Robert Morley

A jovial comic figure who could equally convincingly erupt into rage, Morley portrayed several more royal or aristocratic types, including King George III, in "Beau Brummel" (1954); Louis XI, in "Quentin Durward" (1955); and the Earl of Manchester, in "Cromwell" (1970). Other real-life figures he played were Charles James Fox, in "The Young Mr. Pitt" (1942); Oscar Hammerstein, in "Melba" (1953); and W.S. Gilbert, in "Gilbert and Sullivan" (1953). A cultivated, erudite presence, Morley imposed a distinctive stamp both on his more serious films and on campy vehicles like "Theatre of Blood" (1973). In this cult classic, he played a pompous theater critic gruesomely dispatched by a Shakespearean actor (Vincent Price) whom he had panned.