Michael McGovern

McGOVERN, Michael (1934- ) is a London-born South African actor and performer. He began his theatrical career after leaving the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1957, when he auditioned at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, for the American musical The Pajama Game. When the production was brought on tour to South Africa he took over the leading role of Sid. He decided to stay in South Africa and work in the local theatre. (JODS programme note, The Most Happy Fella (1962).

Actor. Worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Same Time Next Year.(SACD 1973) (SACD 1975/76) (SACD 1978/79) (SACD 1980/81) (SACD 1981/82)

(19**-) Actor, radio playwright and director. Came from Ireland. Was a member of the Cockpit Players between 1958 and 1962, in which time he played in Try for White (1959), The Caretaker (1960), The Birthday Party (1962), The Hostage (19**) and The Night of the Iguana (1962). Also did musical work, e.g. Guys and Dolls (JODS, 1965), *. Later also acted under Leonard Schach in the PACT production of In the Case of J. Robert Oppenheimer (1971). At Maynardville he did ***. At The Space in the 1970s he did Othello Slegs Blankes. ** In 197* he did Stanley in A Streetcar named Desire for Pieter Toerien?* Much of his public fame though rests on his work in radio, including ***. Also has some film credits, including the 1974 Roger Moore film, Gold, * He starred in the American musical, The Pajama Game, which African Consolidated Theatre’s brought out in 1958. It marked the Broadway choreographic debut of Bob Fosse, and McGovern stayed on to become one of our leading actors. He starred in Thornton Wilder’s, The Matchmaker, which was staged by Leonard Schach’s Cockpit Players in 1959. This enduring show, also starring Marjorie Gordon as Dolly Levi, Nigel Hawthorne, John McElvey, Robert Haber and Heather Lloyd-Jones, became the musical Hello, Dolly!. He played the part of Algernon in Half in Earnest, a musical version of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. It was Kushlick-Gluckman’s first production, staged in April 1959, and directed by Leon Gluckman. It also starred Taubie Kushlick, Olive King, June Hern and Gordon Mulholland. He played in the Cockpit Players productions of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker and Paddy Chayefsky’s prizewinning The Tenth Man at the Playhouse in 1961 with actors Siegfried Mynhardt and Nigel Hawthorne. He starred in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, followed by Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana which was staged at the Playhouse by the Cockpit Players in 1962. Leonard Schach directed, and in his company of actors for these plays were Siegfried Mynhardt, Margaret Inglis, Marjorie Gordon, Diane Wilson and Kerry Jordan. He starred in Anthony Newley’s revue Stop the World – I Want to Get Off which was staged by Adam Leslie for the Reps in 1964. Albert Ninio directed this production, also starring Anna Quayle. It formed part of the Johannesburg Festival. He starred in the JODS production of Frank Loesser’s musical Guys and Dolls which was based on the writings of Damon Runyon at the Civic in 1965. Anthony Farmer directed and did the design for this musical which also starred Diane Todd, Charles Stodel, Patricia Langford and Bradley Harris. It returned for another sell out season the following year. He starred in the Toerien-Firth revival of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire with Anne Rogers in 1975. He starred in Henry IV, Part One directed by John Sichel for Joan Brickhill and Louis Burke at His Majesty’s circa 1975. Together with Shelagh Holliday and Michael Atkinson he starred in Double Edge which Anthony Sharp directed for Toerien-Firth in 1976. He starred in Brickhill-Burke’s production of the Broadway hit I Love My Wife by Michael Stewart, together with Tobie Cronje, Erica Rogers and Jessica Jones at His Majesty’s in 1978. He starred in Hugh Leonard’s Da, directed by Leonard Schach, with Godfrey Quigley at the Andre Huguenet in 1979. It later went to the Intimate Theatre. He starred in the Toerien-Firth production of Simon Gray’s Stage Struck together with Kenneth Baker. It was directed by Stephen Hollis and was staged in 1980. He starred in Leonard Schach’s production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal together with Helen Bourne and Michael McCabe for PACT in 1980. He starred in Tom Lehrer’s Tom Foolery together with Andre Hattingh, Tim Plewman and Jonathan Rands at the Intimate in 1981. He starred in Lee Blessing’s A Walk in the Woods at the Market in 1989.

Quoted from the programme of Tom Foolery in 1981: 'When the (Cockpit Players) disbanded he moved to Johannesburg and stayed until 1966 doing plays and musicals - Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, Irma La Douce and Stop the World I want to Get Off (for which he won Best Actor award) opposite Anna Quayle. During this time he did considerable amount of cabaret and made his first film Ride The High Wind in South West Africa (now Namibia). In 1966 he returned to England, and PACT then lured him back to play J. Robert Oppenheimer, Child's Play and Applause. Subsequent work includes Othello (Slegs Blankes) in Cape Town, for Toerien/Firth: A Streetcar Named Desire, Double Edge, Da and most recently Stage Struck, I Love My Wife, hosting Walk Right In for SATV, The Shrew at the Baxter, and Betrayal for PACT. Michael is married to lovely actress Joan Friedman, and they have three children, the youngest of whom, Travis, made his debut in May 1980.'

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