Russell Thorndike

Infobox Person
name=Russell Thorndike


caption=
birth_date=birth date|1885|2|6|df=y
birth_place=Rochester, Kent, England, UK
death_date=death date and age|1972|11|7|1885|2|6|df=y
death_place=London, England, UK

Arthur Russell Thorndike (1885-1972) was a British actor and novelist, best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels. Lesser known than sister Dame Sybil Thorndike but just as versatile, Russell Thorndike had natural talent but lacked fire, in contrast to his sister. His first love was for the pen and, following service in World War I, he devoted himself more and more to writing.

He was born on February 6 1885 at Rochester, where his father had recently taken the position of canon at Rochester Cathedral. A student at St. Georges School, Windsor Castle, he was a chorister of the Chapel Royal. At his suggestion, both Russell and Sybil (who once aspired to be a concert pianist) tried acting as a career in 1903. They became students at Ben Greets Academy and two years later accompanied fellow members of his company on a North American tour, which included New York. He remained three-and-a-half years with the company, once giving three performances as Hamlet in three different versions of the text on the same day. He also toured in South Africa and Asia.

At around this time he completed his first novel of romantic adventure on Romney Marsh entitled Dr Syn. In 1914 he entered military service. His brother Frank, who once performed on stage, was killed in action and Russell was severely wounded at Gallipoli and discharged. He rejoined Ben Greet's theatre company and his sister at the Old Vic in 1916 where played the Shakespearean classics -- "King John", "Richard II", and "King Lear" (Sybil portrayed the Fool). He also acted with Sybil and her husband, Lewis Casson, in their touring repertory of melodramas. In 1922 he earned applause for his performance in Henrik Ibsen's first professional production of "Peer Gynt" at the Old Vic.

As for film, Russell's appearances were infrequent. He portrayed "Macbeth" (1922) in a silent version of the play opposite Sybil's Lady Macbeth and also played leads in silent versions of other classic plays including "Scrooge" (1923) as Old Ebenezer, and "The School for Scandal" (1923) as Sir Peter Teazle. He ended his film career in minor priest roles for Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" (1948) and "Richard III" (1955). Although Russell appeared on the stage over four decades (including playing his own Dr. Syn character and entertaining audiences as Smee in ten revivals of "Peter Pan"), he felt a deeper fulfilment in writing, which would include the later work "The House of Jeffreys". Thorndike married Rosemary Dowson, a daughter of the well-known actress Rosina Filippi, in 1918. He died on November 7 1972 at the age of 87.