David Oxley

{{Short description|David Oxley (1920–1985)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = David Oxley

| birth_name =

| image = Actor_David_Oxley.jpg

| caption = in Yesterday's Enemy (1959)

| birth_date = {{birth date|1920|11|7|df=y}}

| birth_place = Wellington, Somerset, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1985|10|30|1920|11|7|df=y}}

| death_place = Málaga, Andalusia, Spain

| occupation = Actor

| alma_mater = Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

| years_active = 1947-75

| spouse =

}}

David Oxley (7 November 1920 – 30 October 1985) was an English actor who made many film, television and stage appearances over a 28-year period.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2b82e12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180408023101/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba2b82e12|url-status=dead|archive-date=8 April 2018|title=David Oxley|website=BFI}} He is best known for portraying Gilles de Rais in Saint Joan (1957), Sir Hugo Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) and for the major role of Captain W. Stanley Moss in Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), based on the true story of the Kidnap of General Kreipe in 1944.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqyuDQAAQBAJ&q=david+oxley+The+Encyclopedia+of+British+Film%3A+Fourth+edition&pg=PA577|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth Edition|first1=Brian|last1=McFarlane|first2=Anthony|last2=Slide|date=July 20, 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780719091391|via=Google Books}}

Oxley had an extraordinarily powerful voice that he used to great effect, being able to fill an auditorium without the aid of microphones, and seen to best effect as Sir Hugo Baskerville. He trained at the Central School of Dramatic Art in 1946.{{Cite web | url=https://virtualexhibit.marlboroughmuseum.org.nz/operatic_society/1961%20My%20Fair%20Lady%20(J%20C%20Williamson).pdf#page=7 | title=My Fair Lady - David Oxley | page=7 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429110713/https://virtualexhibit.marlboroughmuseum.org.nz/operatic_society/1961%20My%20Fair%20Lady%20(J%20C%20Williamson).pdf#page=7 | archive-date=2017-04-29}}

His stage work included early appearances at Stratford, as well as touring New Zealand with J. C. Williamson Theatres in 1961 as Henry Higgins, in one of two original Australasian productions of My Fair Lady.{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/265/david-oxley/past|title=David Oxley | Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/24314787|title=Patricia Moore as Eliza Doolittle and David Oxley as Henry Higgins in the J.C. Williamson production of My fair lady, act I, scene 5, Higgins' study, 1960|first=Allan|last=Studios|date=July 20, 1960|via=Trove}}

Oxley suffered a stroke in October 1985 whilst sunbathing at his hotel in Málaga, Spain. His friend, author Graham Murray, was at his bed-side when he died.

He also appeared in Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Sea Fury (1958), Yesterday's Enemy (1959), Life at the Top (1965), Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) and House of the Living Dead (1974).{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/david-oxley-p54539|title=David Oxley | Movies and Filmography|website=AllMovie}} His television appearances included Danger Man (1960).{{Cite web | url=http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/browse/CYD.HTM | title=The Probert Encyclopaedia of Actors| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613195819/http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/browse/CYD.HTM | archive-date=2011-06-13 }} David Oxley at probert encyclopedia.com. retrieved 13 June 2011{{Cite web | url=http://digiguide.tv/person.asp?redirfrom=uktv&id=4156 | title=David Oxley | website=digiguide.tv | access-date=2024-06-16}}