Nigel Hawthorne

(19**-20**) Actor. Born in Coventry, England, the son of Agnes Rosemary (née Rice) and Charles Barnard Hawthorne, a physician. He grew up in South Africa, where he was educated at St George's Grammar School, Cape Town and Christian Brothers College. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town but withdrew and returned to the United Kingdom in the 1950s to pursue a career in acting.

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 Player’s 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. He left South Africa permanently for London in 1962, where he had a long, varied and successful career. 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. 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 returned briefly to South Africa in 1995, to make the film Inside with director Arthur Penn on his return.

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.

Sources

On South African period see Schach, 19**, Tucker, 1997

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. 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 Garratt, Robert Cheetham, Doreen Graves (Costumes).