Ivor Barnard

Who was Ivor Barnard?

Ivor Barnard was an English stage, radio and film actor. He was an original member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where he was a notable Shylock and Caliban. He was the original Water Rat in the first London production of A. A. Milne's "Toad of Toad Hall." In 1929 he appeared on stage as Blanquet, in "Bird in Hand" at the Morosco Theatre in New York, after a successful run in the London's West End. The part had been specially written for him by John Drinkwater.

He appeared in 84 films between 1921 and 1953. He appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock film The 39 Steps in 1935. In 1943, he played the stationmaster in the Ealing war film Undercover. He also appeared as Wemmick in David Lean's Great Expectations, as the Chairman of the Workhouse, in Lean's film of Oliver Twist and as the Major in John Huston's Beat the Devil with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre.