Digges, Dudley

(1879-1947)

   Born in Dublin, Dudley Digges worked with the Irish National Theatre as a young man, but his long career in a wide range of drama found its fullest expression in America. He came to the United States in 1904 and within a few years he was playing opposite Minnie Maddern Fiske in The Rising of the Moon (1908) and George Arliss in Disraeli (1911). He worked for several seasons as stage manager for Arliss before returning to acting when he joined the Theatre Guild in 1919 for a role in their first production, The Bonds of Interest. During 11 years with the Guild, Digges played every manner of character with distinction and was often associated with important new dramas, including the original productions of The Adding Machine (1923), Outward Bound (1924), Marco Millions (1928), and Dynamo (1929), as well as a range of American productions of European works including Heartbreak House (1920), Liliom (1921), The Brothers Karamazov (1928), and Major Barbara (1928). Also a respected director, Digges staged several Guild productions, including three George Bernard Shaw plays, Candida (1925), Pygmalion (1927), and The Doctor's Dilemma (1927), among others. After leaving the Guild in 1930, Digges found success in On Borrowed Time* (1938), George Washington Slept Here* (1942), and a revival of Candida (1942). He served as vice-president of the Actors' Equity Association and appeared in nearly 50 motion pictures, including Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones (1933). Given his association with several O'Neill plays, it was fitting that Digges's final Broadway role, that of Harry Hope in O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh* (1946), won him critical plaudits.