Herbert Halliwell Hobbes (16 November 1877 – 20 February 1962) was an English actor.

Early years

Hobbes's schooling came at Trinity College in Straford-upon-Avon.

Career

Hobbes's stage debut was as a member of Frank Benson's company, in the role of Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet in 1898. In 1908 and 1910 he played Prince Michael in The Prince and the Beggar Maid at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Of his performance in a 1924 production of Ferenc Molnar's The Swan, Benjamin De Casseres wrote: "I would like to enlarge, if space permitted, on that delicious and wonderful Father Hyacinth (Halliwell Hobbes) in 'The Swan.' Here is a man of the cloth, sane, human, a portrait that is hard to forget. No neurosis there! No agenbite of inwit there! Because Father Hyacinth has the thing that saves—humor. He is tolerant of all things except sham, and is not even intolerant of that. In the drama, as in life, it is the smile that sets us free." Hobbes moved back to Broadway by the mid-1940s, appearing in Romeo and Juliet as Lord Capulet and continuing there until late 1955. By 1950 he had moved to American television in the diverse playhouse format. A heart ailment caused Hobbes to retire in 1956.

Personal life

In 1915, Hobbes married Nancie Brenda Marsland, an actress. They had one son, actor Peter Hobbes.

Death

After Hobbes died from a heart attack on February 20, 1962, he was buried at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Partial Broadway credits