Early years Hare was born in
Islington, London, the middle child and eldest son of Frank Homer Hare, an accountant, and his wife, Louisa Mary,
née Robertson. He was educated at Margate College in
Kent and then studied drama with the actor and educator
Cairns James. In 1911 Hare made his professional stage debut, playing the Duke of Gallminster in a provincial production of
The Bear Leaders. Even at this early stage of his career Hare was playing old men: "Grumpy" is an irascible retired lawyer. In December 1915 he married (Alice) Irene Mewton (1890/91–1969); they had one daughter. The play ran for nearly two years, after which Walls recruited Lynn and Hare to join him in a series of new farces at the
Aldwych Theatre. There were eleven plays in this series, which came to be known as
Aldwych farces; they played continuously from 1923 to 1933. Hare played in them all; his roles were: William Smith (
It Pays to Advertise); The Rev Cathcart Sloley-Jones (
A Cuckoo in the Nest); Harold Twine (
Rookery Nook); Hook (
Thark); Oswald Veal (
Plunder); Ernest Ramsbotham (
A Cup of Kindness); Miles Tuckett (
A Night Like This); Edwin Stoatt (
Turkey Time); Clement Peck (
Dirty Work); Montague Trigg (
Fifty-Fifty); and Augustus Pogson (
A Bit of a Test). In 1963 Hare played in a long-running stage musical,
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (762 performances), in which he was cast as Erronius to
Frankie Howerd's Pseudolus. In the 1960s Hare toured in
Arsenic and Old Lace.
George Melly wrote: Hare was awarded the
OBE in 1979, shortly before his death. He died in London at the age of 87. ==Filmography==