Ernest thesiger biography

Ernest Thesiger (Ernest Frederic Graham Thesiger, 1879-1961) was an actor who worked on stage and in film, most famously as Dr Septimus Pretorius in The Bride of Frankenstein.

Life

Ernest was the most colourful and flamboyant of the Thesiger family, which had until then produced lawyers, diplomats and an army officer. His parents intended Ernest to have a career in the civil service, but he wanted to be an artist, and was allowed to train at the Slade School of Fine Art, and for ten years he worked as an artist.

He met there a fellow student, William Ranken, who became an intimate friend.

Ernest thesiger biography

He later married William’s sister, Janette, which so upset William that he shaved off his hair. Although Ernest made no effort to conceal his homosexuality, they remained married until his death; they had no children.

At the Slade he began to take part in amateur dramatics, and, realising he would never be a successful painter, he was soon acting professionally.

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