_-_Ernest_Thesiger_(c._1911).jpg)
Although he made nearly 60 films in a 50-year acting career, it is for the two he made with director 'James Whale , in a production of "The Last Joke". He passed away shortly afterwards, on the eve of his 82nd birthday.
Thesiger originally played the role of Theotocopolous, the anti-technology rabble-rouser, in Things to Come , but he was replaced by Sir Cedric Hardwicke because the latter was considered more marketable.
He was an accomplished watercolor artist and embroiderer (and even published a book entitled Adventures in Embroidery).
He was a great friend (and crochet partner) of Queen Mary and is even said to have based his later appearance on her.
He used to lay lilies at the feet of the handsome doorman at the Savoy Hotel in London.
Alec Guinness recounted in his journal "A Positively Final Appearance" a story about Thesiger, saying he was once stopped by a woman while walking through Picadilly, who asked him, "Didnt you used to be Ernest Thesiger?" To which he replied bluntly, "Still am!" and hurried on.
He was portrayed by actor Arthur Dignam in the 1998 film Gods and Monsters , which is based on the life of his friend James Whale.
He was awarded the CBE in the 1960 Queens Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.
He is interred at Brompton Cemetery in London alongside his father, mother and sister.
His famous role of mad scientist Dr. Pretorius in Bride of Frankenstein (1935) was initially turned down by Bela Lugosi. Universal wanted Claude Rains then to do the part but director James Whale insisted on Thesiger.
He was mentioned in dispatches for his service in World War I.
More than three decades after his death, he appeared in archive footage taken from Bride of Frankenstein (1935) in the opening credits of "Weird Science" . The same was true of Boris Karloff.
His widow Janette passed away in 1970, aged 92.
His first cousin Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford served as the 38th Viceroy of India from April 4, 1916 to April 2, 1921. He was played by John Mills in Gandhi .
First cousin once removed of the explorer and author Wilfred Thesiger.
Lived in what is generally regarded as a lavender marriage with Janette Ranken (1877-1970), the sister of his close friend and fellow Slade graduate William Ranken (1881-1941), who painted Thesigers portrait in 1918. Janette was said to be herself in love with the poet Margaret Jourdain.
Was a lifelong member of the Holy Trinity Church in London and created the Disabled Soldiers Embroidery Industry.
Believed in the power of amulets, and wore jewelry for luck: a pearl necklace, various rings and a jade pendant.
He practiced palmistry and regularly consulted a palmist. Also believed that he could read someones past and sometimes their future by staring at them intently.
Wrote an unpublished memoir, "I Was"; but in 1927, published another: "Practically True".
Anyone with a modicum of intelligence and the right kind of physique,ought to make a film actor, if they are lucky enough to be told exactly,what to do, and I cannot see that the actor for the screen deserves any,more credit than a schoolboy who is good at dictation should have for,writing admirable prose.
There is no occupation in the world so absorbing as trying to paint.
Everything, every worry, is for the moment forgotten in the effort,however unsuccessful, of creating a masterpiece. To the surprise of,many and the horror of some, I have also found great pleasure in,needlework, which, after all, is only another way of making pictures.
