James Villiers

Character actor James Villiers was of an aristocratic background - you could half tell, not only from his sardonic looks and precisely modulated voice, but from the roles he played. More often than not, he was typecast as a snobbish, supercilious upper-class twit, effete weakling or comic second-string villain. A graduate of RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), his first major appearance on stage was in a 1954 West End production of "Toad of Toad Hall". During the following years, he expanded his repertoire at the Old Vic with performances of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" and "Richard III", also touring on Broadway. During his extensive theatrical career, he acted in plays by Noël Coward (including a critically-acclaimed performance in "Private Lives" in 1972), Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, and, just prior to his death, played "Mr. Brownlow" in "Oliver!" at the London Palladium. In the 1960's, James Villiers was featured in several films by Joseph Losey, most notably T