
, while also participating in amateur theatrical productions. He turned professional in 1934, initially acting under the name André Mesritz; he anglicised
this to André Morell in 1936, and adopted the latter name legally by deed poll
in 1938.
In 1938 he joined the Old Vic
theatre company, and appeared in several of their high-profile productions both at their home theatre and on tour throughout Britain and across the rest of the world. He appeared in Hamlet
as Horatio
opposite Alec Guinness
in the title role, and as Alonso in John Gielgud
's production of The Tempest
. He played Mercutio
in a production of Romeo and Juliet
mounted by the Old Vic company at Streatham
in 1939, with Robert Donat
as Romeo. This was Morell's favourite role from his career. His performance in the play was praised by The Timess critic as "a neat and carefully studied portrait; he is admirable in all his cynical and humorous passages", although the reviewer did add that "one could wish that he had left this manner for the speech about Queen Mab
and addressed this, as a piece of direct poetry, directly to the audience."
Towards the end of the 1930s he began appearing in films, making his debut on the big screen in 13 Men and a Gun in 1938. He appeared frequently in several early drama productions on the BBC
's fledgling television service, featuring in such roles as Mr Wickham in Pride and Prejudice
(1938) and Le Bret in Cyrano de Bergerac
(1938). The onset of World War II
interrupted his acting career, and he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers
in 1940. He served with the regiment until 1946, by which time he had attained the rank of major
.
s T C Worsley wrote of his performance in a star-studded revival of King Lear
that "Mr Morell's Kent is the best I remember since Sir Ralph Richardson's." And of his title role in Tyrone Guthrie
's production of Timon of Athens
, the Daily Mail
wrote: "From his stage and screen performances we know him already as an eminently dependable actor, but last night he became a spectacular actor."
The same profile quoted Morell's catholic approach to stage assignments: "If a part is a good part and I feel I can enjoy playing it, it doesn't matter whether it's Shakespeare or modern farce ... I'd hate to be bogged down in Shakespeare or classic theatre all my life. It's a good thing for an actor to do many different kinds of theatre, because it keeps his imagination stimulated."
However, he now increasingly began to win leading parts on television, and in 1953 was cast by the television director
Rudolph Cartier
in a play called It Is Midnight, Dr Schweitzer. Cartier was impressed with Morell's performance in this play, and offered him the leading role in a science-fiction serial he was preparing with the writer Nigel Kneale
, entitled The Quatermass Experiment
. Morell considered the not-yet-completed script, but decided to decline the offer; the part went instead to his co-star from It Is Midnight, Dr Schweitzer, Reginald Tate
.
He did take one of the leading parts in another Cartier and Kneale production the following year, when he played O'Brien
in their version of
George Orwell
's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
, opposite Peter Cushing
as Winston Smith
. This was a successful and controversial production which provoked much comment and debate; Morell's part in it has been praised for his "coolly menacing performance [that] is at least equal to Cushing's."
This successful collaboration with Cartier and Kneale resulted, four years later, in him once again being offered the role of Professor Bernard Quatermass for the pair's third serial in the series, Quatermass and the Pit
, although on this occasion another actor – Alec Clunes
– had already turned them down. This time Morell accepted the part, and is regarded by several critics as having provided the definitive interpretation of the character. Morell personally found that in later years it was the role for which he was most often remembered by members of the public.
As well as these and other television appearances, Morell gained several notable film roles towards the end of the 1950s. He appeared in two films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture
; The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, as Colonel Green, and Ben-Hur in 1959 as Sextus. Also in 1959 he played Arthur Conan Doyle
's famous character Doctor John H. Watson, again opposite Peter Cushing who was this time playing Sherlock Holmes
, in Hammer Film Productions' version of The Hound of the Baskervilles
. This was the first Sherlock Holmes adaptation ever to be shot in colour. Morell was particularly keen that his portrayal of Watson should be closer to that originally depicted in Conan Doyle's stories, and away from the bumbling stereotype established by Nigel Bruce
's interpretation of the role. His performance is highly regarded by many members of the Baker Street Irregulars in America and the Sherlock Holmes Society in England as one most faithful to the character of Holmes' chronicler and good right arm as envisaged by Doyle.
In 1960 Morell appeared as Brack in a production of Henrik Ibsen
's play Hedda Gabler
at The Oxford Playhouse
. Starring opposite him in the title role was the film actress Joan Greenwood
. They fell in love and flew in secret to Jamaica
, where they were married, remaining together until his death.
in 1957 and their version of The Hound of the Baskervilles the following year, in the ensuing decade Morell appeared in several of Hammer Film Productions' famous range of horror films. He had parts in the Shadow of the Cat
(1960), She
(1964, again with Peter Cushing) and its sequel Vengeance of She (1967), the lead in The Plague of the Zombies
(1965), and The Mummy's Shroud
(1966). He also starred with Cushing in Hammer's Cash on Demand, playing the same role he had played opposite Richard Warner in the original TV play, The Gold Inside.
In 1967 Hammer produced a feature film adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit
, and offered Morell the chance to play the Professor again in their version of the story. Morell declined the offer, not wishing to repeat the same part in the same story he had already played successfully on television.
Morell continued to act successfully on television throughout the decade, with guest roles in episodes of series such as The Avengers
(1963 and 1965), Danger Man
(1965), Doctor Who
("The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
" 1966), The Saint
(1965) and in The Caesars
(1968) in a prominent role as the Roman emperor
Tiberius
.
In 1969 he became the vice president of Equity
, the trade union
for British actors and performers. He then served as president of the organisation for a year from 1973–74. During this time he was involved in a dispute in which Equity threatened to expel Laurence Olivier
as a member due to comments he made in a newspaper feature about the possibility of forming a breakaway union. The union also suffered from financial problems, and Morell continued to warn against destructive divisions amongst the members when he stepped down as president.
Despite his involvement in union business he continued to be a busy working actor. He appeared in Stanley Kubrick
's acclaimed Barry Lyndon
(1975) as a nobleman friend of the title character. His last television work was an episode of the ITV
series The Professionals
in 1978, the year of his death. The animated film version of The Lord of the Rings
, in which he voiced the character of Elrond
, was released the same year, but his final film work was not seen until the year after his death. This was as the judge in The First Great Train Robbery
.
Morell died in London in 1978, at the age of sixty-nine. He was survived by his wife Joan Greenwood and their son Jason. Jason Morell also became an actor, appearing in films such as Mrs. Brown
(1997, as Lord Stanley
) and Wilde
(also 1997, as Ernest Dowson
).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as Professor Bernard Quatermass
Bernard Quatermass
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist, originally created by the writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading up the British Experimental Rocket Group...
in the BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
serial Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
(1958–59), and as Doctor Watson
John Watson (Sherlock Holmes)
John H. Watson, M.D. , known as Dr. Watson, is a character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Watson is Sherlock Holmes's friend, assistant and sometime flatmate, and is the first person narrator of all but four stories in the Sherlock Holmes canon.-Name:Doctor Watson's first...
in the Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
version of The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959 film)
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1959 British detective film produced by Hammer Films and directed by Terence Fisher.The film is the first adaptation from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel of the same name to be filmed in colour and stars Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, Sir Christopher Lee as...
(1959). He also appeared in the Academy Award-winning films The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...
(1957) and Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur (1959 film)
Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...
(1959), in several of Hammer's well-known horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s throughout the 1960s and in the acclaimed ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
historical drama The Caesars
The Caesars (TV series)
The Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the emperors of...
(1968).
His obituary in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper described him as possessing a "commanding presence with a rich, responsive voice... whether in the classical or modern theatre he was authoritative and dependable."
Early life and career
Morell was born as Cecil André Mesritz in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, the son of André and Rosa Mesritz. Prior to taking up acting professionally he trained as a motor engineer
Auto mechanic
An auto mechanic is a mechanic with a variety of car makes or either in a specific area or in a specific make of car. In repairing cars, their main role is to diagnose the problem accurately and quickly...
, while also participating in amateur theatrical productions. He turned professional in 1934, initially acting under the name André Mesritz; he anglicised
Anglicisation
Anglicisation, or anglicization , is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.The term most often refers to...
this to André Morell in 1936, and adopted the latter name legally by deed poll
Deed of Change of Name
A deed of change of name is a legal document in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, which enables a single person or a family to officially change his or her name...
in 1938.
In 1938 he joined the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
theatre company, and appeared in several of their high-profile productions both at their home theatre and on tour throughout Britain and across the rest of the world. He appeared in Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
as Horatio
Horatio (character)
Horatio is a character from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet. A friend of Prince Hamlet from Wittenberg University, Horatio's origins are unknown, though he is evidently poor and was present on the battlefield when Hamlet's father defeated 'the ambitious Norway'...
opposite Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
in the title role, and as Alonso in John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
's production of The Tempest
The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
. He played Mercutio
Mercutio
Mercutio a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He is a close friend of Romeo, and Romeo's cousin Benvolio, and also a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, being neither a Montague nor a Capulet, Mercutio is one of the few in Verona...
in a production of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
mounted by the Old Vic company at Streatham
Streatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
in 1939, with Robert Donat
Robert Donat
Robert Donat was an English film and stage actor. He is best-known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps and Goodbye, Mr...
as Romeo. This was Morell's favourite role from his career. His performance in the play was praised by The Timess critic as "a neat and carefully studied portrait; he is admirable in all his cynical and humorous passages", although the reviewer did add that "one could wish that he had left this manner for the speech about Queen Mab
Queen Mab
Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. She also appears in other 17th century literature, and in various guises in later poetry, drama and cinema...
and addressed this, as a piece of direct poetry, directly to the audience."
Towards the end of the 1930s he began appearing in films, making his debut on the big screen in 13 Men and a Gun in 1938. He appeared frequently in several early drama productions on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's fledgling television service, featuring in such roles as Mr Wickham in Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
(1938) and Le Bret in Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. Although there was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, the play bears very scant resemblance to his life....
(1938). The onset of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
interrupted his acting career, and he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers
Royal Welch Fusiliers
The Royal Welch Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. It was founded in 1689 to oppose James II and the imminent war with France...
in 1940. He served with the regiment until 1946, by which time he had attained the rank of major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
.
Major film and television roles
Morell returned to the theatre after the war, including another spell at the Old Vic in the 1951–52 season. According to a 1996 profile by Jonathan Rigby, the New StatesmanNew Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
s T C Worsley wrote of his performance in a star-studded revival of King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
that "Mr Morell's Kent is the best I remember since Sir Ralph Richardson's." And of his title role in Tyrone Guthrie
Tyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
's production of Timon of Athens
Timon of Athens
The Life of Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare about the fortunes of an Athenian named Timon , generally regarded as one of his most obscure and difficult works...
, the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
wrote: "From his stage and screen performances we know him already as an eminently dependable actor, but last night he became a spectacular actor."
The same profile quoted Morell's catholic approach to stage assignments: "If a part is a good part and I feel I can enjoy playing it, it doesn't matter whether it's Shakespeare or modern farce ... I'd hate to be bogged down in Shakespeare or classic theatre all my life. It's a good thing for an actor to do many different kinds of theatre, because it keeps his imagination stimulated."
However, he now increasingly began to win leading parts on television, and in 1953 was cast by the television director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
Rudolph Cartier
Rudolph Cartier
Rudolph Cartier was an Austrian television director, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer who worked predominantly in British television, exclusively for the BBC...
in a play called It Is Midnight, Dr Schweitzer. Cartier was impressed with Morell's performance in this play, and offered him the leading role in a science-fiction serial he was preparing with the writer Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale was a British screenwriter from the Isle of Man. Active in television, film, radio drama and prose fiction, he wrote professionally for over fifty years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice nominated for the British Film Award for Best Screenplay...
, entitled The Quatermass Experiment
The Quatermass Experiment
The Quatermass Experiment is a British science-fiction serial broadcast by BBC Television in the summer of 1953 and re-staged by BBC Four in 2005. Set in the near future against the background of a British space programme, it tells the story of the first manned flight into space, overseen by...
. Morell considered the not-yet-completed script, but decided to decline the offer; the part went instead to his co-star from It Is Midnight, Dr Schweitzer, Reginald Tate
Reginald Tate
Reginald Tate was an English actor, veteran of many roles on stage, in film and on television. He is best remembered as the first actor to play the television science-fiction character Professor Bernard Quatermass, in the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment.-Early life:Reginald...
.
He did take one of the leading parts in another Cartier and Kneale production the following year, when he played O'Brien
O'Brien (1984)
O'Brien is a fictional character and the main antagonist in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The protagonist Winston Smith, living in a dystopian society governed by the Party, feels strangely attracted to Inner Party member O'Brien. Orwell never reveals O'Brien's first name.Winston...
in their version of
Nineteen Eighty-Four (TV programme)
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed...
George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
, opposite Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as Winston Smith
Winston Smith
Winston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
. This was a successful and controversial production which provoked much comment and debate; Morell's part in it has been praised for his "coolly menacing performance [that] is at least equal to Cushing's."
This successful collaboration with Cartier and Kneale resulted, four years later, in him once again being offered the role of Professor Bernard Quatermass for the pair's third serial in the series, Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial, originally transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the character would reappear in a 1979 ITV production simply entitled Quatermass...
, although on this occasion another actor – Alec Clunes
Alec Clunes
Alexander "Alec" Demoro Sherriff Clunes was an English actor and stage manager.Among the plays he presented were Christopher Fry's famous play The Lady's Not For Burning. He gave the actor and dramatist Sir Peter Ustinov his first break with his production The House of Regrets. His film career was...
– had already turned them down. This time Morell accepted the part, and is regarded by several critics as having provided the definitive interpretation of the character. Morell personally found that in later years it was the role for which he was most often remembered by members of the public.
As well as these and other television appearances, Morell gained several notable film roles towards the end of the 1950s. He appeared in two films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
; The Bridge on the River Kwai in 1957, as Colonel Green, and Ben-Hur in 1959 as Sextus. Also in 1959 he played Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's famous character Doctor John H. Watson, again opposite Peter Cushing who was this time playing Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
, in Hammer Film Productions' version of The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an...
. This was the first Sherlock Holmes adaptation ever to be shot in colour. Morell was particularly keen that his portrayal of Watson should be closer to that originally depicted in Conan Doyle's stories, and away from the bumbling stereotype established by Nigel Bruce
Nigel Bruce
William Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
's interpretation of the role. His performance is highly regarded by many members of the Baker Street Irregulars in America and the Sherlock Holmes Society in England as one most faithful to the character of Holmes' chronicler and good right arm as envisaged by Doyle.
In 1960 Morell appeared as Brack in a production of Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
's play Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
at The Oxford Playhouse
The Oxford Playhouse
The Oxford Playhouse is an independent theatre in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum.- History :...
. Starring opposite him in the title role was the film actress Joan Greenwood
Joan Greenwood
Joan Greenwood was an English actress. Born in Chelsea, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark...
. They fell in love and flew in secret to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, where they were married, remaining together until his death.
Later career
After his appearance in Hammer's The Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood Island
The Camp on Blood Island is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring Carl Möhner, André Morrel, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald....
in 1957 and their version of The Hound of the Baskervilles the following year, in the ensuing decade Morell appeared in several of Hammer Film Productions' famous range of horror films. He had parts in the Shadow of the Cat
Shadow of the Cat
Shadow of the Cat is a 1961 British horror film directed by John Gilling for Hammer Film Productions. It stars André Morell and Barbara Shelley...
(1960), She
She (1965 film)
She is a 1965 film made by Hammer Film Productions, based on the novel by H. Rider Haggard. It was directed by Robert Day and stars Ursula Andress, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.-Plot synopsis:...
(1964, again with Peter Cushing) and its sequel Vengeance of She (1967), the lead in The Plague of the Zombies
The Plague of the Zombies
The Plague of the Zombies Hammer Horror film directed by John Gilling. It stars André Morell, John Carson, Jacqueline Pearce, Brook Williams and Michael Ripper...
(1965), and The Mummy's Shroud
The Mummy's Shroud
The Mummy's Shroud is a 1967 horror film made in the UK by Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by Hammer veteran John Gilling.It stars André Morell and David Buck as explorers who uncover the tomb of an ancient Egyptian mummy. It also starred John Phillips, Maggie Kimberly and Michael Ripper...
(1966). He also starred with Cushing in Hammer's Cash on Demand, playing the same role he had played opposite Richard Warner in the original TV play, The Gold Inside.
In 1967 Hammer produced a feature film adaptation of Quatermass and the Pit
Quatermass and the Pit (film)
Quatermass and the Pit is a 1967 British science fiction horror film. Made by Hammer Film Productions it is a sequel to the earlier Hammer films The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass 2. Like its predecessors it is based on a BBC Television serial – Quatermass and the Pit – written by Nigel Kneale...
, and offered Morell the chance to play the Professor again in their version of the story. Morell declined the offer, not wishing to repeat the same part in the same story he had already played successfully on television.
Morell continued to act successfully on television throughout the decade, with guest roles in episodes of series such as The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
(1963 and 1965), Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
(1965), Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
("The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve
The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 February to 26 February 1966...
" 1966), The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
(1965) and in The Caesars
The Caesars (TV series)
The Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the emperors of...
(1968) in a prominent role as the Roman emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
.
In 1969 he became the vice president of Equity
British Actors' Equity Association
Equity is the trade union for actors, stage managers and models in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1930 by a group of West End performers....
, the trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
for British actors and performers. He then served as president of the organisation for a year from 1973–74. During this time he was involved in a dispute in which Equity threatened to expel Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
as a member due to comments he made in a newspaper feature about the possibility of forming a breakaway union. The union also suffered from financial problems, and Morell continued to warn against destructive divisions amongst the members when he stepped down as president.
Despite his involvement in union business he continued to be a busy working actor. He appeared in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's acclaimed Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
(1975) as a nobleman friend of the title character. His last television work was an episode of the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
series The Professionals
The Professionals (TV series)
The Professionals was a British crime-action television drama series produced by Avengers Mk1 Productions and London Weekend Television that aired on the ITV network from 1977 to 1983. In all, 57 episodes were produced, filmed between 1977 and 1981. It starred Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon...
in 1978, the year of his death. The animated film version of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
, in which he voiced the character of Elrond
Elrond
Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is introduced in The Hobbit, and plays a supporting role in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.-Character overview:...
, was released the same year, but his final film work was not seen until the year after his death. This was as the judge in The First Great Train Robbery
The First Great Train Robbery
The First Great Train Robbery — known in the U.S. as The Great Train Robbery — is a 1979 film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his novel The Great Train Robbery...
.
Morell died in London in 1978, at the age of sixty-nine. He was survived by his wife Joan Greenwood and their son Jason. Jason Morell also became an actor, appearing in films such as Mrs. Brown
Mrs. Brown
Mrs. Brown is a 1997 British drama film starring Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher and Gerard Butler...
(1997, as Lord Stanley
Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby
Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO, PC , known as Frederick Stanley until 1886 and as Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and the sixth Governor General...
) and Wilde
Wilde (film)
Wilde is a 1997 British biographical film directed by Brian Gilbert with Stephen Fry in the title role. The screenplay by Julian Mitchell is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 biography of Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann.-Plot:...
(also 1997, as Ernest Dowson
Ernest Dowson
Ernest Christopher Dowson , born in Lee, London, was an English poet, novelist and writer of short stories, associated with the Decadent movement.- Biography :...
).
Filmography
- Three Silent MenThree Silent MenThree Silent Men is a 1940 British crime film directed by Daniel Birt and starring Sebastian Shaw, Derrick De Marney, Patricia Roc and Arthur Hambling...
(1940) - Unpublished StoryUnpublished StoryUnpublished Story is a 1942, British, black-and-white, drama, war film, directed by Harold French and starring Ronald Shiner as the agitating, Pamphleteer or Leaflet Distributor, Richard Greene, Valerie Hobson, Basil Radford and Roland Culver...
(1942) - Against the WindAgainst the Wind (1948 film)Against the Wind is a black-and-white British film directed by Charles Crichton and produced by Michael Balcon, released through Ealing Studios in 1948...
(1948) - MadeleineMadeleine (film)Madeleine is a 1950 film directed by David Lean, based on a true story about Madeleine Smith, a young Glasgow woman from a wealthy family who was tried in 1857 for the murder of her lover, Emile L'Angelier...
(1950) - Stage FrightStage Fright (film)Stage Fright is a 1950 British crime film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd...
(1950) - So Long at the FairSo Long at the FairSo Long at the Fair is a 1950 British thriller film directed by Terence Fisher and Anthony Darnborough, and starring Jean Simmons and Dirk Bogarde. It was adapted from the 1947 novel of the same name by Anthony Thorne...
(1950) - Trio (1950)
- Seven Days to NoonSeven Days to NoonSeven Days to Noon is a 1950 British drama / thriller film directed by John Boulting and Roy Boulting. Paul Dehn and James Bernard won the Academy Award for Best Story for this film.-Plot:The film is set in the early 1950s...
(1950) - The Clouded YellowThe Clouded YellowThe Clouded Yellow is a 1951 British mystery film directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty E. Box for Carillon Films.-Plot synopsis:...
(1950) - Flesh & Blood (1951)
- High TreasonHigh Treason (1951 film)High Treason is a 1951 British espionage thriller filmed in the style of such American "docudramas" as The House on 92nd Street and T-Men. It is a sequel to the Oscar-winning 1950 film Seven Days to Noon. Director Roy Boulting, co-director and co-writer of the first film, also directed and...
(1951) - The Tall HeadlinesThe Tall HeadlinesThe Tall Headlines is a 1952 British film directed by Terence Young and starring André Morell, Flora Robson, Peter Burton, Sid James and Dennis Price.-Cast:* André Morell - George Rackham* Flora Robson - Mary Rackham* Michael Denison - Phillip Rackham...
(1952) - Stolen FaceStolen FaceStolen Face is a British film noir directed by Terence Fisher for Hammer Film Productions. With its theme of a man who, after the sudden end of a powerful romance with a beautiful blonde tries to recreate her by altering the appearance of another woman, it is clearly a forerunner of Vertigo...
(1952) - His Majesty O'KeefeHis Majesty O'KeefeHis Majesty O'Keefe is a 1954 adventure film starring Burt Lancaster. The film was directed by Byron Haskin and Otto Heller and included choreography by Daniel Nagrin...
(1954) - The Black KnightThe Black Knight (1954 film)The Black Knight is a 1954 film starring Alan Ladd as the title character and Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton as two conspirators attempting to overthrow King Arthur...
(1954) - Three Cases of MurderThree Cases of MurderThree Cases of Murder is a 1955 British drama film comprising three stories. Though the stories are separate and unrelated, Alan Badel appears in all three....
(1955) - Summertime (1955)
- The Secret (1955)
- The Man Who Never WasThe Man Who Never WasThe Man Who Never Was is a nonfiction 1953 book by Ewen Montagu and a 1956 Second World War war film, based on the book and dramatising actual events...
(1956) - The Black TentThe Black TentThe Black Tent is a 1956 British war film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Donald Sinden, Anthony Steel, Anna Maria Sandri, André Morell and Donald Pleasence. It is set in North Africa, during the Second World War and was filmed on location in Libya.-Plot:During the British retreat...
(1956) - The Baby and the BattleshipThe Baby and the BattleshipThe Baby and the Battleship is a colour 1956 British comedy film directed by Jay Lewis and starring John Mills, Richard Attenborough and André Morell. It is based on the 1956 novel by Anthony Thorne with a screenplay by Richard De Roy, Gilbert Hackforth-Jones and Bryan Forbes...
(1956) - ZarakZarakZarak is a 1956 British Warwick Films CinemaScope action film based on the 1949 book The Story of Zarak Khan by A.J. Bevan. It was directed by Terence Young with assistance from John Gilling and Yakima Canutt...
(1956) - InterpolInterpol (1957 film)Interpol known in the USA as Pickup Alley is a 1957 British Warwick Films crime film starring Victor Mature, Anita Ekberg, Trevor Howard, Bonar Colleano and Sid James. It concerns an Interpol effort to stamp out a major drug-smuggling cartel in numerous countries around the world. Victor Mature...
(1957) - The Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 British World War II film by David Lean based on The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–43 for its historical setting. It stars William...
(1957)
- Paris HolidayParis HolidayParis Holiday is a 1958 comedy film starring Bob Hope, which was directed by Gerd Oswald, and written by Edmund Beloin, who was Hope's attorney, and Dean Riesner from a story by Hope. The film also features French comedian Fernandel, Anita Ekberg and Martha Hyer, and a rare appearance by...
(1958) - The Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood IslandThe Camp on Blood Island is a 1958 British World War II film, directed by Val Guest for Hammer Film Productions and starring Carl Möhner, André Morrel, Edward Underdown and Walter Fitzgerald....
(1958) - The Hound of the BaskervillesThe Hound of the Baskervilles (1959 film)The Hound of the Baskervilles is a 1959 British detective film produced by Hammer Films and directed by Terence Fisher.The film is the first adaptation from the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novel of the same name to be filmed in colour and stars Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, Sir Christopher Lee as...
(1959) - Ben-HurBen-Hur (1959 film)Ben-Hur is a 1959 American epic film directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston in the title role, the third film adaptation of Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. The screenplay was written by Karl Tunberg, Gore Vidal, and Christopher Fry. The score was composed by...
(1959) - The Giant Behemoth (1959)
- Cone of SilenceCone of Silence (1960 film)Cone of Silence is a film about the investigation into a series of crashes involving the fictional "Atlas Aviation Phoenix" jetliner. In the United States, the film was released under the title Trouble in the Sky...
(1960) - Shadow of the CatShadow of the CatShadow of the Cat is a 1961 British horror film directed by John Gilling for Hammer Film Productions. It stars André Morell and Barbara Shelley...
(1961) - Cash on DemandCash on DemandCash on Demand is a 1961 British thriller film directed by Quentin Lawrence and starring Peter Cushing. The film company Hammer invested the equivalent of £37,000 in 2009 currency to produce the film...
(1961) - Woman of StrawWoman of StrawWoman of Straw is a 1964 British crime thriller starring Gina Lollobrigida and Sean Connery. It was directed by Basil Dearden and written by Robert Muller and Stanley Mann, adapted from the 1964 novel by Catherine Arley.- Plot :...
(1964) - The Moon-SpinnersThe Moon-SpinnersThe Moon-Spinners is a 1964 American Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Hayley Mills in a story about a jewel thief hiding on the island of Crete. The film was based upon a suspense novel by Mary Stewart and was directed by James Neilson...
(1964) - She (1965)
- The Plague of the ZombiesThe Plague of the ZombiesThe Plague of the Zombies Hammer Horror film directed by John Gilling. It stars André Morell, John Carson, Jacqueline Pearce, Brook Williams and Michael Ripper...
(1966) - Judith (1966)
- The Wrong BoxThe Wrong BoxThe Wrong Box is a British comedy film made by Salamander Film Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was produced and directed by Bryan Forbes from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.The cast includes a...
(1966) - The Mummy's ShroudThe Mummy's ShroudThe Mummy's Shroud is a 1967 horror film made in the UK by Hammer Film Productions. It was directed by Hammer veteran John Gilling.It stars André Morell and David Buck as explorers who uncover the tomb of an ancient Egyptian mummy. It also starred John Phillips, Maggie Kimberly and Michael Ripper...
(1967) - Dark of the SunDark of the SunDark of the Sun is a 1968 adventure-war film starring Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Jim Brown, and Peter Carsten...
(1968) - The Vengeance of SheThe Vengeance of SheThe Vengeance of She is a 1968 British fantasy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring John Richardson, Olga Schoberová, Edward Judd and Colin Blakely. It bears little in common with the novel Ayesha: The Return of She by H. Rider Haggard...
(1968) - Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (1970 film)Julius Caesar is a 1970 independent film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play, directed by Stuart Burge from a screenplay by Robert Furnival. The film stars Charlton Heston , Jason Robards and John Gielgud . It is the first film version of the play made in color...
(1970) as CiceroCiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief... - 10 Rillington Place (1971)
- Pope JoanPope Joan (1972 film)Pope Joan is a 1972 British drama film based on the story of Pope Joan.. It was directed by Michael Anderson and has a cast which includes Liv Ullmann , Olivia de Havilland, Lesley-Anne Down, Franco Nero and Maximillian Schell....
(1972) - Barry LyndonBarry LyndonBarry Lyndon is a 1975 British-American period romantic war film produced, written, and directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray which recounts the exploits of an 18th century Irish adventurer...
(1975) - The Message (1976)
- The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings (1978 film)J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
(1978) - The First Great Train RobberyThe First Great Train RobberyThe First Great Train Robbery — known in the U.S. as The Great Train Robbery — is a 1979 film directed by Michael Crichton, who also wrote the screenplay based on his novel The Great Train Robbery...
(1979)