In 1957, the character actor Aubrey Morris, who has died aged 89, was praised by Kenneth Tynan for his “mimetic cunning … wreathed in cringing smiles”. Adept at the vaguely camp and suggestively sinister, Morris always left an unconventional stamp on even the smallest, and seemingly conventional, roles. Small and rotund, with gleaming eyes, and occasionally wearing round spectacles, he could convey obsessions and monstrosity at odds with his corporeality. His visual characteristics included a wide smile, which displayed a prominent upper row of teeth, and a sly, sideways glance. With his distinctive, precise speech pattern, he could draw out vowel sounds amusingly, or unnervingly.
A career that lasted for more than 60 years took him from the Old Vic through much British television to Broadway and then Hollywood. One of his best remembered appearances was as Mr Deltoid, Alex’s self-styled “post-corrective adviser” in A Clockwork Orange (1971); although brief, it was a signature role in that it combined his abilities in the comedic, the threatening and as he put it, the “kinky”. Unlike other actors, his memories of Stanley Kubrick were positive.
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