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Sir Felix Aylmer, OBE (February 21, 1889-September 2, 1979), born Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, was a distinguished English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television.
Aylmer was born in Corsham, Wiltshire, England. He served as president of the British actors' trade union Equity from 1949 to 1969. He often worked with Sir Laurence Olivier in Shakepearean films, and often played old wise men, such as Merlin in Knights of the Round Table (1953). He also memorably played the Archbishop of Canterbury in the film adaptation of Becket (1964), with Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.
Aylmer was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1950 Queen's Birthday Honours and knighted in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours. He died in a nursing home in Pyrford, Surrey.
The British character actor Felix Aylmer was educated at Oxford and then later studied drama, making his stage debut at the London Coliseum in 1911. During World War I, he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and later resumed his stage career after the war ended. He entered films in 1930 and stayed in them for the next forty years, specializing in elderly, doddering characters (often clerics). Arguably his most memorable film appearance is that of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944). He is also well-known for his portrayal of Father Anselm in the television series "Oh Brother!" (1968).






