Sir Felix Aylmer OBE
Felix Aylmer, 1973
Born	Felix Edward Aylmer Jones (1889-02-21)21 February 1889 Corsham,Wiltshire, England
Died	2 September 1979(1979-09-02) (aged 90) Pyrford,Surrey, England
Years active	1911–1979
Spouse	Cecily Byrne ​ ​ (m. 1915; died 1975)​
Children	3

Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such asWill Hay andGeorge Formby.

Felix Edward Aylmer Jones was born inCorsham,Wiltshire, the second of six children (five sons and a daughter) of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Aylmer Jones, of theRoyal Engineers, and his wife Lilian, née Cookworthy.^[1] He was educated atKing James's Grammar School, Almondbury, nearHuddersfield, where he was a boarder from 1897 to 1900,^[2]Magdalen College School, andExeter College, Oxford, where he was a member ofOxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS).^[1] He trained under theVictorian-era actress and director Rosina Filippi before securing his first professional engagement at theLondon Coliseum in 1911.^[1] He appeared in the world premiere ofThe Farmer's Wife byEden Phillpotts at theBirmingham Repertory Theatre in 1917. Between 1917 and 1919 he served as a junior officer in theRoyal Naval Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V.R.).

He acted withSir Laurence Olivier inShakespearean films, appearing as Polonius inHamlet (1948), and often played wise old men, such asMerlin inKnights of the Round Table (1953). He played the Archbishop of Canterbury in the film adaptation ofBecket (1964), withRichard Burton andPeter O'Toole and gave elocution lessons to the youngAudrey Hepburn.^[3]

His memorable style of delivery—dignified and learned—^[4] was frequently mimicked by comedians such asPeter Sellers andKenneth Williams. Indeed, as dramatist and barristerJohn Mortimer noted, the mannerisms Aylmer brought to bear in his roles came to be imitated in real life by judges on thebench.^[5] Williams observed that although his impersonation of Aylmer was a speciality during his days withENSA, the Armed Forces Entertainment Association, he came to the conclusion that none of the troops knew who was being impersonated.

Aylmer was President ofEquity from 1950 to 1969. He was made an Officer of theOrder of the British Empire^[6] in the1950 King's Birthday Honours andknighted^[7][8] in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours.

He was also the narrator in the original version (and recobbled cut) ofRichard Williams' unfinished animated project,The Thief and the Cobbler (1993).

At the age of 80 Felix Aylmer played a villain in an episode ofRandall and Hopkirk (Deceased) entitled "It's Supposed to be Thicker than Water". His last major screen role was as the Abbot in the sitcomOh, Brother!, oppositeDerek Nimmo (1968–70). He appeared as a doctor in an episode of the TV seriesJason King called "If It's Got To Go, It's Got To Go" in 1972, at the age of 83.

Aylmer lived inPainshill House inCobham, Surrey^[9] and died in a nursing home inPyrford on 2 September 1979, at the age of 90.^[1]

He married Cecily Minnie Jane Byrne during the First World War, and they had three children.^[1]

• Dickens Incognito (1959)
• The Drood Case (1964)

• The Inca of Perusalem (1916)
• The Farmer's Wife (1917)
• The Likes of Her (1923)
• The Terror (1927)
• Badger's Green (1930)
• Spider's Web (1954)

• Felix Aylmer atIMDb
• Performances in the theatre archive, University of Bristol
• Felix Aylmer at theInternet Broadway Database

• 1889 births
• 1979 deaths
• Military personnel from Wiltshire
• Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford
• English male voice actors
• English male film actors
• English male stage actors
• People from Corsham
• English male Shakespearean actors
• Knights Bachelor
• Actors awarded knighthoods
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire
• People educated at King James's School, Almondbury
• 20th-century English male actors
• Royal Navy officers of World War I
• Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I
• Male actors from Wiltshire

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