Alec Clunes | |
---|---|
Born | Alexander Sheriff de Moro Clunes 17 May 1912 Brixton, London, England |
Died | 13 March 1970 57) London, England | (aged
Occupation(s) | Actor, director |
Spouse(s) | Stella Richman (divorced) Daphne Acott (1956–1970; his death) |
Children | 2, including Martin Clunes |
Alexander Sheriff de Moro Clunes (17 May 1912 – 13 March 1970) was an English actor and theatrical manager. [1]
Among the plays he presented were Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning . [2] He gave the actor and dramatist Peter Ustinov his first break with his production The House of Regrets. [3] His film career was brief, but varied. He played Hastings in Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955), and also appeared in wartime films such as One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), although he was in fact a conscientious objector. He also appeared in The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955). [4]
Clunes' later stage work included succeeding Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins in the stage musical My Fair Lady in 1959. [5] His final stage appearance was in 1968.
This section needs additional citations for verification .(October 2022) |
Alexander Sheriff de Moro Clunes was born on 17 May 1912 to a show business family, [6] he was the son of Alexander Sydenham Sherriff Clunes (1881–1960) and Georgina Ada Sumner (1882–1969). He began his stage career with Ben Greet's company before playing at the Old Vic theatre in 1934. [7] He played numerous Shakespearian roles, before taking over the management of the Arts Theatre, London in 1942, where he remained until 1950. He later ran a theatre bookshop in Cecil Court. [7]
He was twice married: to actress Stella Richman, later a television producer, and Daphne Gillian Acott, with whom he had one son, actor Martin Clunes.
Alec Clunes died from lung cancer on 13 March 1970, aged 57. He left a widow, his son, Martin Clunes, and a daughter, Amanda Clunes.
Clunes played Governor Woodes Rogers, the lead in the first three episodes of The Buccaneers in 1956. He was also offered the lead part of Professor Bernard Quatermass in the famous BBC science-fiction serial Quatermass and the Pit in 1958, but declined the role (André Morell was cast instead). [8]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1940 | Convoy | Minor Role | Uncredited |
1940 | Let George Do It! | Officer | Uncredited |
1940 | Saloon Bar | Eddie Graves | |
1940 | Sailors Three | British Pilot | |
1942 | One of Our Aircraft Is Missing | The Organist | |
1949 | Now Barabbas | Gale | |
1952 | La bergère et le ramoneur | The Blind Man | English version, Voice |
1953 | Melba | Cesar Carlton | |
1955 | The Adventures of Quentin Durward | Charles – Duke of Burgundy | |
1955 | Brighton Story (BFI film) | The Narrator | |
1955 | Richard III | The Lord Hastings | |
1956 | Tiger in the Smoke | Asst. Commissioner Oates | |
1963 | Tomorrow at Ten | Anthony Chester |
Professor Bernard Quatermass is a fictional scientist originally created by writer Nigel Kneale for BBC Television. An intelligent and highly moral British scientist, Quatermass is a pioneer of the British space programme, heading the British Experimental Rocket Group. He continually finds himself confronting sinister alien forces that threaten to destroy humanity.
Sir John Anthony Quayle was a British actor, theatre director and novelist. He was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Thomas Wolsey in the film Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). He also played important roles in such major studio productions as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), Operation Crossbow (1965), QB VII (1974) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Quayle was knighted in the 1985 New Years Honours List.
Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh actor. Described by BFI Screenonline as a "wild-eyed, formidable character player", Griffith appeared in over 100 theatre, film, and television productions in a career that spanned over 40 years. He was the second-ever Welsh-born actor to win an Academy Award, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur (1959), with an additional nomination for Tom Jones (1963).
Reginald Tate was an English actor, veteran of many roles on stage, in films and on television. He is remembered best as the first actor to play the television science-fiction character Professor Bernard Quatermass, in the 1953 BBC Television serial The Quatermass Experiment.
Cecil André Mesritz, known professionally as André Morell, was an English actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as Professor Bernard Quatermass in the BBC Television serial Quatermass and the Pit (1958–59), and as Doctor Watson in the Hammer Film Productions version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959).
Gordon Cameron Jackson, was a Scottish actor best remembered for his roles as the butler Angus Hudson in Upstairs, Downstairs and as George Cowley, the head of CI5, in The Professionals. He also portrayed Capt Jimmy Cairns in Tunes of Glory, and Flt. Lt. Andrew MacDonald, "Intelligence", in The Great Escape.
Marius Re Goring was an English stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes. He is also known for playing the title role in the long-running TV drama series, The Expert. He regularly performed French and German roles, and was frequently cast in the latter because of his name, coupled with his red-gold hair and blue eyes. However, in a 1965 interview, he explained that he was not of German descent, stating that "Goring is a completely English name."
Margaretta Mary Winifred Scott was an English stage, screen and television actress whose career spanned over seventy years. She is best remembered for playing the eccentric widow Mrs. Pumphrey in the BBC television series All Creatures Great and Small (1978–1990).
Malcolm Keen was an English actor of stage, film and television. He was sometimes credited as Malcolm Keane.
John Antony Townley, known professionally as Toke Townley, was an English actor.
Robert Urquhart was a Scottish character actor who worked on the stage, for British television, and in film. His breakthrough role was Paul Krempe in The Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, along with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Elspeth March was an English actress.
Christopher Peter Tempest Reynalds is a British child actor of the 1960s and 1970s, a former member of the National Theatre and a former Caterham 7 motor racing champion.
John Emrys Whittaker Jones was an English actor of Welsh heritage.
Thomas Chatto St George Sproule was an English actor who made numerous appearances on television, film, and stage between 1957 and his death in 1982.
Phyllis Edith Mary Blythe, known professionally as Jenny Laird, was a British stage, film and television actress.
Alexander Field was an English film and television actor.
Bartlett Mullins was a British actor.
John Hickson Warner was a British film, television and stage actor whose career spanned more than five decades. His most famous role was that of Timothy Dawes in Salad Days, which premiered in the UK at the Theatre Royal in 1954, and transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in London in the same year.
Alexander Mervyn Archdale was a British actor, manager and theatre producer. He had a very long career in both the theatre and in film, stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s. He spent the latter part of his life and career in Australia.