Editing Donald Wolfit (section)

===Early years===
Wolfit was born at [[Balderton|New Balderton]], near [[Newark-on-Trent]], [[Nottinghamshire]], on 20 April 1902, the second son  and fourth of five children of William Pearce Woolfitt and his wife Emma, ''née'' Tomlinson.<ref>Harwood, pp. 6–8</ref> It was a conventional household; Woolfitt senior was an [[Anglican]] churchgoer, a [[Conservative party (UK)|Conservative]] supporter and a [[Freemason]].{{refn|His son continued the attachment to Freemasonry, into which he was initiated by his father in 1937. He became Master of the Green Room Lodge and a Grand Officer.<ref>Harwood, p. 262</ref>|group=n}} From his early childhood Wolfit wanted to become an actor, despite his father's disapproval.<ref>Harwood, p. 32</ref>

After education at  [[Magnus Church of England School|Magnus Grammar School]] in Newark he was briefly a schoolmaster in [[Eastbourne]] before successfully auditioning for the actor-manager [[Charles Doran]].<ref>Harwood, pp. 43</ref> Doran's touring company was a training ground for many British actors, including [[Ralph Richardson]], [[Cecil Parker]], [[Edith Sharpe]], [[Norman Shelley]], [[Abraham Sofaer]] and [[Francis L. Sullivan|Francis{{space}}L Sullivan]].<ref>Trewin, J. C. "A man of many parts", ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', 25 December 1982, p. 61; and Hobson, p. 11</ref> Wolfit's début role, at the [[York Theatre Royal|Theatre Royal, York]] on 13 September 1920, was Biondello in Doran's production of ''[[The Taming of The Shrew]]''.<ref name=ww>Gaye, pp. 1327–1330</ref> Between his engagement with Doran and his [[West End theatre|West End]] début in 1924 he toured with the companies of Alexander Marsh and later [[Fred Terry]].<ref>Harwood, pp. 55 and 61</ref> For the rest of his life Wolfit acknowledged his debt to the latter for what he had learnt from him.<ref>Gielgud, p. 372</ref>

Wolfit made his London début on 26 November 1924 at the [[Noël Coward Theatre|New Theatre]], as Phirous in [[Matheson Lang]]'s production of  ''The Wandering Jew''.<ref name=ww/> At about this time he simplified the spelling of his surname from Woolfitt to Wolfit.<ref>Harwood, p. 68</ref> He appeared in supporting roles in a variety of West End productions, and at St George's, Westminster, on 16 April 1928, he married an actress, Chris Frances Castor, with whom he had a daughter Margaret Wolfit who was also an actress.<ref name=dnb/><ref>"Marriages", ''Newark Herald'', 28 April 1928, p. 5</ref> The marriage lasted until 1933, when the couple divorced.<ref>Harwood, p. 117</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wolfitendowmentfund.org.uk/a-biographical-sketch-of-donald-wolfit/ | title=A Biographical Sketch of Donald Wolfit &#124; Sir Donald Wolfit Charitable Trust }}</ref>

In 1929 Wolfit joined [[Lilian Baylis]]'s company at the [[Old Vic]] and played Tybalt in ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', Cassius in ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'', Touchstone in ''[[As You Like It]]'', Macduff in ''[[Macbeth]]'' and Claudius in ''[[Hamlet]]''.<ref name=ww/> The company's leading man was [[John Gielgud]], to whom Wolfit took a strong and lasting dislike, envious of Gielgud's success and being what the biographer [[Sheridan Morley]] describes as "virulently anti-homosexual".<ref name=m97>Morley (2001), p. 97</ref>{{refn|According to Morley, Wolfit's homophobia was based not merely on prejudice but concern that the subtler style of acting by Gielgud and other gay actors would make his own "old-fashioned barnstorming virility" obsolete.<ref name=m97/>|group=n}} Wolfit made himself unpopular with his fellow actors and his contract was not renewed after the first year.<ref>Croall, p. 134</ref>