 Waddington was the grandson of William Waddington, the piano manufacturer who also took over the management of the Theatre Royal York.After an Oxford education, he started his career singing, and in the 1930s was in "That Certain Trio" with Peggy Cochrane.On stage from 1924, often in upper-class roles, his theatre work included the original West End run of Patrick Hamilton's "Rope" in 1929; a lengthy tour of "My Fair Lady", as Colonel Pickering, in 1963-5; and the musical "Kean" on Broadway, in 1961.