William Armstrong,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(30 November 1882 – 5 October 1952) was a British actor, theatre manager and director, associated for many years with the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actress ...

, where as director he was an important influence on young actors in his company, including, at various times,

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and

Diana Wynyard Diana Wynyard, CBE (born Dorothy Isobel Cox; 16 January 1906 – 13 May 1964) was an English stage and film actress. Life and career Born in Lewisham, South London, Wynyard began her career on the stage. After performing in Liverpool and Lond ...

Life and career

Armstrong was born in Edinburgh and studied music at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

, but after teaching for some years he chose a theatrical career in preference to a musical one. He made his professional stage debut with Sir Frank Benson's company at the

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespea ...

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

in 1908. He made his first London appearance the following year in ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

''. Subsequently he toured in Germany with Meta Illing's English company, and from 1910 to 1912 he was a member of the Glasgow Repertory Theatre Company,Parker (1922), p. 20 acting as assistant director to its founder,

Alfred Wareing Alfred John Wareing (26 October 1876 – 11 April 1942) was an English actor-manager. He was a pioneer of the repertory theatre in Britain and an authority on the plays of Shakespeare. Life and career Wareing was born in Greenwich, London on 26 ...

. In 1912–13 he toured the US in

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

and

Edward Knoblock Edward Knoblock (born Edward Gustavus Knoblauch; 7 April 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a playwright and novelist, originally American and later a naturalised British citizen. He wrote numerous plays, often at the rate of two or three a year, of whic ...

's play ''

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''. In September 1914, he joined the Liverpool Repertory Company. He moved on to the

Birmingham Repertory Company Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre c ...

in 1916, and from 1917 to 1919 toured army camp theatres. In September 1920, he was with the Everyman Theatre repertory company, and in 1922 he toured with

Mrs Patrick Campbell Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner (9 February 1865 – 9 April 1940), better known by her stage name Mrs Patrick Campbell or Mrs Pat, was an English stage actress, best known for appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw and Barrie. She also toured th ...

in ''

Hedda Gabbler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage. The play has been ca ...

'', and appeared in the West End in the English-language premiere of ''

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( it, Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore, link=no ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist fiction, absurdist metatheatrical, metatheatric play about th ...

''. Armstrong had made a strong impression in Liverpool, and when, in 1922, the company was in financial trouble and in need of an effective young director he was invited to take the post. His obituarist in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' wrote: Other future stars who learned their craft at the Playhouse under Armstrong included

and

. Armstrong remained in charge at the Playhouse until 1944, when poor health led him to step down. Between 1941 and 1945 he produced several plays in London, including ''

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'' with

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. In 1945 he joined Sir Barry Jackson at the Birmingham Repertory as assistant director. He resigned in 1947 because of ill-health and spent the winter of that year in South Africa. He returned to London in 1948, and directed the production at the

St James's Theatre The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succ ...

of Sacha Guitry's ''Don't Listen, Ladies'' with

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Denholm Elliott Denholm Mitchell Elliott, (31 May 1922 – 6 October 1992) was an English actor, with more than 125 film and television credits. His well-known roles include the abortionist in ''Alfie'' (1966), Marcus Brody in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981 ...

Francis Lister Francis Lister (2 April 1899 – 28 October 1951) was a British actor. He was married to the actresses Nora Swinburne (1924–32) and Margot Grahame (1934-36). Filmography References External links * * *ThFrancis Lister Collectionis held by ...

and

Betty Marsden Betty Marsden (24 February 1919 – 18 July 1998) was an English comedy actress. She is particularly remembered as a cast member of the radio series '' Beyond Our Ken'' and ''Round the Horne''. Marsden also appeared in two Carry On films, ''Carr ...

."St James's Theatre", ''The Times'', 3 September 1948, p. 7 He was created a

in 1951. Armstrong died at his home near Birmingham aged 69.

References and sources

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armstrong, William 1882 births 1952 deaths British theatre directors Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Theatre people from Edinburgh