ACTOR · BORN 1902 · DIED 1968
Donald Wolfit
- Born
- 20 April 1902
- Died
- 17 February 1968
13 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (13)
- #001
Donald Wolfit harboured a particular hatred for Sir John Gielgud; Gielgud claimed he always worried that 'now he has enough money to hire someone to kill me' whenever Wolfit scored a great success. Wolfit was said to have never been able to pronounce Gielgud's name 'without a hiss'. The two men nevertheless worked together on the film Becket, and neither side was wounded.
- #002
Although Sir Donald was a very good actor, he was also quite arrogant and always surrounded himself with inexperienced or lesser-talented actors, so that he would remain at the centre of the stage without his role ever being challenged by a better performer.
- #003
His third wife, Rosalind, appeared alongside Donald on Broadway in 1947: she played Cordelia to his Lear, Rosalind to his Touchstone, Portia to his Shylock and Ophelia to his Hamlet.
- #004
He appeared in three films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Room at the Top (1958), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Becket (1964). Of these, only Lawrence of Arabia (1962) won in that category.
- #005
Although he was often accused of deliberately hiring mediocre actors for his theatre company so that he could overshadow them, many distinguished theatre figures in fact got their first opportunities under his management. These included Harold Pinter, Joan Greenwood, Eric Porter, Ronald Fraser and Alun Owen, most of whom spoke of him with praise after becoming famous.
- #006
His daughter Margaret Wolfit, with Chris Castor, was also a successful stage actress.
- #007
Though good, he was often mocked as a 'ham actor' because his company was filled with ordinary actors who could not overshadow the star. He gave his name to the 'Wolfit' character played by Spike Milligan in the groundbreaking 1950s radio comedy 'The Goon Show'; Milligan repeated the character in the 1956 film The Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn (1956), in which a silent actor who is 'resting' mistakenly enters a police station instead of the employment exchange.
- #008
He was made a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the 1950 Queen's New Year Honours and received a Knight Bachelor in the 1957 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to drama.
- #009
His father was an accountant.
- #010
He took his first job teaching at a preparatory school in Eastbourne.
- #011
Sir Donald's first professional acting job came in the 1920s, in the company of Charles Doran, a now-forgotten actor-manager. Sir Ralph Richardson also began in the same company at the same time. The two future actor-knights were not friends.
- #012
Harold Pinter played a knight in his company's production of King Lear.
- #013
His wife, Rosalind Iden, was the leading lady in most of his plays.
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