The elocutionary skills of British character actor Henry Daniell were more than formidable — they were delicious. He made the speaking of British-accented English a thing of beauty.
Consider Daniell’s cameo in the 1962 Mutiny on the Bounty (an uncredited role as “British chief court-martial admiral”) and particularly his reading of post-verdict commentary, which begins at 1:07. The dialogue is very precise and officer-class military proper, and yet curiously emotional when Daniell gets around to explaining and in fact lamenting the reason for the mutiny.
Daniell: “The articles [of war] are fallible, as any articles are bound to be. No code can cover all contingencies. We cannot put justice aboard our ships in books. Justice and decency are carried in the heart of the captain or they be not aboard.”
Wiki excerpt #1: “Daniell and wife Ann Knox were involved in a Hollywood sex scandal in the late 1930s. Visiting author P. G. Wodehouse wrote to his stepdaughter Leonora about the couple as follows:
“Apparently they go down to Los Angeles and either (a) indulge in or (b) witness orgies — probably both. There’s something pleasantly domestic about a husband and wife sitting side by side with their eyes glued to peepholes, watching the baser elements whoop it up. And what I want to know is, where are these orgies? I feel I’ve been missing something.”
Wiki excerpt #2: “[Daniell’s] last role was a small uncredited appearance as the British Ambassador in George Cukor’s Fair Lady (’64). He appears in the embassy ball scene, and is seen as Eliza arrives. When introduced he shakes her hand and says ‘Miss Doolittle’. Daniell later presents Eliza to the Queen of Transylvania with the one line, ‘Miss Doolittle, ma’am.’
“In the commentary on the DVD/Bluray it is mentioned that the day Daniell shot this scene was ‘his last day on earth’, as he died from a heart attack that very evening on 10.31.63.”