McKinnel's first stage appearance was in
Clacton-on-Sea,
Essex in 1894 and he soon based himself in London to further his career. He became known over the course of his career for playing many Shakespearian roles, and his stage work took him the U.S., Australia and South Africa. He was known for writing several easily stageable one-act plays, the most successful of which was ''The Bishop's Candlesticks'' (1901). McKinnel's film career began in 1899 in
King John, the earliest known example of Shakespeare on film. The work consisted of four brief scenes from the play, and a two-minute fragment survives at the
EYE Film Institute in
Amsterdam. McKinnel did not act on screen again until the mid-1910s, when he began to make further film appearances fitted in around his stage work. He played the title character in the original London production of ''
Hobson's Choice in 1916. Notably, he appeared as the same character (Nathaniel Jeffcote) in three separate film versions of the same play Hindle Wakes
, in 1918 and 1927 silent adaptations and again in 1931 in sound. In 1919 he played Paul Dombey in the first screen version of the Charles Dickens novel Dombey and Son''. McKinnel's most widely known film to contemporary audiences is Hitchcock's
Downhill, as the harsh but ultimately repentant patriarch opposite
Ivor Novello. ==Death==