Hugh Emrys Griffith

British actor

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Last Updated: May 10, 2025 • Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: May 30, 1912, Anglesey, Wales

Died:: May 14, 1980, London (aged 67)

Awards And Honors:: Academy Award (1960); Academy Award (1960): Actor in a Supporting Role

Married To:: Adelgunde Margaret Beatrice von Dechend

Movies/Tv Shows (Acted In):: "The Counterfeit Traitor" (1962); "London Belongs to Me" (1948); "Cugini carnali" (1974); "The Three Weird Sisters" (1948); "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" (1971); "Playhouse 90" (1959); "The Passover Plot" (1976); "Wuthering Heights" (1970); "The Beggar's Opera" (1953); "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (1971); "Comedy Playhouse" (1963); "Exodus" (1960); "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" (1979); "The Day They Robbed the Bank of England" (1960); "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1978); "The Fixer" (1968); "Passage Home" (1955); "Orson Welles' Great Mysteries" (1973); "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" (1967); "Omnibus" (1959); "The DuPont Show of the Month" (1960); "ITV Play of the Week" (1959); "The Galloping Major" (1951); "Lux Video Theatre" (1952); "Saturday Special" (1953); "Term of Trial" (1962); "Clochemerle" (1972); "Luther" (1974); "The Inspector" (1962); "Dr. Phibes Rises Again" (1972); "So Evil My Love" (1948); "The Poppy Is Also a Flower" (1966); "Dr. Morelle: The Case of the Missing Heiress" (1949); "Joseph Andrews" (1977); "Legend of the Werewolf" (1975); "Play of the Week" (1959); "Lights Out" (1952); "The Sailor from Gibraltar" (1967); "Craze" (1974); "Che?" (1972); "A Run for Your Money" (1949); "ABC Stage 67" (1966); "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949); "Il marito è mio e l'ammazzo quando mi pare" (1968); "The Sleeping Tiger" (1954); "La cintura di castità" (1967); "The Last Remake of Beau Geste" (1977); "Thames Tug" (1953); "A Legacy" (1975); "Armchair Theatre" (1957); "Tom Jones" (1963); "The Good Companions" (1957); "The Last Days of Dolwyn" (1949); "Dow Hour of Great Mysteries" (1960); "Brown Eye, Evil Eye" (1967); "Goodyear Television Playhouse" (1952); "Crescete e moltiplicatevi" (1973); "Lucky Jim" (1957); "The Final Programme" (1973); "BBC Sunday-Night Theatre" (1955); "The Wild Heart" (1952); "Cry of the Banshee" (1970); "The Walrus and the Carpenter" (1965); "Oliver!" (1968); "Laughter in Paradise" (1951); "Quatermass II" (1955); "Colonel March of Scotland Yard" (1955); "The Bargee" (1964); "The Titfield Thunderbolt" (1953); "Casanova & Co." (1977); "Thirty-Minute Theatre" (1971–1972); "How to Steal a Million" (1966); "The Silver Darlings" (1947); "I racconti di Canterbury" (1972); "Owen, M.D." (1973); "Ben-Hur" (1959); "Take Me High" (1973); "The First Gentleman" (1948); "Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents" (1953); "The Story on Page One" (1959); "Hide and Seek" (1964); "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" (1965); "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962); "Back to Methuselah" (1952); "Gone to Earth" (1950); "Start the Revolution Without Me" (1970)

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Hugh Emrys Griffith (born May 30, 1912, Anglesey, Wales—died May 14, 1980, London) was a British actor who won an Oscar from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences for his role in Ben Hur (1959) and brought energy and ebullience to such character parts as Professor Welch in Lucky Jim (1957) and Squire Western in Tom Jones (1963). Although as a film actor his comedy had a savage bite that raised it above the level of slapstick, it was on stage that he was able to exhibit the full range of his talent.

After army service during World War II, Griffith joined the Shakespeare Company (now the Royal Shakespeare Company) and appeared in many notable productions, including Love’s Labour’s Lost, Dr. Faustus, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. He played King Lear in 1949 and Falstaff in 1964, the latter perhaps his most memorable performance. He also won much acclaim for his roles in Jean Anouilh’s The Waltz of the Toreadors in 1956 and the New York City production of Look Homeward, Angel in the following year. Griffith, who began his career as a bank clerk, was made an honorary doctor of literature of the University of Wales in 1965.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.