London-born Henry Daniell began his career on the British stage, and continued it on the Broadway stage when he emigrated to the US. He entered films in 1929, and excelled at playing the suave, well-bred villain who could kill an enemy or start a war with a certain air of upper-class disdain, as if all of this effort was beneath him. His long and distinguished career ended in 1963, when he suffered a heart attack while filming My Fair Lady (1964).