# Richard Haydn
**Richard Haydn** (full name George Richard Haydon; March 10, 1905 – April 25, 1985) was a London-born British character actor known for a put-on nasal delivery and a pompous, fussy stage manner, who played prissy eccentrics in Hollywood films from *Charley's Aunt* (1941) to *Young Frankenstein* (1974) and voiced the [Caterpillar](https://www.edgepedia.org/caterpillar) in Disney's 1951 *Alice in Wonderland*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | March 10, 1905, Camberwell, London; April 25, 1985, aged 80, at his Pacific Palisades home[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) • [2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html) • [3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn) |
| Screen signature | Pompous, fussy, prissy characters delivered with a put-on nasal voice[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) |
| Film span | 37 acting credits from *Charley's Aunt* (1941) to *The Hugga Bunch* (1985); the 1940s were his busiest decade with 19 films[3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn) |
| Best-known roles | Max Detweiler in *The Sound of Music* (1965); the Caterpillar (voice) in *Alice in Wonderland* (1951); Professor Oddly in *Ball of Fire*; Thomas Rogers in *And Then There Were None* (1945)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) |
| Biggest hit | *The Sound of Music*, $160 million worldwide[3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn) |
| Also | Director of 2 films; occupations listed as actor, comedian, director, writer[3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn) |
## Stage beginnings
Haydn started in show business selling tickets in the box office of London's Daly Theatre, followed by an unsuccessful stint with a comedy act in musical revue. He then became overseer of a Jamaican banana plantation, which was wiped out by a hurricane. Returning home, he appeared in the 1926 West End production of *Betty of Mayfair* and soon after began acting on radio.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/)
He told the columnist [Hedda Hopper](https://www.edgepedia.org/hedda-hopper) in 1964 that his performing career began when he was 19 and went on stage mimicking a fish in *One Damn Thing After Another*. Using a modest inheritance to see the world, he nonetheless stayed close to entertainment, picking up skills in directing for the stage and in makeup. As a musical revue star of the 1930s he portrayed the same prissy eccentrics on stage that he later brought to film.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html)
His comic character Edwin Carp opened the door to Broadway, where he appeared with [Beatrice Lillie](https://www.edgepedia.org/beatrice-lillie) in [Noël Coward](https://www.edgepedia.org/noel-coward)'s *Set to Music* (1939); this in turn led to a contract with 20th Century Fox.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) The character left a mark beyond his own performances: the animated character Clyde Crashcup was drawn as a caricature of Haydn and mimicked the enunciation of his nasal-voiced Edwin Carp.[4](https://thenamesdictionary.com/references-for/richard-haydn)
## Hollywood career
Haydn was featured in more than three dozen films. The *Los Angeles Times* obituary described him as a pedagogic, Caspar Milquetoast-type actor and called Mr. Carp, one of the seven professors (alongside [Gary Cooper](https://www.edgepedia.org/gary-cooper)) perplexed and tantalized by [Barbara Stanwyck](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-stanwyck), perhaps the most pompous of his characters. IMDb credits him in that film as Professor Oddly, and dates *[Ball of Fire](https://www.edgepedia.org/ball-of-fire)* to 1941, while the *Times* story refers to "1942's *Ball of Fire*".[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/)
His distinctive nasal voice was heard as the solemn schoolmaster in *The Green Years*, the prissy pharmacist in *Cluny Brown*, and the imperial Franz Josef in *The Emperor Waltz* with [Bing Crosby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bing-crosby).[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html) Other credited roles included Thomas Rogers in *And Then There Were None* (1945).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/)
Later film work included *The Merry Widow*, *Never Let Me Go*, *Please Don't Eat the Daisies*, the 1962 version of *Mutiny on the Bounty*, and *Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion* (1965), in which he played a veterinarian living in Africa.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) In 1965 he played Max Detweiler, the music promoter who schemes to keep the von Trapp family in touch with audiences, in *[The Sound of Music](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sound-of-music-film)*; the film remains his biggest box office hit at $160 million worldwide.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) • [3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn)
**Voice work.** In Disney's animated *Alice in Wonderland* (1951) Haydn supplied the voice of the Caterpillar, the hookah-smoking "Whooo are yooou?" insect. His final screen credit was as the uncredited voice of Bookworm in *The Hugga Bunch* (1985).[5](https://loveletterstooldhollywood.blogspot.com/2014/06/richard-haydn-whooo-are-yooou.html) • [3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn)
He also worked in television, caricaturing a Japanese businessman in an episode of *Bewitched* (1964), and directed two films.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) • [3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn)
## Career in numbers
Of his 37 acting credits, 19 fall in the 1940s, with 9 in the 1950s, 8 in the 1960s, and 1 in the 1980s. By genre, comedy leads with 12 films, followed by drama with 7, adventure and romance with 4 each, and smaller counts in fantasy, music, biography, family, thriller, and history.[3](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn)
## Personal life and death
In private life Haydn was a reclusive individual who liked horticulture and shunned interviews.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/) In early 1943 he was briefly engaged to the actress [Maria Riva](https://www.edgepedia.org/maria-riva); that same year she married Dean Goodman.[4](https://thenamesdictionary.com/references-for/richard-haydn)
His body was found in his Pacific Palisades home on Thursday, April 25, 1985; the *Los Angeles Times* reported he was believed to be 80 and that his survivors were not immediately known.[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html)
## References
1. [Richard Haydn, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0370821/)
2. [Body of Actor Richard Haydn Found in His Palisades Home, Los Angeles Times, April 26, 1985](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-04-26-mn-20893-story.html)
3. [Richard Haydn: Movies & Box Office, What's After the Movie](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/richard-haydn)
4. [Reference for Richard Haydn, The Names Dictionary](https://thenamesdictionary.com/references-for/richard-haydn)
5. [Richard Haydn: "Whooo are yooou?", Love Letters to Old Hollywood](https://loveletterstooldhollywood.blogspot.com/2014/06/richard-haydn-whooo-are-yooou.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames F to J*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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