--- name: "Emlyn Williams" canonical: "https://film.one/person/emlyn-williams" roles: ["Actor"] born: "26 November 1905" died: "25 September 1987" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 72 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-20T02:18:25.012537+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Emlyn Williams Actor. Born 26 November 1905 in Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales, UK. Died 25 September 1987. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 26 November 1905, Mostyn, Flintshire, Wales, UK - **Died:** 25 September 1987 - **Active:** 1938–1952 - **Also known as:** Эмлин Уильямс, George Emlyn Williams - **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 74 (1), 1950s 70 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emlyn_Williams, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q581262, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0930539/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/66884 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*Ivanhoe*](https://film.one/film/ivanhoe.md) (70) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Emlyn Williams > A playwright who acted, Emlyn Williams spent his screen career in other people's films and other people's supporting parts, and he made small ones count: a jester's patter, a face in a Welsh village. The big work was on the stage, and the films know it. Watch Emlyn Williams's Wamba in *Ivanhoe* (1952). Richard Thorpe's film is a Saturday adventure with no patience for a fool, and Williams knows it, so he plays the jester as a music-hall turn, rattling the lines out before anyone can object and getting more of them to land than they deserve. It is the habit of a man who wrote lines for a living. He knows exactly how much weight a joke will carry and never asks it to carry more. He was a playwright first. He began in London in 1927 writing and acting in his own plays, and the breakthrough was *Night Must Fall* (1935), in which he wrote himself a murderer and then played him. *The Corn Is Green* (1938) followed, a semi-autobiographical piece that went to Broadway and then to film. The screen took him in from the early 1930s, usually in support and usually, the casting directors having looked at him once, as the loyal companion or the put-upon working man. *The Citadel* (1938) is the better film and the better use of him. King Vidor's valley scenes belong to Robert Donat and Ralph Richardson, two clever men arguing about a sewer, and Williams's Owen, alongside Francis L. Sullivan's Ben Chenkin, does the humbler job of making the village look lived in rather than built. He also contributed dialogue to the film, and the valley is the part of it that talks like a place; London, later, talks like a sermon. We found that first hour more affecting than a film about public health had any right to be, and part of it is Williams, a Welshman himself, standing at the edge of the frame like a man who has lived on that street since birth. The film borrows his ease and does not give it back. From 1952 he toured alone as Charles Dickens, reading the novels aloud, and it is the work for which he is best remembered. He worked twice with Alfred Hitchcock and gave Richard Burton his start. The one fair reservation anyone makes about him is that his best work was written rather than acted, and written for the stage. On film he is the man in the second row who makes the first row look real. Seek him out in *The Citadel*, and let *Ivanhoe* be the one you find him in by accident. ## Biography Emlyn Williams, born George Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh actor, dramatist and writer. He was born on 26 November 1905 in Mostyn, Flintshire, and died on 25 September 1987. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he began his stage career in the late 1920s and achieved success as a playwright with *Night Must Fall* (1935) and *The Corn Is Green* (1938). Williams appeared in numerous films, including *The Citadel* (1938) as Owen, for which he also contributed additional dialogue, *Jamaica Inn* (1939) as Harry, *Ivanhoe* (1952) as Wamba, *Another Man's Poison* (1951) as Dr Henderson, *The Wreck of the Mary Deare* (1959) as Sir Wilfred Falcett, and *The L-Shaped Room* (1962) as Dr Weaver. He also wrote screenplays and directed *The Last Days of Dolwyn* (1949). He was appointed CBE in 1962 and became known for one-man stage shows portraying Charles Dickens. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, britannica.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Ivanhoe* (1952), Fi1m 70, as Wamba — [page](https://film.one/film/ivanhoe.md) - *The Citadel* (1938), Fi1m 74, as Owen — [page](https://film.one/film/the-citadel.md) ## Complete filmography (57) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *National Theatre Live: The Corn Is Green* (2022), Writer - *King Ralph* (1991), Novel - *Past Caring* (1986), as Edward - *The Deadly Game* (1982), as Bernard Laroque - *The Corn Is Green* (1979), Theatre Play, Writer - *The Power of Dawn* (1976), Writer - *Rumpole of the Bailey* (1975), series, as Harold Brittling - *The Walking Stick* (1970), as Jack Foil - *David Copperfield* (1969), as Mr. Dick - *Eye of the Devil* (1966), as Alain de Montfaucon - *BBC Play of the Month* (1965), series, Theatre Play - *The Great War* (1964), series, as Lloyd George (voice) - *Theatre 625* (1964), series, as The Yob, Eotvoes, Counsel for the Defence - *Night Must Fall* (1964), Theatre Play - *The L-Shaped Room* (1962), as Dr. Weaver - *The Wreck of the Mary Deare* (1959), as Sir Wilfred Falcett - *Play of the Week* (1959), series, Writer - *Web of Evidence* (1959), as Enoch Oswald - *I Accuse!* (1958), as Emile Zola - *Time Without Pity* (1957), Theatre Play - *The Corn is Green* (1956), Writer - *The Deep Blue Sea* (1955), as Sir William Collyer - *Ivanhoe* (1952), as Wamba — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/ivanhoe.md) - *The Magic Box* (1952), as Bank Manager - *Another Man's Poison* (1951), as Dr. Henderson - *The Scarf* (1951), as Dr. David Dunbar - *Three Husbands* (1950), as Maxwell Bard - *The Last Days of Dolwyn* (1949), as Rob · Director, Screenplay - *The Corn Is Green* (1945), Theatre Play - *Life Begins at Eight-Thirty* (1942), Writer - *Hatter's Castle* (1942), as Dennis - *This England* (1941), as Appleyard · Dialogue - *Major Barbara* (1941), as Snobby Prince - *You Will Remember* (1941), as Bob Slater - *Girl in the News* (1940), as Tracy - *The Stars Look Down* (1940), as Joe Gowlan - *Jamaica Inn* (1939), as Harry - *They Drive by Night* (1938), as Shorty Matthews - *The Citadel* (1938), as Owen · Additional Dialogue — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/the-citadel.md) - *Night Alone* (1938), as Charles Seaton - *Dead Men Tell No Tales* (1938), as Dr. Headlam - *Night Must Fall* (1937), Theatre Play - *I, Claudius* (1937), as Caligula - *Broken Blossoms* (1936), as Chen Huan · Writer - *The Divine Spark* (1935), Adaptation - *City of Beautiful Nonsense* (1935), as Jack Grey - *The Dictator* (1935), as King Christian VII of Danmark - *The Man Who Knew Too Much* (1934), Additional Dialogue - *The Iron Duke* (1934), as Bates - *Road House* (1934), as Chester - *Evensong* (1934), as George Leary - *My Song for You* (1934), as Theodore Bruckner - *Evergreen* (1934), Adaptation - *Friday the Thirteenth* (1933), as William Blake · Dialogue - *Sally Bishop* (1932), as Arthur Montague - *Men of Tomorrow* (1932), as Horners - *The Frightened Lady* (1932), as Lord Lebanon ## Gallery - ![Emly Williams at home in London (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/1230599/gallery-35e6315a537f.jpg) Emly Williams at home in London (2011) — Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Emlyn_Williams_2_allan_warren.jpg/1280px-Emlyn_Williams_2_allan_warren.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Emlyn Williams in his home in Chelsea, London (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/1230599/gallery-ccf0e8df023b.jpg) Emlyn Williams in his home in Chelsea, London (2011) — Allan Warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Emlyn_Williams_3_allan_warren.jpg/1280px-Emlyn_Williams_3_allan_warren.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Emlyn Williams](https://film.one/media/person/1230599/gallery-fc64bcad6106.jpg) Emlyn Williams — Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Emlyn_Williams.jpg/1280px-Emlyn_Williams.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) ## Awards ### Other awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play 1958: Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play (nominated) *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/emlyn-williams