Every farce should have one: the short, bald, fussy man who's henpecked at home and patronised at work. Robertson Hare was that man.
He was born in London within the sound of Bow Bells. His father was a manager at The Daily Telegraph, but Hare showed no aptitude for the newspaper business and started work as a clerk in a woodpulp business. He persuaded his father to pay for elocution lessons and from there entered the London Academy of Dramatic Arts. Among his contemporaries was Leslie Henson who quickly went on to success. Things took a little longer for Hare and his first job was an extra in John Martin Harvey's production of Oedipus Rex.
By the time the war came Hare was married and touring the country. He drove lorries during the war. Afterwards he could only get work as a stage manager until he got a small part in the West End with Leslie Henson. Tons of Money opened in 1922 at the Shaftesbury. It was a hit and after a few months the production moved to the Aldwych. This became the first of the Aldwych farces and Hare was soon established as an essential part of the team. In all, he stayed at the Aldwych for over eleven years.
When talkies came in it was natural that the farces were filmed and, beginning with Rookery Nook, most of them made it to the screen along with Hare. Though the Aldwych was finished with farces, the West End still had an appetite for them and there was a constant demand for Hare's talents. He continued successfully in films too, and towards the end of his career even scored a hit on television with the clerical sitcom All Gas and Gaiters.
| 1930 | Rookery Nook |
| 1930 | On Approval |
| 1930 | Tons of Money |
| 1931 | On a Night Like This |
| 1931 | Plunder |
| 1932 | Thark |
| 1933 | It's a Boy |
| 1933 | Just My Luck |
| 1933 | A Cuckoo in the Nest |
| 1933 | Friday the Thirteenth |
| 1933 | Turkey Time |
| 1934 | Dirty Work |
| 1934 | Are You a Mason? |
| 1935 | Fighting Stock |
| 1935 | Oh, Daddy! |
| 1935 | Car of Dreams |
| 1935 | Foreign Affairs |
| 1935 | Stormy Weather |
| 1936 | Pot Luck |
| 1936 | Jack of All Trades |
| 1936 | You Must Get Married |
| 1937 | O.H.M.S. |
| 1937 | Aren't Men Beasts! |
| 1938 | A Spot of Bother |
| 1940 | So This is London |
| 1942 | Banana Ridge |
| 1943 | Women Aren't Angels |
| 1944 | He Snoops to Conquer |
| 1947 | Things Happen at Night |
| 1951 | One Wild Oat |
| 1951 | The Magic Box |
| 1953 | Our Girl Friday |
| 1956 | My Wife's Family |
| 1956 | Three Men in a Boat |
| 1961 | The Night We Go the Bird |
| 1961 | Seven Keys |
| 1961 | Out of the Shadow |
| 1961 | The Young Ones |
| 1962 | Crooks Anonymous |
| 1966 | Hotel Paradiso |
| 1968 | Salt and Pepper |
| 1972 | Raising the Roof |
