Emery Battis

Emery Battis (born May 30, 1915, in Arlington, Massachusetts – September 20, 2011, in Marlborough, Massachusetts)

Early life Battis graduated from Harvard in 1942.

Acting career He started acting in 1933 and was still a working actor up until at least 2006, when he was in his early nineties. He would often play more than one character in the same production, and was highly skilled at using makeup and other techniques to change his appearance. The Washington Post said he "had a booming, cultivated voice".

He played numerous roles with the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington. The Emery Battis Award is named after him. Of the thirty-seven plays in Shakespeare's oeuvre, he was in all but one (Cymbeline). The New York Times said he was "very good as a weary, cautious Banquo" in a performance of Macbeth. His favourite Shakespearean role was that of King Lear he told Washingtonian Magazine in 1993 because it left room for invention.

In the 1960s, the Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaimed him "the best Lear of our generation."

Personal life His first marriage was to Elaine Cunningham, with whom he had five children.

He lived in Washington for over twenty-five years and would often volunteer at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Awards and nominations He received an award in 1963 from the Institute of Early American History and Culture for his book about Anne Hutchinson.

Received the Helen Hayes Award in 2002 for lifetime contributions to Washington theatre.

The Emery Battis Award is named after him.