He was born in Middlesex, England, the son of
Henry Ainley His first motion picture appearance was in 1936 as Sylvius in
As You Like It, in which his father also appeared. Other roles included Ferdinand in the television movie of
The Tempest (1939), Dr. Hale in
Shining Victory (1941), and a
Foreign Office official in the thriller
Above Suspicion (1943). Ainley married three times, firstly to actress
Ethel Glendinning. He was divorced from his first two wives; his third wife Rowena Woolf died in 1968. He retired from film work following a disabling wound received while he was serving in the army during
World War II to return to the stage. He was briefly principal of the
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the early 1960s. ==Filmography==