Another Actor I'm Fond of: C. Aubrey Smith
According to the IMDB Biography for C. Aubrey Smith, "He played military officers, successful business men, ministers of the cloth and ministers of government. With the bushy eyebrows and stoic face, he played men who know about honour, tradition, and the correct path." Of such roles, the most typical was that of General Burroughs (ret.) in The Four Feathers (1939) wherein he was at his peak, in my opinion. Despite playing essentially the same character in nearly every film he still managed to bring a fresh performance and was always a delight to watch. With Wilfred Hyde White, Smith has to be one of best of the quintessentially British exports to Hollywood.
Proof is in the spoof as it is easy to tell that Smith "was the inspiration for the Commander McBragg character on the Tennesse Tuxedo and His Tales (1963) cartoon TV show (citation). Clearly he was, as movie critic and historian Leonard Maltin described, "Hollywood's idea of the archetypal English aristocrat" (Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia (1994)).
Some other movies which Smith's talents improved in include -- though aren't limited to -- are Tarzan, The Ape Man (1932), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), and Rebecca (1940), all of which you can find in his IMDB profile. Better yet, go rent them as they are excellent movies.
