Nigel Hawthorne

(1929-2001) Actor. Born in Coventry, England, the son of Agnes Rosemary (née Rice) and Charles Barnard Hawthorne, a physician. The family came to Cape Town in 1932. He grew up in central Cape Town (no 80 Queen Victoria Street) and later in Camps Bay, and was educated at St George's Grammar School, Cape Town and Christian Brothers College, Green Point. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town, while participating in amateur and semi-professional theatre in Cape Town. However, he dropped out of University and returned to the United Kingdom in the 1951 to pursue a career in acting, though returning regularly to star in local productions between 1951 and 1961 (see below).

He left South Africa permanently for London in 1962, where he had a long, varied and highly successful career.

His stage career involved ** roles productions, including characters such as Macbeth, **, ** and Lear, in his final production (2001).

His film and TV career was equally remarkable. He began with an advert for Mackeson stout and a bit part in Dad's Army, then went on to one of his most famous roles as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the television series Yes Minister (and Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister), for which he won four BAFTA awards, and as King George III in Alan Bennett's stage play The Madness of George III (Olivier Award) and the film version entitled The Madness of King George, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He made ** films over the years, and performed in ** plays. Hawthorne was also a voice actor, and lent his voice to two Disney films. In 1985, he voiced Fflewddur Fflam in The Black Cauldron, and in 1999, he voiced Professor Porter in Tarzan.

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1987, and was knighted in 1999. His autobiography Straight Face appeared in 2002.

His contribution to South African theatre

He made his professional stage debut in 1950, playing Archie Fellows in a Cape Town production of The Shop at Sly Corner. He began his professional career with Brian Brooke. He starred in Leonard Schach’s Cockpit Players production of Basil Warner’s Try for White, which opened in 1959 at the Pretoria Opera House before moving to the Intimate Theatre for the remainder of their highly successful run. It also starred Marjorie Gordon, Zoë Randall, Michael Turner. Joyce Grant and Fiona Fraser replaced Minna Millsten and Heather Lloyd-Jones respectively, from the Cape Town cast. He starred in A Long Day's Journey into Night at the Intimate Theatre for the Cockpit Players, together with John McKelvey, Joan Blake and Leon Gluckman in 1959. He starred in Thornton Wilder’s lively period-New York comedy, The Matchmaker, which was staged by the Cockpit Players in 1959. 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 Michael McGovern and Siegfried Mynhardt.

After this he left the country permanently in 1962, working mainly in England and Hollywood (see above) and only returned briefly to South Africa in 1995, to make the film Inside with director Arthur Penn.

MORE DATA - To be edited

HAWTHORNE, Nigel. (1929-2002) Actor. Born in Coventry, England on 5 April, 1929. Came to South Africa as a child, went to Christian Brother's College and University of Cape Town. First stage appearance in 1950 at the Hofmeyr Theatre, Cape Town as "Archie" in The Shop at Sly Corner [for Brian Brooke?*]. His first London appearance was in Can't Take it with You in 1951. Returned to South Africa in 1957 to play in Look Back in Anger (1957) for the Cockpit Players, for which he also did Try for White (1959) and The Caretaker (1960). He also acted in **'s production of The Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1958) and O'Neill's A Long Day's Journey into Night (1958). In 1961 he returned to England to do Talking to You in the West End. He has now made a niche for himself in England. Among his best remembered stage roles are ***, *** and the lead in The Madness of King George (199*). Also did radio and television work, becoming nationally known for his television work (notably the Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister series for the BBC).Later in life he broke through in film, winning numerous awards, including an Oscar, for the film of The Madness of King George. Knighted in 2000, died in 2002.

HAWTHORNE, Nigel. He starred in Thornton Wilder’s lively period-New York comedy, The Matchmaker, which was staged by the Cockpit Players in 1959. This enduring show, also starring Marjorie Gordon as Dolly Levi, John McKelvey, Michael McGovern, Robert Haber and Heather Lloyd-Jones, became the musical Hello, Dolly!. 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 Michael McGovern and Siegfried Mynhardt. He Left for London in 1962 and returned again in 1995, after his success abroad which included London’s Olivier Award, Broadway’s Tony and an Oscar nomination. He made the film Inside with director Arthur Penn on his return. * (Tucker, 1997)

HAWTHORNE, NIGEL (19** + 2001). Trained at UCT. Cast in several plays by Leonard Schach for NTO v/d the Cockpit Players in 1957. Leave for England in 1951. He performed in Yes, Minister, Shadowlands & The Madness of King George. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (Australian comedy-drama)by Ray Lawler, presented by NTO, Marjorie Gordon, Edward Ogden & Bill Brewer. Frank Graves (décor), 1958. Later changes: Fiona Fraser, Joan Blake, Jane Fenn, Elspeth Bryce, Eveline Garrat, Robert Cheetham, Doreen Graves (Costumes).

Sources

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Hawthorne

Hawthorne, 2002

Tucker, 1997

Inskip, 19**

Schach, 19**

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