Robert Eddison

Known for ActingBorn 1908-06-10Died 1991-12-14Yokohama, Japan

Robert Leadam Eddison, OBE (10 June 1908 – 14 December 1991) was an English actor, who is probably most widely remembered in the role of the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He also played the tragic ferryman in The Storyteller episode "The Luck Child". Born in Japan to English parents, Edwin Eddison and Hilda Muriel Leadham, he had a twin brother Talbot Leadam Eddison. Through his paternal grandmother, Anna Paulina Tatham of Philadelphia, he was related to the Tatham Brothers Iron pipe manufacturers of Philadelphia. As his paternal great-grandfather Henry Billington Tatham's name suggests, he was a descendant of the Billington family who came to America from England on the Mayflower. Eddison was known for his resonant, baritone voice and long, lean figure. He performed William Shakespeare and other classics, was noted for his Hamlet at the Old Vic, and later playing the comic roles of Feste and Sir Andrew Aguecheek inTwelfth Night, and King Lear on the New York stage. He was also a familiar figure in plays by Ibsen, Chekhov, andSophocles, and played Canon Chasuble in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Eddison also made his mark in radio, in countless BBC dramas through the decades, with some of his last roles includingDeath in The Canterbury Tales and parts in an adaptation of Japanese Noh plays. His film career was limited, but included a supporting role in Peter Ustinov's 1948 comedy Vice Versa, the electrical 'Nick' in The Boy Who Turned Yellow (1972), the college president in American Friends (1991), and a notable cameo in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusadeas the ancient Grail Knight, warning adventurers to choose wisely.Read more

Movies & web series

The Lady's Not For Burning

The Adventures Of Don Quixote

Theban Plays: Antigone

Selkirk of Red River

Henry IV Part 2

The Storyteller

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

The Legend of King Arthur

Theatre 625

Out of the Unknown

Playhouse

The Tragedy of King Richard II

Uncle Silas

Vice Versa

The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp

A TV Dante

Campion

American Friends

Sky

I Was Happy Here

Sixty Glorious Years

Scoop

Armchair Theatre

Mystery and Imagination

The Boy Who Turned Yellow

BBC Play of the Month

The Wednesday Play

Edward II

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King

Knots

The Storyteller: The Luck Child

An Affinity with Dr. Still

The Velvet Glove

Andover and the Android

Ordeal by Fire