Theo Aronson

Theo Aronson (1929-2004) Writer, notably a royal biographer, actor and playwright.

He was born Theodore Ian Wilson Aronson as the son of a Latvian Jewish storekeeper at Kirkwood, in the Eastern Cape, on 14 November 1929. Educated at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth and then spent four years at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. While there he acted with Nigel Hawthorne.

He became a commercial artist with J. Walter Thompson in Johannesburg, then transferred to London, where he also worked part-time as a waiter. He had acquired an interest in royalty at a young age and went on to become one of the most successful and respected authors of books about European and British royalty.

In 1979 he left his cottage in Kommetjie, Cape Town, and settled in the market town of Frome, Somerset, England with his life partner, the historian Brian Roberts. He died there in May 2003 at the age of 73.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Starred in Leonard Schach’s production of The Young Elizabeth for the Johannesburg Reps in 1953. It was based on the life of Elizabeth I and was to mark the coronation of Elizabeth II. He went on to make his mark with a series of biographies chronicling the lives of the British royals.

He wrote the play Mr Rhodes and the Princess (1976).