Emlyn Williams is known primarily as an actor-playwright, perhaps more particularly in the United States as a reader-impersonator of Charles Dickens since 1951 and of Dylan Thomas since 1955. He has performed in many plays and motion pictures; directed plays; and written plays, novels, and film and television scripts. He was named a Commander of the British Empire in 1962. His contribution to the mystery genre consists of an early one-act play, four full-length plays, and two documentary novels.

George Emlyn Williams was born on 26 November 1905 near Mostyn, Flintshire (now Clwyd), Wales, to Richard and Mary Williams. His father had been a stoker in a coal mine; at the time of Williams's birth his father was an unsuccessful greengrocer. In 1906 the family moved to Pen-y-maes, Glanrafon, Wales, where Richard Williams became the landlord of a pub. Williams received his earliest education at a convent of French nuns and at a council...