Allan Aynesworth

Allan Aynesworth
Aynesworth (left) in the original production of The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) with George Alexander (right)
Born	Edward Abbot-Anderson 14 April 1864 Sandhurst, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Died	22 August 1959 (aged 95) Surrey, United Kingdom

Allan (also Alan) Aynesworth (14 April 1864, Sandhurst, Berkshire – 22 August 1959, Camberley, Surrey) is the stage name of a British actor whose career spanned almost six decades, including a lead part in the 1895 world premiere of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and his final role as the elderly Lord Lancaster in the movie The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949). His birth name was Edward Abbot-Anderson.

Information

He has been variously billed as "Alan Aynesworth," "Allan Aynesworth" and "Allan Aynsworth."^[1][2] He performed the role of Algernon Moncrieff in the premiere production of The Importance of Being Earnest, later telling Oscar Wilde's biographer Hesketh Pearson that "In my fifty-three years of acting, I never remember a greater triumph than [that] first night."^[3]

Stage productions

• The Dover Road by A. A. Milne (1922)
• The Yellow Jacket (1917)^[2]
• Ready Money by James Montgomery (1912)
• The "Mind the Paint" Girl by Arthur Pinero (1912)^[1]
• Billy's Little Love Affair by Henry V. Esmond
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (1910)
• The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (1895, premiere)

Filmography

• The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949), with Richard Burton, Emlyn Williams, and Edith Evans
• Young Man's Fancy (film) (1939)
• I, Claudius (1937)
• Brewster's Millions (1935) with Jack Buchanan and Lili Damita;
• The Iron Duke (1934) with George Arliss;
• Little Friend (1934)
• Love, Life and Laughter (1934)
• Just Smith (1933)
• The Calendar (1931)
• Flames of Passion (1922)
• The Game of Life (1922)

John Gielgud, when asked who inspired him as a young actor, named Aynesworth as one of his inspirations.

References

1. London Week By Week (23 February 1912) The Advertiser (Adelaide), 30 March 1912, p. 7, at Trove
2. Music and Drama The Sydney Morning Herald, 10 November 1917, p. 8, at Trove
3. Pearson, Hesketh. The Life of Oscar Wilde. Methuen, London 1946. p. 257

External links

• Allan Aynesworth at the Internet Movie Database
• The Alan Aynesworth Collection is held by the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre and Performance Department.
• New production at UWA features family link to original “Earnest” at University of Western Australia, 18 July 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2013