Saville Esmé Percy (8 August 1887 – 17 June 1957) was an English actor and director, widely associated with the plays of Bernard Shaw; he also appeared in forty films between 1930 and 1956.
He studied acting in Paris with Sarah Bernhardt and made a career as a stage actor in England, appearing in the companies of F. R. Benson, William Poel, Herbert Beerbohm Tree and later in his career, Basil Dean and Robert Atkins. He appeared frequently on radio and television, from 1927 until the year of his death, and produced eight BBC Radio adaptations of Shaw plays.
Contents
Life and career
Early years
Saville Esmé Percy was born in London on 8 August 1887. He was educated at Windsor and Brussels, where he decided on a stage career. He studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and then the Paris Conservatoire, under Georges Berr, Maurice Leloir and Sarah Bernhardt. His English stage début was in February 1904 with F. R. Benson's company on tour in Nottingham. He made his London début the following year as Romeo in William Poel's production of Romeo and Juliet opposite Dorothy Minto. The theatrical newspaper The Era commented, "Mr Percy was quite a boyish lover, and the points upon which he may fairly be commended were his earnestness and his intelligent and natural reading of the text".
