Robert Morley

Was among those offered the cameo part of Cryus West (eventually played by Wilfrid Hyde-White) in The Cat and the Canary (1978).

He allegedly declined a knighthood in the 1975 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.

He got the part of Cedric Page in Topkapi (1964) after Orson Welles had declined it. Before hiring Morley, however, director Jules Dassin interviewed Peter Bull (one of Morley's closest friends) for the part, on the recommendation of Peter Sellers, who had recently worked with Bull in Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964), and was being sought by Dassin for another leading role in the film. Bull later said that he knew as soon as he met Dassin that he had no hope of getting the part, and that Dassin was merely going through the motions to appease Sellers (who later dropped out of the project anyway). When Morley signed for the part, Bull cheekily told him that he'd got it because "I turned down the part months ago.".

He was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1957 Queen's New Year Honours List for his services to drama.

Is one of 13 actors who have received an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a real-life king. The others in chronological order are Charles Laughton for The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), Basil Rathbone for If I Were King (1938), Laurence Olivier for Henry V (1944) and Richard III (1955), José Ferrer for Joan of Arc (1948), Yul Brynner for King and I, The (1956), John Gielgud for Becket (1964), Peter O'Toole for Becket (1964) and The Lion in Winter (1968), Robert Shaw for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Richard Burton for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Kenneth Branagh for Henry V (1989), Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness of King George (1994), and Colin Firth for The King's Speech (2010).

English character actor Robert Morley was educated in England, Germany, France and Italy. His family planned for him to go into the diplomatic service but he liked the idea of acting more. After studying at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London he appeared on the London stage in 1929 and in 1938 he first appeared on Broadway as the lead in Oscar Wilde.