Aylmer, Felix Edward (1889–1979)

English actor. Although termed a ‘character actor’, his range was extensive, whether typifying the folly of age as Polonius in Lawrence Olivier's Hamlet or the wisdom of experience as Sir Patrick Cullen in Anthony Asquith's The Doctor's Dilemma. He was president of British Actors' Equity 1949–69.

Aylmer was born into a military family and educated at Magdalen College School and Exeter College, Oxford. He debuted at the Coliseum in London with actor and theatre manager Seymour Hicks in 1911, and subsequently joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. After service in World War I, he enjoyed a series of steady successes on stage and screen. He was also a keen Dickens scholar, publishing Dickens Incognito (1959) and The Drood Case (1964).