Hilary Arthur Wontner was born into a theatrical family on 4th October
1912. His mother was actress Rose Pendennis and his father the famous
English actor
Arthur Wontner, most notable for his portrayal of the famous
detective Sherlock Holmes. He married Denise Judith Dean (b. 4 February
1915) in Kensington on the 6th May 1947.
He was educated at Oundle School in Northamptonshire, along with his
elder brother Hugh (later Sir Hugh Wontner, Lord Mayor of London).
Hilary then went to Poitiers University in France and finally returned
to London where he studied acting at RADA, the Royal Academy of
Dramatic Art.
An actor from 1933, he was with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre from
1935 and then the Birmingham Repertory Company from 1935 to 1937. From
1938 he appeared on the London and provincial stage, and had radio and
television roles from 1938. He appeared in US television from 1962 to
1964.
At the outbreak of World War Two in 1939, he served in Field Security
in France and Belgium. He was evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940. Later he
was posted to the 5th/6th Punjab Regiment in the Indian Army, where he
became a Captain in 1942. Between 1941 and 1943 he served in Burma,
India and Iraq. He was editor of the Army journal in Bagdad before
being seconded to the British Council in Iran in 1943 where he founded
the Anglo-Iranian Dramatic Society in 1944.
After the war he became an announcer for 'Radio Normandy' in 1946 and
1947. He subsequently joined the South African Broadcasting Corporation
in Johannesburg, where he was an announcer, scriptwriter and producer,
going on to become an assistant programme organiser from 1950 to 1955.
On his return to England in 1957 he became a director of H. A. Wontner
& Company.
He had two twin boys, born to his wife Denise on the 18th December
1947. Rupert Stephen Arthur Wontner and Nicholas St. John Hilary
Wontner, and both Hilary's sons inherited their fathers gift for
languages as well as his fiery red hair!
