Welsh character actor Kenneth Griffith was the archetypal "little man with big ideas" in most of his films. He spent his younger days playing weaklings and cowards then graduated to petty thieves, blackmailers and abusive parents as the character lines increased on his face. Historian William K. Everson has described Griffith as "the English equivalent to Elisha Cook Jr." -- true enough, especially since Griffith's characters, like Cook's, seldom lived long enough to be around at fadeout time. On both stage and screen since his teens, Kenneth Griffith was seen in such films as Love on the Dole (1941), The Shop at Sly Corner (1947) (perhaps his definitive screen appearance, as a lecherous extortionist), I'm All Right Jack (1959), Payroll (1962), The Whisperers (1967), and S.P.Y.S. (1974).
Kenneth Griffith
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