Griffith Jones was born in 1909 in Lincoln. He was a stalwart of British films in the 1940’s. His movies include “The Wicked Lady” in 1945 with Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Roc and “Miranda” in 1948 with Glynis Johns. He also had a major stage career. He was the father of actors Gemma Jones and Nicholas Jones. He died in 2007 at the age of 97.
Alan Strachan’s “Independent” obituary:
In an unusually long theatrical lifetime Griffith Jones’s career ran a remarkable gamut from early London prominence, as a strikingly handsome jeune premier blessed with commanding stage presence and a rich voice, through appearances with John Gielgud and in Noël Coward musicals to West End and Broadway stardom, alongside success in British movies, to a later career in a radically altered post-war theatre – and then into a glorious Indian summer with the Royal Shakespeare Company in his final active years, allying him with a new wave of directors.
He was born Harold Jones in London in 1909, to a Welsh-speaking former lead miner who ran a dairy business. He was “headhunted” for a stage career by Sir Kenneth Barnes, Principal of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, who had seen him in a drama society production at University College London, where Jones had begun a degree in Law. He made his first professional appearance at the enterprising off-West End Embassy Theatre in Carpet Slippers (1930) while still at Rada (he was Gold Medallist in 1932 – although his initially disapproving father still referred to him as “a chorus boy”).
After making his West End début as the Narrator in an adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Vile Bodies (Vaudeville, 1932), Griffith Jones – as he now styled himself – was rarely out of work throughout the 1930s. He appeared as Montague in Richard of Bordeaux (New, 1932), Gordon Daviot’s chronicle play centred round Richard II in which John Gielgud was catapulted to major commercial stardom; and as Weyland alongside Laurence Olivier in one of the most original plays of its era, Keith Winter’s The Rats of Norway (Playhouse, 1933).
One of the biggest successes of the decade, Margaret Kennedy’s romantic saga of edelweiss and dirndl Escape Me Never (Apollo, 1933), lavishly produced by C.B. Cochran to launch the international career of the Viennese star Elisabeth Bergner, saw Jones make a deep impression as the staunch Caryl Sanger, repeating the performance on Broadway in 1935 with similar success.
On his return, his London career continued to flourish with appearances in a signally dark Rodney Ackland comedy After October (Criterion, 1936) and opposite another great Viennese star, Fritzi Massary, in Coward’s musical Operette (His Majesty’s, 1938), a somewhat confusingly bifurcated tale alternating between society drawing-rooms and backstage scenes; Jones recalled the Manchester try-out mainly for the sight of hundreds of matches being struck in the auditorium by bewildered playgoers consulting their programme scenarios in an attempt to find out where they were.
By this period Jones had also begun to establish a strong reputation in British film. After his début in The Faithful Heart (1932) he had good opportunities in A Yank at Oxford (1938), as Orlov in Alexander Korda’s decidedly overblown Catherine the Great (1934) and in the larky cross-dressing First a Girl (1935) with Jessie Matthews. He humanised a somewhat flatly written role as Michael Redgrave’s more conventional brother, competing for the love of Valerie Hobson, in Atlantic Ferry (1940), with Emeric Pressburger’s screenplay shamelessly lifting its plot from Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons.
After serving in the Army between 1940 and 1945 (touring England in a concert party), Jones returned to the London stage in a long-running, sumptuous Wildean revival, giving a performance of stylish aplomb as Lord Darlington in Lady Windermere’s Fan (Haymarket, 1945). A return to Coward saw him in another period piece, the reworking of the plot of Private Lives into the Victorian-set Quadrille (Phoenix, 1952) in which Joyce Carey and Jones, as the Marquess of Heronden, played opposite the Broadway stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
In a changing 1950s theatrical landscape Jones found fewer London opportunities, often touring – he played a memorably gritty Archie Rice in The Entertainer (1958) – or in regional repertory theatres, particularly enjoying the chance to play a barnstorming Long John Silver in Treasure Island (Newcastle, 1962). In the short-lived West End run of Jean Anouilh’s The Cavern (Strand, 1965) Jones for the first time had the chance to appear with his daughter Gemma (named after the heroine of Escape Me Never), early in her own theatrical career.
A keen Shavian, he also appreciated the role of the love-stricken Ridgeon in a sturdy revival of The Doctor’s Dilemma (Comedy, 1966), after which he enterprisingly took himself to Nottingham for a trailblazing 1973 Playhouse season that included the premiere of the Howard Brenton/David Hare play Brassneck, with Jones in vintage form as James Avon.
He made his first Royal Shakespeare Company appearance in a strong Stratford season in which he played a hauntingly resonant Ghost in Buzz Goodbody’s legendary small-scale Hamlet with Ben Kingsley, and Stanley in a rare revival of Perkin Warbeck (both the Other Place, 1975). Over the next quarter of a century his RSC track record covered new plays and revivals alongside Shakespeare, bringing him into contact with a whole new generation of actors, designers and directors; his position in the company as a distinguished senior member became unmatched and he was both respected and loved by his many younger collaborators.
The astonishing record of Jones’s work for the RSC must include his unusually strong Duncan in the revelatory Macbeth (Warehouse, 1977 and Young Vic, 1978) directed by Trevor Nunn with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench; Antigonus in John Barton’s sombre production of The Winter’s Tale (Stratford, 1976); Egeus in Nunn’s joyous celebration of The Comedy of Errors (Stratford, 1976); and a Chebutykin of heart-stopping pathos in Three Sisters, another of Nunn’s supreme productions (The Other Place and Warehouse, 1979).
He was, appositely, part of the marvellous RSC ensemble making up Nicholas Nickleby (Aldwych, 1980), in which his run of parts included a delightful sketch of Fluggers, and he was also part of the first RSC company at the Barbican when he played the Lord Chief Justice in Nunn’s scrutiny of both Henry IV plays (1982).
Inevitably Jones shared some of the company’s lows as well as the triumphs. He was well cast as Rainbow in the vintage John Dighton public-school farce The Happiest Days of Your Life (1984) but the play, in a rickety production, sat most uneasily on the Barbican stage, while even such finely etched performances as Jones’s D’Estaing in Pam Gems’s The Danton Affair (Barbican, 1986) could not redeem a misbegotten venture.
Sam Mendes’s production of Troilus and Cressida (Swan, 1990 and Pit, 1991) was launched in impressive style by Jones’s Priam, which was followed by the Old Man in King Lear (Stratford, 1990, and Barbican, 1991) with John Wood directed by Nicholas Hytner.
Other rising directors for whom Jones worked included David Thacker – the Volscian Senator in Coriolanus (Stratford and Barbican, 1994) – and Steven Pimlott: a vivid Abhorson in Measure for Measure (Stratford, 1994, and Barbican, 1995). He reprised Priam in a terrible jock-strapped gym-bunny version of Troilus and Cressida (Barbican, 1996) but had more luck as a loyal Tubal in The Merchant of Venice (Stratford, 1997), one of Gregory Doran’s first major RSC productions.
Although his crowded theatrical diary meant that Jones never was able to develop a major television career, still he managed to fit in alongside small-screen versions of Nicholas Nickleby and Macbeth appearances in such series as The Avengers, The Lotus Eaters and Fall of Eagles. Other films included Miranda (1948) opposite Glynis Johns’s entrancing mermaid-minx; the Gainsborough Films classic of the heaving-bosom Regency genre The Wicked Lady (1945), opposite Margaret Lockwood; the tense naval drama of mine-laden waters The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954); and Not Wanted On Voyage (1957).
Jones happily launched an acting dynasty too. Alongside Gemma, his son Nicholas Jones has also built up a most distinguished career; appropriately both have made memorable appearances for the RSC.
Alan Strachan
The above “Independent” obituary can also be accessed online here.
His career is a remarkable study in transition: he began as a matinee idol of the 1930s, evolved into a “cool” and often morally ambiguous leading man in the 1940s, and eventually became the elder statesman of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).
Career Overview: The Three Acts of an Actor
Act I: The RADA Gold Medalist (1930s)
Jones was a standout talent from the start, winning the prestigious Bancroft Gold Medal at RADA. His early career was defined by his “chiseled” looks and a sophisticated stage presence. He starred in high-profile West End productions and early films like Catherine the Great (1934) and Escape Me Never (1935).
Act II: The “Noir” Leading Man (1940s–1950s)
Following his service in the British Army during WWII, Jones returned to a film industry that was moving toward darker, more cynical themes. He found his niche playing men who were polished on the outside but often flawed, criminal, or emotionally detached on the inside. This era peaked with the classic “They Made Me a Fugitive” (1947) and the Gainsborough melodrama “The Wicked Lady” (1945).
Act III: The RSC Patriarch (1970s–2000s)
In a move that surprised many who knew him only as a film star, Jones dedicated the final 30 years of his life to the Royal Shakespeare Company. He became a fixture at Stratford-upon-Avon, playing “wise old man” roles in everything from Hamlet to The Merchant of Venice, performing well into his 90s.
Detailed Critical Analysis: The “Polished Surface”
1. The Aesthetic of the “Cold Hero”
In the 1940s, Jones was the master of what critics called “icy charm.” Unlike the warmth of Phyllis Calvert or the “common” appeal of Patricia Roc, Jones projected an aristocratic distance.
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Analysis: In They Made Me a Fugitive, he plays Clem Morgan, an ex-RAF officer drawn into the black market. Critics praised him for portraying a “hero” who wasn’t necessarily likable. He used a clipped, precise vocal delivery and a stiff, upright posture that suggested a man trying to maintain his dignity while his world collapsed. This “stiff upper lip” was a hallmark of the post-war British psychological thriller.
2. The Foil to the “Wicked Lady”
In The Wicked Lady, Jones played Sir Ralph Skelton—the stable, dull husband to Margaret Lockwood’s explosive Barbara.
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Critical Insight: While Lockwood stole the headlines, Jones provided the essential social anchor. His performance is a masterclass in playing the “straight man” in a melodrama. He managed to make “decency” feel palpable and tragic rather than boring, providing the moral contrast that made Lockwood’s rebellion so shocking to audiences.
3. The “Stage-to-Screen” Translation
Because he was a classically trained RADA medalist, Jones brought a theatrical precision to the camera.
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Technical Analysis: Unlike “naturalist” actors who focused on small tics, Jones’s acting was built on clarity of intent. In his 1950s work, such as The Sea Shall Not Have Them (1954), he used his voice as a musical instrument, commanding attention through tone and pacing. This made him a favorite of directors who wanted “stature” in their films.
4. The Longest Transition: The RSC Years
His late-career move to the RSC is one of the most respected “second acts” in British acting history.
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Critical View: By moving from “Leading Man” to “Character Actor,” Jones proved his ego was secondary to his craft. Critics noted that his decades of film experience gave his Shakespearean roles a quiet, un-theatrical gravity. He didn’t need to shout to be heard; he had the “stills” of a film star paired with the lungs of a stage veteran.
Key Credits & Legacy Highlights
| Year | Title | Role | Note |
| 1945 | The Wicked Lady | Sir Ralph Skelton | The definitive Gainsborough husband role. |
| 1947 | They Made Me a Fugitive | Clem Morgan | His finest hour in British Film Noir. |
| 1948 | Look Before You Love | Charles de Guesclin | Showcased his “sophisticated villainy.” |
| 1975 | Hamlet (RSC) | The Ghost / Player King | Transitioned to a legendary RSC patriarch. |
| 1999 | The Winter’s Tale(RSC) | Old Shepherd | Performing at age 90 with the vigor of a much younger man. |
Griffith Jones was the “Architect of Dignity.” Whether he was playing a criminal, a husband, or a King, he brought a specific, high-status intelligence to the screen and stage. He remains a symbol of the “Total Actor”—someone who could master the commercial requirements of the Gainsborough era while never losing his devotion to the classical roots of the theatre
