Will Fyffe - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Will Fyffe was born, on 16 February 1885, in a tenement at 36 Broughty Ferry Road, Dundee, the eldest child of John Fyffe (1864–1928), a ship's carpenter, and a music teacher, Janet Rhynd Cunningham (1858–1949).

His father was interested in theatrical entertainment and operated a Penny Geggy, in which the young Will gained valuable experience as a character actor, as he travelled around the Lowlands of Scotland.

In his twenties, Fyffe joined Will Haggar Junior's Castle Theatre company, touring the South Wales Valleys from its base in Abergavenny. Fyffe and his wife feature in an advert for the Castle Theatre in the Portable Times in 1911.

Fyffe's screen debut was in 1914 when William Haggar, Will Junior's father and a pioneer silent film producer, made an epic 50-minute version of the classic Welsh Tale, The Maid of Cefn Ydfa, which was first screened in Aberdare in December of that year. Reviewed in The South Wales Echo in 1938, the film disappeared, but was rediscovered in 1984 in a family cupboard and conserved: 38 minutes survives, in the Welsh Film Archive in Aberystwyth. In the film, Fyffe plays Lewis Bach, the loyal servant of the maid.

As a character actor, he was much in demand in Hollywood and Britain, starring and co-starring in dozens of productions, with the likes of Finlay Currie, Patricia Roc, John Laurie, Duncan MacRae, John Gielgud, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Margaret Lockwood and Charles Hawtrey. His last film was The Brothers, which was released shortly after his death. In Owd Bob, (To The Victor in America), Fyffe plays the ‘likeable old carmudgeon’, McAdam,. The New York Times describes Fyffe's performance as fitting “snugly into the mental dossier we have been compiling under the heading, great performances”.

Although he became well known as a talented actor for the breadth of his on-screen characterisations, Fyffe was also a successful music hall artist (singer-songwriter and comedian), creating a succession of comic characters, whose story he narrated with his unique form of delivery – Fyffe would start his song, pausing in the middle to give a monologue with further detail of the song’s storyline, before resuming the song where he left off. Listen to the stories of the 94 year-old bridegroom and his 3 scheming sons in "I’m 94 Today", and the proud new father in "You Can Come And See The Baby". 'Daft Sandy', the village idiot, was one of Fyffe’s most popular characters - the drama critic, James Agate, referred to this as "a masterpiece of tragi-comedy". Will Fyffe had the ability to create a character and then seem to actually be that character.

In 1937, Fyffe appeared in the Royal Command Performance at the London Palladium. As one local commentator put it:

“ … we are sure the lasting thrill for us all was the finale, Will Fyffe, a wonderful Scottish comedian, was top of the bill. To finish, he sang a song. On the second chorus, the scenery changed completely, and down the aisles came Scottish Pipers. The artists all appeared around a rostrum in front of the orchestra, and we filled the stage, in Scout uniform complete with red scarf. It was the greatest thrill of our young lives. As the National Anthem was played, we faced the Royal Box and sang as we had never sang before.”

For a period, Fyffe developed a successful stage partnership with Harry Gordon, playing opposite him in pantomime for many years.

In 1939 Fyffe was the ninth most popular British star at the box office.