British character actor, often seen as military or clubroom types in British films and on television. Trained at RADA, where his classmates included
Ida Lupino,
Anthony Quayle,
Vivien Leigh and
Trevor Howard. Had a long career as a voice actor in radio drama from the 1930's. He won the Daily Mirror's National Radio Award as outstanding radio actor for 1952-53. He was cast in the part of Dr. Watson in the TV series
Sherlock Holmes (1954) on the strength of his voice work for the BBC Home Service on "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" in 1948.