Trivia

He was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1950 King's Birthday Honours List and appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours List for his services to drama.

He played the Archbishop of Canterbury in both Henry V (1944) and Becket (1964).

Appeared in seven Best Picture Oscar nominees: The Citadel (1938), Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), Quo Vadis (1951), Ivanhoe (1952), Separate Tables (1958) and Becket (1964).

He played Lord Palmerston in three different films: Victoria the Great (1937), Queen of Destiny (1938) and The Lady with a Lamp (1951).

He made five films with Laurence Olivier: The Temporary Widow (1930), As You Like It (1936), Adventure for Two (1943), Henry V (1944) and Hamlet (1948). Olivier also directed the latter two films.

He appeared in ten films with John Laurie: Her Last Affaire (1935), Nine Days a Queen (1936), As You Like It (1936), The Ghost of St. Michael's (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Adventure for Two (1943), Henry V (1944), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), Hamlet (1948) and Trio (1950).

Is one of Kenneth Williams' impressions of "people you've never heard of".

His part was cut from the 1970 film Cromwell along with those of William Lucas, Bryan Pringle, George A Cooper, Tony Caunter and Peter Bennett due to the film being too long.

Father of David Aylmer and Jennifer Aylmer.