- Born
- Died
- Birth nameNigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- This droll, urbane, dry-witted gent was born Nigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman in London on May 2, 1912. Coming from a family of actors, his parents were actors Charles Wemyss and Dorothy Turner.
Nigel made his stage debut in the 1932 play "The Life Machine" and continued on the stock and repertory stage with "Night of the Garter" (1933), "Daddy Long Legs" (1933), "Half a Crown" (1934), "Ringmaster" (1935), "Roulette (1935), "The Lady of La Paz" (1936), Mademoiselle (1936), "Tony Draws a Horse" (1939) and "Children to Bless You." (1939). During that period, he had a strong hit with the play "George and Margaret" (1937) at the Wyndham's Theatre. These plays established his reputation in stylish plays.
The actor turned to films with an appearance in the crime whodunnit Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard (1940) starring veteran Mary Clare as the famed female detective. WWII interrupted his career, however, and he entered military duty, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel in the infantry. He revived his career on the stage following his war service with a number of productions including "Tomorrow's Child" (1946), "Fools Rush In" (1947), "These Mortals" (as Zeus) (1948) and "Champagne for Delilah" (1949).
Nigel also regained his footing in post-war films with featured roles in Spring in Park Lane (1948) and Uneasy Terms (1948). He then moved into top supports as doubting debonairs and high ranking officials while bolstering such stars as Carole Landis in the crime drama The Silk Noose (1948); John Mills in the war film Operation Disaster (1950); James Mason and Ava Gardner in the drama Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951); Michael Redgrave in The Browning Version (1951) and Ralph Richardson in The Sound Barrier (1952). He also played several leads in such films as The Jack of Diamonds (1949), Young Wives' Tale (1951), The Passionate Sentry (1952), Forbidden Cargo (1954), How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957) (also directed), All for Mary (1955), Sapphire (1959) and Johnny Nobody (1961).
Never abandoning the theatre, Nigel played the title role in "The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1955) and starred in "The Egg" (1957). He also directed the plays "Not in the Book" (1958), Settled Out of Court" (1960), The Geese Are Getting Fat" (1960) and "Past Imperfect" (1964). Of special interest, he directed and starred in well-received productions of "The Pleasure of His Company" (1959) and "Present Laughter" (1965).
On TV, Nigel starred in the British series Zero One (1962), which was briefly syndicated in the U.S. He occasionally found some support movie roles in the 1960's and 1970's with The League of Gentlemen (1960), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960), Battle of Britain (1969), The Virgin Soldiers (1969), The Executioner (1970), The Great Waltz (1972) and The MacKintosh Man (1973). In later years he would be spotted in the plays "Blithe Spirit," "A Suite in Two Keys," "Night Must Fall" and "Avanti!"
Long married (from 1951) to Irish-born actress Beatrice Campbell, who appeared with him in the film dramas Silent Dust (1949) and Wicked Wife (1953). She passed away in 1979 and Nigel joined her a couple of years later in London of lung cancer on September 21, 1981 .- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- SpouseBeatrice Campbell(1951 - May 10, 1979) (her death, 2 children)
- Smoothly Alert
- Personable
- Urbane
- When war broke out in 1939 he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps. His commission was confirmed in the "London Gazette" on 16 February 1940 (serial no. 117838). By the end of the war he had served in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy and risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
- He represented British Actors Equity at the memorial service for Jack Hawkins held at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London on September 14 1973.
- Was reputed to have been offered the role of Prof. Jerusalem Webster Stiles in Raintree County (1957) after the then MGM boss Dore Schary watched his performance as Mr Jingle in the Pickwick Papers (1952) on television in his hotel suite in New York.
- In a poll carried out by the US trade magazine "Motion Picture Herald" he was named by operators of British Film houses as one of the top ten home (British) box office draws of 1952. Bob Hope was the overall top draw when considering all nationalities (he had become a US citizen in 1920). This success was repeated again the following year.
- He and his wife Beatrice Campbell were the face of the Parker Pen Company advertising during the mid-1950s using the slogan "Beatrice Campbell gave Nigel Patrick a Parker '51' for his birthday".
- "My very best investment": That's an easy question - my answer is 32s 6d, spent on a special marriage licence nineteen years ago. For those few shillings I got a pretty girl who became housekeeper, nurse, mother, mistress, companion, secretary, adviser, dresser and washer-woman. And the important thing about this investment was that I never actually spent the 32s 6d - because I was working all hours at the time, my future wife had to get the licence herself!. UK Woman Magazine April 25 1970.
- You have to be slick and fast and not fall over the furniture. - talking about his dual role as director/lead in the stage production of The Best of Friends. November 1969.
- Remarking on how he saw the difference between the US film industry's response to periodic downturn in comparison to that of the British: The difference in the two industries I suppose is that when we have a panic over there it's complete. They start closing down studios and everyone says what are we going to do. Over here you seem to take your panics in stride. Or so its appears. (Ottawa Citizen, 1 May 1956)
- [on stardom] The only criterion by which an actor should be judged is by his work .... If being a star means that people want to know how drunk I can get or what a hell raiser I can be, I don't want to be known as a star. (Winnipeg Free Press, July 28, 1960)
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