Alice Krige

Alice Krige (1954-) Internationally renowned stage and film actress.

Biography

Born on June 28, 1954, in Upington, South Africa, raised in Port Elizabeth. While still in primary school the family moved to Johannesburg for a year-and-a-half before moving to Cape Town for another year-and-a-half. The family then moved to Port Elizabeth and Alice was enrolled at the Erica school for standard five. The following year she entered the Collegiate Girl's School.

Once the family were settled in Port Elizabeth she was enrolled at Dorothy Sutherland's speech and drama school and was also a Merill Lane pupil.

In 1967 she acted in her first school production, The School for Scandal while in standard six. From September 9 until December 23, 1967.

In December 1967, Krige danced in the role of Little Eva in the Merille Lane Dancing Academy's presentation, which formed part of the Port Elizabeth Gilbert & Sullivan Society and the Theatre Guild presentation of The King and I. The show was produced by Helen Mann while Merille Lane and Yvonne Howell were responsible for the choreography.

She also performed in the 1967 production of Uncle Tom's Cabin at the Port Elizabeth Opera House.

In 1968 she played the part of Bianca in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew which was produced by Dorothy Sutherland. In April 1969, aged just 14, she landed the much sought-after role of Juliet in Helen Mann's production of Romeo and Juliet at the Port Elizabeth Opera House. She reaped much praise for her acting potential during this production.

Alice at first wanted to become a ballerina and participated in Ballet Mobile in December 1969, but her father later convinced her not to become a dancer.

Alice trained at Rhodes University Drama Department, graduating with an honours degree in 1975, and was discovered by South African filmmaker Elmo de Witt. In 1976 she starred in Elmo de Witt's Afrikaans film, Vergeet My Nie in 1976. and cast in the popular local film Kwikstertjie (?).

She went to England where she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, playing roles such as Cordelia (King Lear), Miranda (The Tempest) and Bianca (The Taming of the Shrew).

In 1981 she caught the international eye with her cameo appearance in the British Oscar-winning surprise Chariots of Fire. She also appeared in Star Wars; First Contact as the Borg Queen and went on to appear in popular American TV series such as Ellis Island, Dream West, Wallenberg - A Hero's Story, and the film King David, in which she portrayed Bathsheba.

She used to live in Malibu, California, with her husband Paul Schoolman, until their house burnt down during a wildfire in 2007 while they were in South Africa. They lost everything in the blaze. They then returned to London where they lived for many years before moving out of the city to live in Devon.

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

As a student she had stage appearances in A Scent of Flowers, Katherine Mansfield and the Writing Game, The Relapse, Six Characters in Search of an Author and directed the 1975 Honours class production of A A Milne's Winnie the Pooh.

Awards, etc.

An honorary doctorate was conferred on her by Rhodes University on 2 April 2004.

Sources

Weekend Post, 3 April 2004.

Personal interview with Alice Krige, May 2018.

Various entries in the NELM catalogue.

Wikipedia, [1].

IMDb [2]

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