Biography
Ivor Barnard (1887–1953) was an English stage, radio and film actor. He trained at F. R. Benson’s Academy and was an original member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre from its founding in 1913, appearing in Shakespearean roles including Shylock and Caliban. He played the Water Rat in the first London production of A. A. Milne’s Toad of Toad Hall and appeared on Broadway in 1929.
Barnard appeared in more than eighty films between 1921 and 1953. His credits include the political meeting chairman in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (1935), the sarcastic bystander in Pygmalion (1938), Mr. Wemmick in David Lean’s Great Expectations (1946), the workhouse chairman in Oliver Twist (1948) and Major Jack Ross in Beat the Devil (1953). He was married to actress Estelle Van Geuns.
