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Gawn Grainger | |
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 Grainger at the National Theatre Studio on 3 November 2009 | |
| Born | 12 October 1937 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1952–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
Gawn Grainger (born 12 October 1937) is a Scottish actor, playwright and screenwriter.
Some sources indicate he was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 12 October 1937. He is the son of Charles Neil Grainger and his wife Elizabeth (née Gall). Educated at Westminster City School in Victoria, London, he later trained for the stage at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. [1]
Grainger made his first London appearance as a boy in 1949, when he played in Where the Rainbow Ends, opposite Anton Dolin, at the Comedy Theatre, London.
Grainger began his professional career at the Dundee Rep in 1961, followed by two years at Ipswich, 1962–64. He joined Laurence Olivier's National Theatre at the Old Vic company in 1972.
Among his notable television credits are the Apostle Andrew in Son of Man by Dennis Potter (1969); the Earl of Kildare in The Shadow of the Tower (1972); George Stephenson in the Doctor Who serial The Mark of the Rani (1985) and Lesley Flux in Midsomer Murders episode The House in the Woods (2005). He was an occasional panelist on the syndicated, New York-based What's My Line? series in 1968, 1969 and 1970. [2] [3]
Grainger authored the following plays: Four to One (1976), Vamp Till Ready (1978), Lies in Plastic Smiles (1979) and Paradise Lost (1980). [4] In the 1980s, he also wrote several scripts for Geoff McQueen 's BBC1 drama series Big Deal starring Ray Brooks. [5]
His second marriage was to the actress Janet Key in 1970. Together they had two children. Their marriage lasted until Key's death from cancer in July 1992. His third marriage is to American-British actress Zoë Wanamaker, to whom he has been married since November 1994. [6]
Grainger was a close friend of Laurence Olivier and his family, and helped the actor write his second book On Acting (1986). [7]
From February to April 2012 Grainger performed as Mr Balance in The Recruiting Officer, the 1706 late Restoration Comedy by Irish playwright, George Farquhar. It was the highly acclaimed first production for incoming artistic director Josie Rourke at The Donmar Warehouse in London. As a result of the particular interest generated in Grainger's life over the course of the production, Mark Gatiss, his fellow cast member, instigated a Platform event which took place before the evening performance of The Recruiting Officer on 11 April.
During the discussion, Grainger confirmed some little known facts about his life and told anecdotes about his career over sixty years as both actor and playwright in the UK and US. Joking with Gatiss about some confusion around the date and place of his birth, he commented that he appeared to have been born twice, in 1937 in Glasgow and in 1940 in Northern Ireland. He admitted that the latter had been a twist on a then more romantic notion of theatrical heritage. It was at this point that Grainger also revealed that he learned that his biological father had in fact been his parents' lodger who later went on to marry his mother. He expressed gratitude to his father for bringing him along as a small boy to theatrical events which he humorously described and which had a positive effect on his imagination and determination to engage with performance. He began writing for the stage prior to his professional acting debut, having his first play performed at the age of twenty-one. Following a distinguished acting career, most particularly at the National Theatre in London, Grainger worked on writing projects in the 1980s whilst his children grew up. He returned to acting in the 1990s at the insistence of Harold Pinter, who, when asked by Grainger, "why should I return to acting?", replied, "because you owe it to yourself". [8]
Jeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. His film credits include Emma (1996), An Ideal Husband (1999), Gosford Park, The Winslow Boy (1999) and Enigma (2001). In television, he also played Thomas More in the Showtime series The Tudors (2007–2008) and appeared as Anthony Eden in the Netflix series The Crown (2016–2017).
Michael Vivian Fyfe Pennington is an English actor, director and writer. Together with director Michael Bogdanov, he founded the English Shakespeare Company in 1986 and was its Joint Artistic Director until 1992. He has written ten books, directed in the UK, US, Romania and Japan, and is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is best known for his role as Moff Jerjerrod in the original Star Wars trilogy film Return of the Jedi.
Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King, known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the comedy film Richie Rich (1994), Samuel Parrish and Van Pelt in the fantasy adventure film Jumanji (1995), J. Bruce Ismay in the epic romantic film Titanic (1997), Culverton Smith in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Warren Westridge in creature feature film Anaconda (1997), Dr. Allen Chamberlain in the adventure horror film The Mummy (1999), and Eldritch Palmer in the FX TV series The Strain. Although an Australian citizen, he has mostly lived in the United Kingdom since 1969, after his family left Australia.
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The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the Sunday Times newspaper and the National Theatre. The awards were established in 1990 after Charleson's death, and have been awarded annually since then. Sunday Times theatre critic John Peter (1938–2020) initiated the creation of the awards, particularly in memory of Charleson's extraordinary Hamlet, which he had performed shortly before his death. Recipients receive a cash prize, as do runners-up and third-place winners.
The 2012 Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced on 25 November 2012. The shortlist was revealed on 12 November 2012 and the longlist on 29 October 2012.
The 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced on 20 November 2011. The shortlist was revealed on 7 November 2011 and the longlist on 19 October 2011.
The 2010 Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced on 29 November 2010. The shortlist was revealed on 22 November 2010 and the longlist on 25 October 2010.
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced on November 24, 2008. The longlist was revealed on November 4, 2008 and the shortlist on November 7, 2008.
The WhatsOnStage Awards, founded in 2001 as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are a fan-driven set of awards organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com, based on a popular vote recognising performers and productions of English theatre, with an emphasis on London's West End theatre.
The 2020 Laurence Olivier Awards was held on 25 October 2020 at the London Palladium and hosted by Jason Manford, who presented all of the awards except Special Recognition.
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