Kenneth Griffith

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Not to be confused with Ken Griffiths.
For the South African cricketer, see Kenneth Griffith (cricketer).

Kenneth Griffith
Griffith in the 1976 BBC production Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
Born
Kenneth Reginald Griffiths

(1921-10-12)12 October 1921
Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales
Died25 June 2006(2006-06-25) (aged 84)
London, England
Occupation(s)Actor, television producer, television presenter
Years active1937–2003
Spouse(s)Joan Stock (divorced)
Doria Noar (divorced)
Carol Hagar (divorced)
Children5

Kenneth Griffith (born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths, 12 October 1921 – 25 June 2006) was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker. His outspoken views made him a controversial figure, especially when presenting documentaries which have been called "among the most brilliant, and controversial, ever made in Britain".[1]

Early life

He was born Kenneth Griffiths in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales. His parents separated and left Tenby six months after his birth, leaving him with his paternal grandparents, Emily and Ernest, who adopted him. His grandparents were staunch Wesleyan Methodists who taught him to question everything;[2] he attended the local Wesleyan Methodist chapel three times every Sunday, and became a lively rugby union scrum-half.[1]

He passed the

11-plus and attended Greenhill Grammar School in Tenby, where he met English literature teacher Evelyn Ward, who recognised his writing and acting talent. Before Kenneth left school, his headmaster J. T. Griffith suggested that he drop the "s" from his surname so it would sound less English.[3]

Career

Griffith left school and moved to

Cambridge Festival Theatre.[3]

He became a regular jobbing repertory actor, making his West End theatre debut in 1938 with a small part in Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday.[2]

Griffith was conscripted into the Royal Air Force during World War II. Before training in Canada, he returned to see his grandparents in Tenby, who, at his request, gave him an English translation of Hitler's book, Mein Kampf so he could better understand the origins of the war.[3] He caught scarlet fever while on his training and was invalided out of the service in 1942, which resulted in his taking up stamp collecting. The first stamp he collected was the Siege of Ladysmith, South Africa.[2][3]

In 1941, he made his debut in the first of more than 80 films, being

Old Vic,[2] and in repertory.[4]

He appeared in many British films between the 1940s and 1980s, notably as Archie Fellows in

paedophile Seely in Revenge (1971), the gay medic Witty in The Wild Geese (1978) and a whimsical mechanic in The Sea Wolves (1980).[6][4]

He appeared in the episodes "The Girl Who Was Death" and "Fall Out" of the 1967–68 TV series The Prisoner.[5] Subsequent TV appearances included episodes of Minder and Lovejoy, and critically acclaimed performances in War and Peace (1963), The Perils of Pendragon, Clochemerle and The Bus to Bosworth, where his personification of a Welsh schoolteacher out on a field trip won him many accolades back in his homeland of Wales.[7][8]

His later film roles included the "mad old man" in

The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995) and the minister in Very Annie Mary (2001).[5]

Documentaries and political activity

In 1965,

Napoleon Bonaparte (The Man on the Rock), Pandit Nehru, Roger Casement (Heart of Darkness, 1992) and on one occasion a film commissioned by Thames Television on the story of the Three Wise Men of the New Testament, A Famous Journey (1979). Griffith was expelled from Iran by the country's Foreign Minister while making the documentary.[4][9]

In 1973, Griffith made a documentary film about the life and death of Irish military and political leader

ATV, but the Independent Broadcasting Authority did not permit it to be screened (it was not shown until the BBC broadcast it in 1993).[10]

In 1974, for a programme titled Curious Journey, he interviewed nine surviving IRA members from the 1916–23 period, i.e. the

Tom Barry. He was allowed to buy this last film back, as long as he did not mention who had commissioned it (the Welsh TV company HTV). At one point in his career, Griffith accused the anti-censorship group Index of censoring him by delaying the publication of two book reviews he had written for its magazine.[1]

His sympathetic portrayal caused some concern, given

Thames TV. The political troubles left him "a frustrated and bemused figure". Screenonline described Griffith as "a world class documentary film-maker" who knew that "refusing to compromise his views has damaged his career".[11]

His autobiography, The Fool's Pardon, was published in 1994 by

BAFTA.[13]

A

BBC2 documentary on runner Zola Budd, which purported to reveal injustices done to her by left-wing demonstrators and organisations during a tour of England in 1988.[14][15]

He named his home (110 Englefield Road, Islington, London) as Michael Collins' House. In later life, Griffith said: "In my time I've been accused of being a Marxist, a fascist, a traitor and, probably worst in most people's eyes, inconsistent. I was a radical Socialist. I'm now a radical Tory. It has been a very painful journey".[2]

Personal life

Griffith was married and divorced three times, and had five children:[1][3][16]

  • Joan Stock (one son)
  • Doria Noar (one daughter, actress/theatre historian Eva Griffith[17])
  • Carole Hagar (one daughter, two sons)

Death and burial

Griffith died in London on 25 June 2006, aged 84. His coffin was decorated with the flags of Wales, Israel and the Irish tricolour. Griffith was interred beside his grandparents, Emily and Ernest in the churchyard adjoining St Nicholas and St Teilo Church in Penally.[10]

Legacy

Tenby Museum and Art Gallery in Pembrokeshire houses an archive of Griffith's papers and documentaries, and a cabinet containing a collection of personal memorabilia.[18]

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c d Barker, Dennis (27 June 2006). "Kenneth Griffith". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Kenneth Griffith obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 27 June 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Kenneth Griffith". The Independent. 27 June 2006. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d "BFI Screenonline: Griffith, Kenneth (1921-2006) Biography". screenonline.org.uk.
  5. ^ a b c "Kenneth Griffith". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017.
  6. ^ Arnold, Gary (14 November 1978). "'The Wild Geese': Betrayal of the African Mercenaries". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ "Kenneth Griffith". aveleyman.com.
  8. ^ "Bus to Bosworth". 29 February 1976. p. 20 – via BBC Genome.
  9. ^ Mark Lewis. "A distinguished troublemaker: The Kenneth Griffith archive at Tenby Museum". Museum Crush. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Welsh film-maker fascinated by Irish history". The Irish Times.
  11. ^ "Actor Kenneth Griffith dies at 84". BBC. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  12. ISBN 9780316908931
    .
  13. ^ "1994 Cymru Special Award: BAFTA Cymru Lifetime Achievement Award | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
  14. ^ "Zola Budd - The Girl Who Didn't Run (1989)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 January 2009. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  15. WalesOnline
    , 28 June 2006.
  16. ^ Barker 2011.
  17. ^ "Biography: Dr Eva Griffith". Eva Griffith. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  18. ^ "Tenby Museum & Art Gallery » On this day in 1947".

Sources

External links
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