name	Sir Michael Redgrave
birth name	Michael Scudamore Redgrave
birth date	March 20, 1908
birth place	Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
death date	March 21, 1985
death place	Denham, Buckinghamshire, England
death cause	Parkinson's disease
nationality	British
spouse	Rachel Kempson (m. 1935-85; his death)
children	Vanessa RedgraveCorin Redgrave (deceased)Lynn Redgrave (deceased)
parents	Roy RedgraveMargaret Scudamore
years active	1936-75
alma mater	Magdalene College, Cambridge }}

Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.

Youth and education

Redgrave was born in Bristol, England, the son of the silent film actor Roy Redgrave and the actress Margaret Scudamore. He never knew his father, who left when Michael was only six months old to pursue a career in Australia. His mother subsequently married Captain James Anderson, a tea planter, but Redgrave greatly disliked his stepfather.

He studied at Clifton College and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He was a schoolmaster at Cranleigh School in Surrey before becoming an actor in 1934. There he directed the boys in ''Hamlet'', ''King Lear'' and ''The Tempest'', but managed to play all the leading roles himself. The 'Redgrave Room' at the school was later named after him. In the new Guildford School of Acting building which opened in January 2010, there is the Sir Michael Redgrave studio.

Theatre career

Redgrave made his first professional appearance at the Liverpool Playhouse on 30 August 1934 as Roy Darwin in ''Counsellor-at-Law'' (by Elmer Rice), then spent two years with its Liverpool Repertory Company where he met his future wife Rachel Kempson. They married on 18 July 1935.

1930s

Offered a job by Tyrone Guthrie, he made his first professional appearance in London at the Old Vic on 14 September 1936, playing Ferdinand in ''Love's Labours Lost''. During the 1936-37 season he also played Mr Horner in ''The Country Wife'', Orlando in ''As You Like It'', Warbeck in ''The Witch of Edmonton'' and Laertes to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. His hit of the season was Orlando. Edith Evans was his Rosalind and the two fell very much in love. As he later explained: "Edith always had a habit of falling in love with her leading men; with us it just went rather further." ''As You Like It'' transferred to the New Theatre in February 1937 when he again played Orlando.

At the Embassy Theatre in March 1937 he played Anderson in a mystery play, ''The Bat'', before returning to the Old Vic in April, succeeding Marius Goring as Chorus in ''Henry V''. Other roles that year included Christopher Drew in Daisy Fisher's comedy ''A Ship Comes Home'' at the St Martin's Theatre in May and Larry Starr in Philip Leaver's comedy ''Three Set Out'' at the Embassy in June, before joining John Gielgud's Company at the Queen's Theatre, September 1937 to April 1938, where he played Bolingbroke in ''Richard II'', Charles Surface in ''The School for Scandal'' and Baron Tusenbach in ''Three Sisters''.

Other roles included:

Alexei Turbin in ''The White Guard'' (''The Days of the Turbins'' by Mikhail Bulgakov), Phoenix Theatre October 1938

Sir Andrew Aguecheek in ''Twelfth Night'', Phoenix December 1938

Harry, Lord Monchesney in ''The Family Reunion'' (T S Eliot), Westminster Theatre March 1939

Henry in ''Springtime for Henry'', touring 1939

Second World War

Once the London theatres were re-opened, after the outbreak of war, he played:

Captain Macheath in ''The Beggar's Opera'', Theatre Royal Haymarket, March 1940

Charleston in ''Thunder Rock'' (Robert Ardrey), Neighbourhood Theatre June 1940; Globe Theatre July 1940

Redgrave joined the Royal Navy as an Ordinary seaman in July 1941, but was discharged on medical grounds in November 1942. Having spent most of 1942 in the Reserve he managed to direct ''Lifeline'' (Norman Armstrong) starring Frank Pettingell at the Duchess Theatre in July; and ''The Duke in Darkness'' (Patrick Hamilton) starring Leslie Banks at the St James's Theatre in October, also taking the role of Gribaux.

Resuming his stage career he played/directed:

Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country'' (Turgenev), St James's Theatre March 1943

Lafont in six matinees of ''Parisienne'', a comedy by Henry Becque, translated by Ashley Dukes, (Redgrave also directed and managed) co-starring Sonia Dresdel, St James's Theatre June 1943

''Blow Your Own Trumpet'', a comedy by Peter Ustinov, (directed), Playhouse Theatre August 1943

''The Wingless Victory'', a period romance by Maxwell Anderson, (directed) starring Rachel Kempson as Faith Ingalls, Phoenix Theatre September 1943

Harry Quincey in ''Uncle Harry'', a thriller by Thomas Job, (also co-directed with William Armstrong) with Beatrix Lehmann as Leslie Quincey and Rachel Kempson as Lucy Forrest, Garrick Theatre March 1944

Colonel Stjerbinsky in ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'', a comedy by Franz Werfel, adapted by S N Behrman, (Redgrave also directed) with Rachel Kempson as Marianne, Piccadilly Theatre, June 1945

Post-war years

Title role in ''Macbeth'', Aldwych Theatre December 1947; National Theater, New York (NY debut, with Flora Robson as Lady Macbeth) 31 March 1948

Captain in ''The Father'' (August Strindberg) directed by Dennis Arundell with Freda Jackson as Laura, Embassy Theatre November 1948; and Duchess Theatre January 1949

Etienne in ''A Woman in Love'' (also co-adapted with Diana Gould and directed) with Margaret Rawlings as Germaine, Embassy April 1949

Joining the Old Vic Company at the New Theatre for its 1949–50 season, he played:

Berowne in ''Love's Labours Lost''

Marlow in ''She Stoops to Conquer''

Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country''

His first Hamlet, which he also played at the Zurich Festival, the Holland Festival and at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, June 1950

1950s

Redgrave joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre company at Stratford upon Avon and for the 1951 season appeared as Prospero in ''The Tempest'' as well as playing Richard II, Hotspur and Chorus in the Cycle of ''Histories'', for which he also directed ''Henry IV Part Two''. After appearing as Frank Elgin in ''Winter Journey'' at the St James's April 1952, he rejoined the Stratford company in 1953 (together with his actress wife Rachel Kempson) appearing as Shylock, King Lear and Antony in ''Antony and Cleopatra'', also playing Antony when the company transferred to the Princes Theatre in November 1953 before touring to Holland, Belgium and Paris.

At the Apollo in June 1955 he played Hector in ''Tiger at the Gates'', appearing in the same role at the Plymouth Theatre, New York in October 1955 for which he received the New York Critics Award. While in New York he directed ''A Month in the Country'' at the Phoenix Theatre in April 1956, and directed and played the Prince Regent in ''The Sleeping Prince'' at the Coronet Theatre in November 1956.

Returning to London in January 1958 he appeared as Philip Lester in ''A Touch of the Sun'' (N C Hunter) at the Saville Theatre — Best Actor in the Evening Standard Awards 1958 — before rejoining the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in June 1958, to play Hamlet and Benedick, also playing Hamlet with the company in Leningrad and Moscow in December 1958 (while his wife Rachel Kempson played Ursula in ''Much Ado About Nothing'' and Lady Capulet in ''Romeo and Juliet'').

At the Queen's Theatre in London in August 1959 he played HJ in his own adaptation of the Henry James novella ''The Aspern Papers''. His play was later to be successfully revived on Broadway in 1962, with Dame Wendy Hiller and Maurice Evans, while the 1984 London revival featured his daughter, Vanessa Redgrave, along with Christopher Reeve and Hiller, this time in the role of Miss Bordereau.

1960s

Roles included:

Jack Dean in ''The Tiger and the Horse'' by Robert Bolt (which Redgrave also co-presented, directed by Frith Banbury), Queen's Theatre August 1960

Victor Rhodes in ''The Complaisant Lover'' by Graham Greene, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, November 1961 - 101 performances

Returning to England, in July 1962 he took part in the Chichester Festival Theatre's opening season, playing the title role in Chekhov's ''Uncle Vanya'' to the Astrov of Laurence Olivier who also directed.

Alongside John Dexter's Chichester staging of ''Saint Joan'', Olivier's ''Uncle Vanya'' was first revived in Chichester in 1963 before transferring to the Old Vic as part of the nascent Royal National Theatre's inaugural season, winning rave reviews and Redgrave's second win as Best Actor in the 1963 Evening Standard Awards. Critic Michael Billington recalled: "In Redgrave's Vanya you saw both a tremulous victim of a lifetime's emotional repression and the wasted potential of a Chekhovian might-have-been: as Redgrave and Olivier took their joint curtain call, linked hands held triumphantly aloft, we were not to know that this was to symbolise the end of their artistic amity."

Redgrave played (and co-presented) Lancelot Dodd MA in Arthur Watkyn's ''Out of Bounds'' at Wyndham's Theatre in November 1962, following it at the Old Vic with his portrayal of Claudius opposite the Hamlet of Peter O'Toole in 22 October 1963. This ''Hamlet'' was in fact the National Theatre's official opening production, directed by Olivier, but Simon Callow has dubbed it "slow, solemn, long", while Ken Campbell vividly described it as "brochure theatre."

In January 1964 at the National he played the title role in ''Hobson's Choice'', which he admitted was well outside his range: "I couldn't do the Lancashire accent and that shook my nerve terribly - all the other performances suffered." While still at the National in June 1964 he also played Halvard Solness in ''The Master Builder'', which he said 'went wrong'. At this time he had incipient Parkinson's disease, although he did not know it.

In May and June 1965 Redgrave directed the opening festival of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, including directing and playing Rakitin in ''A Month in the Country'' (co-starring with Ingrid Bergman as Natalya Petrovna), and Samson in ''Samson Agonistes'' (co-starring with Rachel Kempson as Chorus). He again played Rakitin in September 1965, when his production transferred to the Cambridge Theatre in London. For the Glyndebourne Festival Opera he directed ''Werther'' in 1966 and ''La Boheme'' in 1967.

1970s

At the Mermaid Theatre in July 1971 he played Mr Jaraby in ''The Old Boys'' (William Trevor) and had an unfortunate experience: "My memory went, and on the first night they made me wear a deaf aid to hear some lines from the prompter and it literally fell to pieces - there were little bits of machinery all over the floor, so I then knew I really couldn't go on, at least not learning new plays."

Nevertheless, he successfully took over the part of Father in John Mortimer's ''A Voyage Round My Father'' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, also touring Canada and Australia in the role in 1972-73. International touring continued in 1974-75 with a Royal Shakespeare Company production of ''The Hollow Crown'', visiting major venues in the US and Australia, while in 1976-77 he toured South America, Canada and the UK in the anthology, ''Shakespeare's People''.

Redgrave's final theatre appearance came in May 1979 when he portrayed Jasper in Simon Gray's ''Close of Play'', directed on the Lyttelton stage at the National Theatre by Harold Pinter. It was a silent, seated role, based on Gray's own father, who had died a year before he wrote the play. As Gray has said: "Jasper is in fact dead but is forced to endure, as if alive, a traditional English Sunday, helpless in his favourite armchair as his three sons and their wives fall to pieces in the usual English middle-class style, sometimes blaming him, sometimes appealing to him for help and sobbing at his feet for forgiveness, but basically ignoring him. In other words I had stuck him in Hell, which turns out to be 'life, old life itself'."

His final work, in 1975, a narrative of the epic poem, ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'', by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a poem that Redgrave taught as a young schoolmaster and visualized by producer-director Raul da Silva, received six international film festival prizes of which five were first place in category. This work was to be his last before the onslaught of Parkinson's disease.

Film and television work

Redgrave first appeared on BBC television at the Alexandra Palace in 1937, in scenes from ''Romeo and Juliet''. His first major film role was in Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938). Redgrave also starred in ''The Stars Look Down'' (1939), with James Mason in the film of Robert Ardrey's play ''Thunder Rock'' (1942), and in the ventriloquist's dummy episode of the Ealing compendium film ''Dead of Night'' (1945).

His first American film role was opposite Rosalind Russell in ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1951 he starred in ''The Browning Version'', from Terence Rattigan's play of the same name. The ''Daily Mirror'' described Redgrave's performance as Crocker-Harris as "one of the greatest performances ever seen in films". The 1950s also saw Redgrave in ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1952), ''The Dambusters'' (1954), and ''1984'' (1956).

Notable television performances include voice-overs for ''The Great War'' (1964), a history of the first World War using stills and 'stretched' archive film, and the less successful ''Lost Peace'' series (BBC Television, 1964 and 1966). Of the latter, Philip Purser wrote: "The commentary, spoken by Sir Michael Redgrave, took on an unremittingly pessimistic tone from the outset."

Last years and death

Redgrave died in a nursing home in Denham, Buckinghamshire, in 1985, from Parkinson's disease, one day after his 77th birthday.

Personal life

Family

Redgrave was married to the actress Rachel Kempson for 50 years from 1935 until his death. Their children Vanessa (b. 1937), Corin (1939–2010) and Lynn Redgrave (1943–2010) and their grandchildren - Natasha (1963–2009), Joely Richardson (b. 1965) and Jemma are also involved in theatre or film as actors. His grandson Carlo Gabriel Nero is a screenwriter and film director whilst Luke Redgrave is not connected to acting.

His daughter Lynn created a one-woman play for herself called ''Shakespeare for My Father'', in which she was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award, in which she traced her love for Shakespeare as a way of following and finding her often absent father.

Redgrave owned White Roding Windmill from 1937 to 1946. He and his family lived in "Bedford House" on Chiswick Mall from 1945 to 1954. His entry for ''Who's Who in the Theatre'' (1981) gives his address as Wilks Water, Odiham, Hampshire.

Bisexuality

Corin helped his father in the writing of his last autobiography. During one of Corin's visits to his father, the latter said, "There is something I ought to tell you". Then, after a very long pause, "I am, to say the least of it, bisexual". Corin encouraged him to acknowledge his bisexuality in the book. Michael agreed to do so, but in the end he chose to remain silent about it. Alan Strachan's 2004 biography of Redgrave discusses his affairs with both men and women.

The 1996 BBC documentary film ''Michael Redgrave: My Father'', narrated by Corin Redgrave, and based on his book of the same name, discusses Michael's bisexuality in some depth. Rachel Kempson recounted that, when she proposed to him, Redgrave said that there were "difficulties to do with his nature, and that he felt he ought not to marry". She said that she understood, it didn't matter and that she loved him. To this, Redgrave replied, "Very well. If you're sure, we will".

During the filming of Fritz Lang's ''Secret Beyond the Door'' (1948), Redgrave met Bob Michell. They became lovers, Michell set up house close to the Redgraves, and he became a surrogate "uncle" to Redgrave's children (then aged 11, 9 and 5), who adored him. Michell later had children of his own, including a son he named Michael.

A card was found among Redgrave's effects after his death. The card was signed "Tommy, Liverpool, January 1940", and on it were the words (quoted from W. H. Auden): "The world is love. Surely one fearless kiss would cure the million fevers".

Honours, awards and appointments

Redgrave twice (1958 and 1963) won Best Actor trophies in the Evening Standard Awards and twice received the Variety Club of Great Britain 'Actor of the Year' Award (in the same years).

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1952 and was knighted in 1959. He was also appointed Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog, Denmark in 1955.

Redgrave became the First President of the English Speaking Board in 1953, and President of the Questors Theatre, Ealing in 1958.

In 1966 he received an honorary DLitt degree from the University of Bristol.

The Redgrave Theatre in Farnham, Surrey, 1974–1998, was named in his honour.

Filmography

''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938)

''Climbing High'' (1938)

''Stolen Life'' (1939)

''The Stars Look Down'' (1939)

''The Big Blockade'' (1940)

''A Window in London'' (1940)

''Atlantic Ferry'' (1941)

''Kipps'' (1941)

''Jeannie'' (1941)

''Thunder Rock'' (1942)

''The Way to the Stars'' (1945)

''Dead of Night'' (1945)

''The Captive Heart'' (1946)

''The Years Between'' (1946)

''The Man Within'' (1947)

''Fame is the Spur'' (1947)

''Mourning Becomes Electra'' (1947)

''Secret Beyond the Door...'' (1948)

''The Browning Version'' (1951)

''The Magic Box (1951)

''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (1952)

''The Green Scarf'' (1954)

''The Sea Shall Not Have Them'' (1954)

''The Night My Number Came Up'' (1955)

''Mr. Arkadin'' (1955)

''The Dam Busters'' (1955)

''Oh... Rosalinda!!'' (1955)

''1984'' (1956)

''Time Without Pity'' (1957)

''The Happy Road'' (1957)

''Behind the Mask'' (1958)

''The Quiet American'' (1958)

''Law and Disorder'' (1958)

''Shake Hands with the Devil'' (1959)

''The Wreck of the Mary Deare'' (1959)

''The Innocents'' (1961)

''No My Darling Daughter'' (1961)

''The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'' (1962)

''Uncle Vanya'' (1963)

''The Hill'' (1965)

''The Heroes of Telemark'' (1965)

''Alice in Wonderland'' (1966)

''The 25th Hour'' (1967)

''Heidi'' (1968) (TV)

''Assignment K'' (1968)

''Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969)

''Battle of Britain'' (1969)

''Goodbye, Mr. Chips'' (1969)

''David Copperfield'' (1969)

''Goodbye Gemini'' (1970)

''Connecting Rooms'' (1970)

''The Go-Between'' (1970)

''A Christmas Carol'' (1971), ''narration''

''Nicholas and Alexandra'' (1971)

''The Last Target'' (1972)

''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (1975), ''narration''

Writings

Redgrave wrote four books:

''The Actor's Ways and Means'' Heinemann (1953)

''Mask or Face: Reflections in an Actor's Mirror'' Heinemann (1958)

''The Mountebank's Tale'' Heinemann (1959)

''In My Mind's I: An Actor's Autobiography'' Viking (1983) ISBN 0670142336

His plays include ''The Seventh Man'' and ''Circus Boy'', both performed at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1935, and his adaptations of ''A Woman in Love'' (''Amourese'') at the Embassy Theatre in 1949 and the Henry James novella ''The Aspern Papers'' at the Queen's Theatre in 1959.

Further reading

''Who's Who in the Theatre'' 17th edition, Gale (1981) ISBN 0810302157

Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

''The Great Stage Stars'' by Sheridan Morley, Angus & Robertson (1986) ISBN 0207149704

References

External links

Category:1908 births Category:1985 deaths Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Category:Bisexual actors Category:LGBT parents Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:Old Cliftonians Category:People from Bristol Category:Royal National Theatre Company members Category:Shakespearean actors Category:LGBT people from England Category:20th-century actors

an:Michael Redgrave ca:Michael Redgrave cy:Michael Redgrave de:Michael Redgrave es:Michael Redgrave fr:Michael Redgrave it:Michael Redgrave he:מייקל רדגרייב ja:マイケル・レッドグレイヴ no:Michael Redgrave pl:Michael Redgrave pt:Michael Redgrave ro:Michael Redgrave fi:Michael Redgrave sv:Michael Redgrave

name	Jessie Matthews
birth name	Jessie Margaret Matthews
birth date	March 11, 1907
birth place	London, England, UK
death date	August 19, 1981
death place	Eastcote, England, UK
occupation	Actress, singer, dancer
years active	1919–1981
spouse	Brian Lewis (1945–1959)Sonnie Hale (1931–1944)Harry Lytton (1926–1929)}}

Jessie Matthews, OBE (11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.

Early life

Jessie Margaret Matthews was born in Soho, London, in relative poverty, the seventh of sixteen children (of whom eleven survived) of a fruit-and-vegetable seller. She debuted on stage on 29 December 1919, aged 12, in ''Bluebell in Fairyland'', by Seymour Hicks, music by Walter Slaughter and lyrics by Charles Taylor, at the Metropolitan Music Hall, Edgware Road, London, as a child dancer; she made her film debut in 1923 in the silent film ''The Beloved Vagabond''.

Career

Matthews was in the chorus in ''Charlot Review in London''. She went with the show to New York, where she was also understudy to the star, Gertrude Lawrence. When Lawrence fell ill, she took over the role and was given great reviews. Matthews was acclaimed in the United Kingdom as a dancer and as the first performer of numerous popular songs of the 1920s and 1930s, including "A Room with a View" and ''London Calling!'' by Noël Coward and "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" by Cole Porter. After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, Matthews developed a following in the USA, where she was dubbed "The Dancing Divinity". Her British studio was reluctant to let go of its biggest name, which resulted in offers for her to work in Hollywood being repeatedly rejected.

Matthews' fame reached its initial height with her lead role in the 1930 stage production of ''Ever Green'', premiered at the Alhambra Theatre Glasgow , a musical by Rodgers and Hart that was partly inspired by the life of music hall star Marie Lloyd, and her daughter's tribute act resurrection of her mother's acclaimed Edwardian stage show as ''Marie Lloyd Junior''. At its time ''Ever Green'' was the most expensive musical ever mounted on a London stage. The 1934 cinematic adaptation (''Evergreen'') featured the newly composed song ''Over My Shoulder'' which was to go on to become Matthews' personal theme song, later giving its title to her autobiography and to a 21st-century musical stage show of her life.

Her distinctive warbling voice and round cheeks made her a familiar and much-loved personality to British theatre and film audiences at the beginning of World War II, but her popularity waned in the 1940s after several years' absence from the screen followed by an unsatisfactory thriller, "Candles at Nine". Post-war audiences associated her with a world of hectic pre-war luxury that was now seen as obsolete in austerity-era Britain.

After a few false starts as a straight actress she played Tom Thumb's mother in the 1958 children's film, and during the 1960s found new fame when she took over the leading role of Mary Dale in the BBC's long-running daily radio soap, 'The Dales', formerly 'Mrs Dale's Diary'.

Live theatre and variety shows remained the mainstay of Matthews' work through the 1950s and 1960s, with successful tours of Australia and South Africa interspersed with periods of less glamorous but welcome work in British provincial theatre and pantomimes. She became a stalwart nostalgia feature of TV variety shows such as ''The Night Of A Thousand Stars'' and ''The Good Old Days''.

Jessie Matthews was awarded an OBE in 1970 and continued to make cabaret and occasional film and television appearances through the decade including one-off guest roles in the popular BBC series ''Angels'' and an episode of the ITV mystery anthology ''Tales of the Unexpected''.

She took her one-woman stage show to Los Angeles in 1979 and won the United States Drama Logue Award for the year's best performance in concert.

Marriages

In 1926 she married the first of her three husbands, actor Henry Lytton, Jr., the son of singer and actress Louie Henri and Sir Henry Lytton the doyen of the Savoy Theatre. They divorced in 1929. The second and longest marriage was to actor-director Sonnie Hale; the third to military officer, Lt. Brian Lewis. All of her marriages ended in divorce and were marred by affairs and a series of unsuccessful pregnancies.

With Hale she had one adopted daughter, Catherine Hale-Monro, who married Count Donald Grixoni on 15 November 1958; they eventually divorced but she remained known as Catherine, Countess Grixoni.

Controversies

Matthews had several romantic relationships conducted in the public eye, often courting controversy in the newspapers. The most notorious was her relationship with the married Sonnie Hale. A high-court judge denounced her as an "odious" individual when her love letters to Hale were used as evidence in the case of his divorce from his wife, actress/singer Evelyn 'Boo' Laye.

It took some time for Matthews' popularity to recover from this scandal. ''"If I ceased to be a star"'', she wrote in a piece for ''Picturegoer'' in 1934, ''"all that interest in my home life would evaporate, I believe. Perhaps it is the price one has to pay for being a star"''.

Theatre

''Bluebell in Fairyland'' - 1919

''Max Box Review'' - 1923

''Charlot Review'' - 1924

''Charlot Show of 1926'' - 1926

''One Dam Thing after Another'' - 1927

''This year of Grace'' - 1928

''Wake Up and Dream'' - 1929

''Ever Green'' - 1930

Filmography

''This England'' (1923)

''The Beloved Vagabond'' (1923)

''Straws in the Wind'' (1924)

''Out of the Blue'' (1931)

''The Midshipmaid'' (1932)

''There Goes the Bride'' (1932)

''The Good Companions'' (1933)

''The Man from Toronto'' (1933)

''Strauss's Great Waltz'' (aka ''Waltzes from Vienna'') (1933)

''Friday the Thirteenth'' (1933)

''Evergreen'' (1934)

''First a Girl'' (1935)

''It's Love Again'' (1936)

''Gangway'' (1937)

''Head Over Heels in Love'' (1937; aka ''Head Over Heels'')

''Climbing High'' (1938)

''Sailing Along'' (1938)

''Forever and a Day'' (1943)

''Candles at Nine'' (1944)

''tom thumb'' (1958)

''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (1978)

Death

She had suffered from periods of ill-health throughout her life and eventually died of cancer, aged 74.

Legacy

Matthews was the focus of a British episode of ''This Is Your Life'' in the 1960s, and a posthumous biography from the BBC's ''40 Minutes'' (1987), ''Catch A Fallen Star''.

Bibliography and sources

''Over My Shoulder'', by Jessie Matthews and Muriel Burgess, W.H. Allen Publisher, 1974 (ISBN 0-491-01572-0)

''Jessie Matthews - A Biography'', by Michael Thornton, Hart-Davis Publisher, 1974 (ISBN 0-246-10801-0)

''Oxford Companion to Popular Music'', Peter Grimmond, Oxford University Press, 1991 (ISBN 0-19-280004-3)

References

External links

Biographical article - Daily Mail by Michael Thornton

British Pictures biography

Radio Days biography (includes audio clips)

BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Centenary programme

All Music and All Movie Guide profiles

Their Record Speaks for Them in-depth article about her recording career

*

Category:1907 births Category:1981 deaths Category:English Protestants Category:Cancer deaths in England Category:English dancers Category:English film actors Category:English musical theatre actors Category:English radio personalities Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:People from Eastcote Category:People from Soho Category:20th-century actors

de:Jessie Matthews es:Jessie Matthews fr:Jessie Matthews

name	Paul Lukas
birth name	Pál Lukács
birth date	May 26, 1891
birth place	Budapest, Hungary
death date	August 15, 1971
death place	Tangier, Morocco
occupation	Actor
years active	1916–70
spouse	? (1916–1917) (divorced) Daisy Benes (1927–62) (her death) Annette M. Driesens (1963–71) (his death)}}

Paul Lukas (May 26, 1891 – August 15, 1971) was an Austrian-Hungarian-born actor.

Biography

Born Pál Lukács in Budapest, he arrived in Hollywood in 1927 after a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917. At first, he played elegant, smooth womanizers, but increasingly he became typecast as a villain. In 1933, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

He was busy in the 1930s, appearing in such films as the melodrama ''Rockabye'', the crime caper ''Grumpy'', Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Lady Vanishes'', the comedy ''Ladies in Love'', and the drama ''Dodsworth''. He followed William Powell and Basil Rathbone portraying the series detective Philo Vance, a cosmopolitan New Yorker, once in 1935 in ''The Casino Murder Case'', but his major role came in 1943's ''Watch on the Rhine'', when he played a man working against the Nazis (he had played the same role on Broadway in 1941). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role, winning out over luminary efforts as Humphrey Bogart in ''Casablanca'', Gary Cooper in ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', Walter Pidgeon in ''Madame Curie'', and Mickey Rooney in ''The Human Comedy''. In the same year, he guest starred as the eponymous character in an episode of Suspense, "Mr. Markham, Antique Dealer".

To modern viewers, Paul Lukas is best known for his role as Professor Aronnax in Walt Disney's classic 1954 film version of Jules Verne's ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea''. By that time, however, he was, at age 63, suffering from memory problems during the production, apparently leading him to lash out at cast and crew alike. Even friend Peter Lorre was not immune to the abuse.

In the 1940s, Lukas was a charter member of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a conservative lobbying group opposed to possible Communist influence in Hollywood.

The remainder of his career moved from Hollywood to the stage to television. His only singing role was as Cosmo Constantine in the original 1950 Broadway stage version of Irving Berlin's ''Call Me Madam'', opposite Ethel Merman (although he is heard singing a song in the 1933 film ''Little Women'', displaying a pleasant voice).

He died August 16, 1971, in Tangier, Morocco, reportedly while searching for a place to spend his retirement years.

Lukas has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6841 Hollywood Blvd.

Selected filmography

''Samson and Delilah'' (1922)

''Behind the Make-Up'' (1930)

''The Benson Murder Case'' (1930)

''The Devil's Holiday'' (1930)

''Grumpy'' (1930)

''City Streets'' (1931)

''Strictly Dishonorable'' (1931)

''Downstairs'' (1932)

''Rockabye'' (1932)

''The Kiss Before the Mirror'' (1933)

''Secret of the Blue Room'' (1933)

''Captured!'' (1933)

''Little Women'' (1933)

''The Casino Murder Case'' (1935)

''The Three Musketeers'' (1935)

''I Found Stella Parish'' (1935)

''Dodsworth'' (1936)

''Ladies in Love'' (1936)

''Brief Ecstasy'' (1937)

''Dinner at the Ritz'' (1937)

''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938)

''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' (1939)

''Captain Fury'' (1939)

''Strange Cargo'' (1940)

''The Ghost Breakers'' (1940)

''The Monster and the Girl'' (1941)

''Watch on the Rhine'' (1943)

''Uncertain Glory'' (1944)

''Address Unknown'' (1944)

''Experiment Perilous'' (1944)

''Deadline at Dawn'' (1946)

''Temptation'' (1946)

''Whispering City'' (1947)

''Berlin Express'' (1948)

''Kim'' (1950)

''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'' (1954)

''The Roots of Heaven'' (1958)

''Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'' (1962)

''Tender Is the Night'' (1962)

''55 Days at Peking'' (1963)

''Fun in Acapulco'' (1963)

''Lord Jim'' (1965)

''Sol Madrid'' (1968)

''The Challenge'' (1970)

References

External links

Category:1895 births Category:1971 deaths Category:People from Budapest Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:California Republicans Category:American people of Hungarian descent Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:Deaths from cardiovascular disease Category:Hungarian silent film actors

an:Paul Lukas bg:Пол Лукас ca:Paul Lukas cs:Paul Lukas de:Paul Lukas el:Πολ Λούκας es:Paul Lukas fr:Paul Lukas it:Paul Lukas he:פול לוקאס nl:Paul Lukas ja:ポール・ルーカス no:Paul Lukas pl:Paul Lukas pt:Paul Lukas ro:Paul Lukas ru:Лукас, Пол sr:Пол Лукас fi:Paul Lukas sv:Paul Lukas yo:Paul Lukas

name	Corin Redgrave
birthname	Corin William Redgrave
birth date	July 16, 1939
birth place	Marylebone, London, England
death date	April 06, 2010
death place	Tooting, London, England
nationality	British
alma mater	Kings College, Cambridge
occupation	Actor
yearsactive	1964–2009
spouse	Deirdre Hamilton-Hill(m. 1962–1975, divorced)Kika Markham(m. 1985–2010, his death)
children	Jemma, Luke, Harvey, Arden
parents	Michael Redgrave (deceased)Rachel Kempson (deceased) }}

Corin William Redgrave (16 July 19396 April 2010) was an English actor and political activist.

Early life

Redgrave was born in Marylebone, London, the only son and middle child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. He was educated at the independent Westminster School and at King's College, Cambridge.

Career

Redgrave played a wide range of character roles on film, television and stage.

On stage, he was noted for performances by Shakespeare (such as ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Henry IV, Part 1'','' Antony and Cleopatra'', and ''The Tempest'') and Noel Coward (notably a highly successful revival of ''A Song At Twilight'' co-starring his sister Vanessa Redgrave and his second wife, Kika Markham).

For his role as the prison warden Boss Whalen in the Royal National Theatre production of Tennessee Williams's Not About Nightingales, Redgrave was nominated for an Evening Standard Award, and after a successful transfer of the production to New York, his performance garnered him a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play, in 1999.

In 2005, Redgrave had just finished an engagement playing the lead in ''King Lear'' with the Royal Shakespeare Company in London when he suffered a severe heart attack. In 2008, he returned to the stage a highly praised portrayal of Oscar Wilde in the one-man-play De Profundis. In 2009, he starred in ''Trumbo'', which opened only hours after the death of his niece, Natasha Richardson.

On screen he is best known for his roles in such acclaimed and diverse films as ''A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), ''Excalibur'' (1981) as the doomed Cornwall, ''In the Name of the Father'' (1993) as the corrupt lead police investigator, ''Persuasion'' and ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' (1994) as Hamish, the fiancee of Andie MacDowell's character.

Redgrave appeared in British television programs such as ''Ultraviolet'', ''The Vice'', ''Trial & Retribution'', ''Shameless'', ''Foyle's War'', ''The Relief of Belsen'' and the Emmy Award-winning telefilm ''The Girl in the Cafe'', in which he played the prime minister. He took the lead part of Sir George Grey in the 1977 New Zealand TV miniseries The Governor.

He wrote a play ''Bluntly Speaking'', which has been produced at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Politics

Redgrave was a lifelong activist in left-wing politics. With his elder sister Vanessa, he was a prominent member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party and wrote articles for the official journal of the Marxist Party. More recently, he became a defender of the interests of the Romani people.

Both Redgrave and his second wife, Kika Markham, expressed support for Viva Palestina, a humanitarian convoy, led by British MP George Galloway, attempting to break the siege of the Gaza Strip.

Family

Corin Redgrave was part of the third generation of a theatrical dynasty spanning four generations.

His paternal grandparents were Roy Redgrave and Margaret Scudamore.

His parents were Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson. He wrote a biography of his father.

His older sister is Vanessa; his younger sister was Lynn Redgrave; through Vanessa, his nieces were Natasha and Joely Richardson, and his nephew is Carlo Gabriel Nero.

His first marriage was to Deirdre Deline Hamilton-Hill (1939–1981). They had a daughter, actress Jemma Redgrave, and a son, Luke, a camera operator and production assistant. Redgrave and Hamilton-Hill divorced in 1975. Redgrave had two sons, Harvey (born 1979) and Arden (born 1983) by actress Kika Markham. Redgrave and Markham married in 1985 in Wandsworth, London, and remained together until Redgrave's death.

He wrote a memoir about his strained relationship with his father titled ''Michael Redgrave - My Father'', which incorporates passages from Michael's diaries. It was also noted for revealing his father's bisexuality.

Health problems and death

Redgrave was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000. In June 2005, he was described by his family as being in a critical but stable condition in hospital following a severe heart attack at a public meeting in Basildon, Essex. In March 2009, Redgrave returned to the London stage playing the title role in ''Trumbo'', based on the life of the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. On the opening night, Redgrave dedicated his performance to the memory of his niece Natasha Richardson who had died earlier that week in a skiing accident.

He died on 6 April 2010 in St George's Hospital, Tooting, South West London. His funeral was held on 12 April 2010 at St Paul's, Covent Garden, London.

His ex-wife Deirdre died of cancer in 1997. His sister Lynn died of breast cancer on 2 May 2010, less than a month after his death.

Filmography

! Year	! Film	! Role	! Notes
			TV series (1 episode: "Chips with Everything")
	Quentin Slim	TV series (1 episode: "Lobster Quadrille")
	Brother Lucius
		Rupert's Friend	''uncredited''
''The Big Spender''	Copley	TV series
		David
	Roper
	''The Gambler''	Mr. Astley	TV mini-series (1 episode: "Episode #1.1")
	Cpt. Featherstonhaugh
	Kelvin Walker	TV series (1 episode: "The Fall of Kelvin Walker")
	Frank Hogan
	Jonathan Harker	TV series (1 episode: "Dracula")
	Captain Wimmel
		Arthur Huntingdon	TV series (3 episodes)
	Bertie Smith
''Tower of London: The Innocent''		TV movie
''Canterbury Tales''		TV series (1 episode: "Episode #1.2")
''ITV Sunday Night Theatre''	Willie Tatham	TV series (1 episode: "Aren't We All?")
	James Steerforth	TV movie
		Richard	TV series (1 episode: "Rest in Peace, Uncle Fred")
	Amos Green	TV series (1 episode: "Amos Green Must Live")
''Paul Temple''	Rolf	TV series (2 episodes)
	''Hassan''		TV movie
	Hunslett
	Gigi
	''Thick as Thieves''	Trevor	TV movie
		Octavius
	Dr. Edward Trenbow
	''Sérail''	Eric Sange
		Cornwall
	''L'ombre sur la plage''	Harry
		Worsley
''Wagner''	Dr. Pusinelli	TV series (1 episode: "Episode #1.1")
		Sir Thomas Neathouse
		Robert Dixon
		Hamish - Wedding Two
	Sir Walter Eliot
''Performance''	Angelo/Earl of Worcestor	TV series (2 episodes)
	Patrick Hooper	TV series (1 episode: "The Unfaithful Husband")
''Circles of Deceit: Dark Secret''	Harry Summers	TV movie
		Oscar Wilde
		Dr. Kitson	TV movie
''The Ice House''	D.C.I. George Walsh	TV movie
''Prime Suspects''	Commissioner
	Robert Rylands QC	TV series (5 episodes: 1997-2002)
		Dr. Paul Hoyle/John Doe	TV series (2 episodes)
	''The Strange Case of Delphina Potocka or The Mystery of Chopin''	Judge
	Lord Buller	TV series (2 episodes)
	John Woodley	TV series (1 episode: "The More Loving One")
		Duggie Ord
''Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story''	Narrator
		Admiral Trowbridge
	Devine
			TV movie
		TV movie
	Chief Inspector Clements
		TV movie
	Jolyon Forsyte Sr.	TV mini-series (4 episodes)
	Sir James Beatty	TV series (2 episodes)
		TV series (1 episode: "Entertaining Mr. Soane")
''Foyle's War''	ACC Rose	TV series (2 episodes)
		Mr. Hammersley	TV series (1 episode: "Episode #1.5")
	Professor
	David Swift	TV series (1 episode: "Episode #3.4")
	''The Trial of the King Killers''	Sir Orlando Bridgman
''The Girl in the Cafe''	Prime Minister	TV movie
	''Welcome to World War One''		''short''
			TV movie
	''La rabbia''	Producer 1
	''The Calling''	The Bishop
	Oliver
	Professor	TV movie
	Gabe	TV series (1 episode: "The Test")

References

External links

BBC Radio Plays by Corin Redgrave

Corin Redgrave Online memorial page

London Times obituary

BBC News obituary

Obituary in Socialist Worker

Category:1939 births Category:2010 deaths Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from London Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Category:British Trotskyists Category:Disease-related deaths in England Category:English activists Category:English communists Category:English film actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:Old Westminsters Category:People from Marylebone Category:Shakespearean actors Category:Workers Revolutionary Party (UK) members

cy:Corin Redgrave de:Corin Redgrave es:Corin Redgrave fr:Corin Redgrave hr:Corin Redgrave it:Corin Redgrave he:קורין רדגרייב nl:Corin Redgrave no:Corin Redgrave pl:Corin Redgrave pt:Corin Redgrave ru:Редгрейв, Корин sv:Corin Redgrave

Name	Sean Connery
Birth name	Thomas Sean Connery
Birth date	August 25, 1930
Birth place	Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1954–2006, 2010
Spouse	Diane Cilento (m. 1962-73)Micheline Roquebrune(m. 1975-present)
Relatives	Neil Connery (brother)
Website	http://www.seanconnery.com }}

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).

Connery is best-known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six "official" EON productions films and the non-official ''Thunderball'' remake, ''Never Say Never Again''). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ''The Untouchables''. His film career also includes such films as ''Marnie'', ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'', ''The Hunt for Red October'', ''Highlander'', ''Murder on the Orient Express'', ''Dragonheart'', and ''The Rock''. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by ''People'' magazine, and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".

Early life

Connery's great grand parents emigrated to Scotland from Ireland in the mid 19th century. Thomas Sean Connery, named Thomas after his grandfather, was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, to Euphemia "Effie" (née Maclean), a cleaning woman, and Joseph Connery, a factory worker and lorry driver. Both his mother's parents were native Scottish Gaelic speakers from Fife and Uig on the Isle of Skye. His father was a Roman Catholic Scot, while his mother was a Protestant. He has a younger brother, Neil (b. 1938). Connery claims he was called Sean, his middle name, long before becoming an actor, explaining that when he was young he had an Irish friend named Séamus and that those who knew them both had decided to call Connery by his middle name whenever both were present. He was, however, generally referred to in his youth as "Tommy". Although he was small in primary school, he grew rapidly around the age of 12, reaching his full adult height of 6 ft 2 inches (188 cm) at 18. He was known during his teen years as "Big Tam", and claims to have lost his virginity to an adult woman in an ATS uniform at the age of 14.

Connery's first job was as a milkman in Edinburgh with St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society. He then joined the Royal Navy during which time he opted for two tattoos that are described on his official website as "unlike many tattoos, his were not frivolous - his tattoos reflect two of his lifelong commitments: his family and Scotland. After six decades, his tattoos still reflect those two ideas: One tattoo is a tribute to his parents and reads "Mum and Dad," and the other is self explanatory, "Scotland Forever."

Connery was later discharged from the navy on medical grounds because of a duodenal ulcer,a condition which was hereditary and had affected most of the males in the family in generations before him. Afterwards, he returned to the co-op, then worked as, among other things, a lorry driver, a lifeguard at Portobello swimming baths, a labourer, an artist's model for the Edinburgh College of Art, after a suggestion by former Mr. Scotland, Archie Brennan. and a coffin polisher. The modelling earned him 15 shillings an hour,

Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18 and from 1951 time trained heavily with Ellington, a former gym instructor in the British army. While his official website claims he was third in the 1950 Mr. Universe contest, most sources place him in the 1953 competition, either third in the Junior class or failing to place in the Tall Man classification. One of the other competitors mentioned that auditions were being held for a production of ''South Pacific''; and Connery landed a small part. While in Edinburgh, Connery was targeted by the notorious Valdor gang, one of the most ruthless gangs in the city. He was first approached by them in a billiard hall on Lothian Street where he prevented them from stealing from his jacket and was later followed by six gang members to a 15 ft high balcony at the Palais. There Connery launched an attack single-handedly against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and the other by a biceps and cracked their heads together. From then on he was treated with great respect by the gang and gained a reputation as a "hard man".

Connery was a keen footballer, having played for Bonnyrigg Rose in his younger days. He was offered a trial with East Fife. While on tour with ''South Pacific'', Connery played in a football match against a local team that Matt Busby, manager of Manchester United, happened to be scouting. According to reports, Busby was impressed with his physical prowess and offered Connery a contract worth £25 a week immediately after the game. Connery admits that he was tempted to accept, but he recalls, "I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves."

Career

1950s

Looking to pick up some extra money, Connery helped out backstage at the King's Theatre in late 1951. He became interested in the proceedings, and a career was launched.

In 1957, Connery played Spike, a minor gangster with a speech impediment in Montgomery Tully's ''No Road Back'' alongside Skip Homeier, Paul Carpenter, Patricia Dainton and Norman Wooland. He then played a rogue lorry driver Johnny Yates in Cy Endfield's ''Hell Drivers'' (1957) alongside Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins and Patrick McGoohan. Later in 1957 Connery appeared in Terence Young's poorly received MGM action picture ''Action of the Tiger'' opposite Van Johnson, Martine Carol, Herbert Lom and Gustavo Rojo; the film was shot on location in southern Spain. He also had a minor role in Gerald Thomas's thriller ''Time Lock'' (1957) as a welder, appearing alongside Robert Beatty, Lee Patterson, Betty McDowall and Vincent Winter, which commenced filming on December 1, 1956 at Beaconsfield Studios.

In 1958 he had a major role in the melodrama ''Another Time, Another Place'' (1958) as a British reporter named Mark Trevor, caught in a love affair opposite Lana Turner and Barry Sullivan. During filming, star Lana Turner's possessive gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, who was visiting from Los Angeles, believed she was having an affair with Connery. He stormed onto the set and pointed a gun at Connery, only to have Connery disarm him and knock him flat on his back, causing Stompanato to be banned from the set. Connery later recounted that he had to lie low for a while after receiving threats from men linked to Stompanato's boss, Mickey Cohen.

In 1959, Connery landed a leading role in Robert Stevenson's Walt Disney Productions film ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' (1959) alongside Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, and Jimmy O'Dea. The film is a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with leprechauns. Upon the film's initial release, A. H. Weiler of the ''New York Times'' praised the cast (save Connery whom he described as "merely tall, dark, and handsome") and thought the film an "overpoweringly charming concoction of standard Gaelic tall stories, fantasy and romance.". In his book ''The Disney Films'', film critic and historian Leonard Maltin stated that, "''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' is not only one of Disney's best films, but is certainly one of the best fantasies ever put on film."

He also had a prominent television role in Rudolph Cartier's 1961 production of ''Anna Karenina'' for BBC Television, in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.

James Bond: 1962–71, 1983

Connery's breakthrough came in the role of secret agent James Bond. He played the character in the first five Bond films: ''Dr. No'' (1962), ''From Russia with Love'' (1963), ''Goldfinger'' (1964), ''Thunderball'' (1965), and ''You Only Live Twice'' (1967) -- then appeared again as Bond in ''Diamonds Are Forever'' (1971) and ''Never Say Never Again'' (1983). All seven films were commercially successful.

James Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, originally doubted Connery's casting, saying, "He's not what I envisioned of James Bond looks" and "I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man," adding that Connery (muscular, 6' 2", and a Scot) was unrefined. However, Fleming's girlfriend told him Connery had the requisite sexual charisma. Fleming changed his mind after the successful ''Dr. No'' premiere; he was so impressed, he created a half-Scottish, half-Swiss heritage for the literary James Bond in the later novels.

Connery's portrayal of Bond owes much to stylistic tutelage from director Terence Young, polishing the actor while using his physical grace and presence for the action. Robert Cotton wrote in one Connery biography that Lois Maxwell (the first Miss Moneypenny) noticed, "Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat." Cotton wrote, "Some cast members remarked that Connery was simply doing a Terence Young impression, but Young and Connery knew they were on the right track."

In 2005, ''From Russia with Love'' was adapted by Electronic Arts into a video game, titled ''James Bond 007: From Russia with Love'', which featured all-new voice work by Connery as well as his likeness, and those of several of the film's supporting cast.

Beyond Bond

While making the Bond films, Connery also starred in other acclaimed films such as Alfred Hitchcock's ''Marnie'' (1964) and ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974). Apart from ''The Man Who Would Be King'' and ''The Wind and the Lion'', both released in 1975, most of Connery's successes in the next decade were as part of ensemble casts in films such as ''Murder on the Orient Express'' (1974) with Vanessa Redgrave and John Gielgud and ''A Bridge Too Far'' (1977) co-starring Dirk Bogarde and Laurence Olivier.

In 1981, Connery appeared in the film ''Time Bandits'' as Agamemnon. The casting choice derives from a joke Michael Palin included in the script, in which he describes the character removing his mask as being "Sean Connery — or someone of equal but cheaper stature". When shown the script, Connery was happy to play the supporting role.

After his experience with ''Never Say Never Again'' in 1983 and the following court case, Connery became unhappy with the major studios and for two years did not make any films. Following the successful European production ''The Name of the Rose'' (1986), for which he won a BAFTA award, Connery's interest in more commercial material was revived. That same year, a supporting role in ''Highlander'' showcased his ability to play older mentors to younger leads, which would become a recurring role in many of his later films. The following year, his acclaimed performance as a hard-nosed Irish-born cop in ''The Untouchables'' (1987) earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his sole nomination throughout his career. His subsequent box-office hits included ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' (1989), in which he played Henry Jones Sr., the title character's father, ''The Hunt for Red October'' (1990) (where he was reportedly called in at two weeks' notice), ''The Russia House'' (1990), ''The Rock'' (1996), and ''Entrapment'' (1999). In 1996, he voiced the role of Draco the dragon in the animated film ''Dragonheart''. Both ''Last Crusade'' and ''The Rock'' alluded to his James Bond days. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wanted "the father of Indiana Jones" (although Connery is only 12 years older than Ford) to be Connery since Bond directly inspired the ''Indiana Jones'' series, while his character in ''The Rock'', John Patrick Mason, was a British secret service agent imprisoned since the 1960s. In 1998, Sean Connery received a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award.

In recent years, Connery's films have included several box office and critical disappointments such as ''First Knight'' (1995), ''The Avengers'' (1998), and ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (2003), but he also received positive reviews, including his performance in ''Finding Forrester'' (2000). He also later received a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema.

Retirement

Connery stated in interviews for the film (included on the DVD release) that he was offered a role in ''The Lord of the Rings'' series, declining it due to "not understanding the script." CNN reported that the actor was offered up to 15% of the worldwide box office receipts to play Gandalf, which had he accepted, could have earned him as much as $400 million for the trilogy. After the series went on to become a huge hit, Connery decided to accept the lead role in ''League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'', despite not "understanding" it either. In July 2005, it was reported that he had decided to retire from film-making, following disillusionment with the "idiots now making films in Hollywood" and the turmoil making the 2003 film.

In September 2004, media reports indicated that Connery intended to retire after pulling out of ''Josiah's Canon'', which was set for a 2005 release. However, in a December 2004 interview with ''The Scotsman'' newspaper from his home in the Bahamas, Connery explained he had taken a break from acting in order to concentrate on writing his autobiography. At the Tartan Day celebrations in New York in March 2006, Connery again confirmed his retirement from acting, and stated that he is now writing a history book. On 25 August 2008, his 78th birthday, Connery unveiled his autobiography, ''Being a Scot'', co-written with Murray Grigor.

He was planning to star in an $80 million movie about Saladin and the Crusades that would be filmed in Jordan before the producer Moustapha Akkad was killed in the 2005 Amman bombings. When Connery received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award on 8 June 2006, he again confirmed his retirement from acting. On 7 June 2007, he denied rumours that he would appear in the fourth ''Indiana Jones'' film, stating that "retirement is just too much damned fun".

Connery returned to voice acting, playing the title character in the animated short ''Sir Billi the Vet'', and in 2005 he recorded voiceovers for a new video game version of his Bond film ''From Russia with Love''. In an interview on the game disc, Connery stated that he was very happy that the producers of the game (EA Games) had approached him to voice Bond and that he hoped to do another one in the near future. In 2010, he reprised his role as the title character in the animated film ''Sir Billi'', serving also as executive producer.

In April 2011, his spokesman confirmed that Connery has retired from making public appearances.

In the film ''Transformers: Dark of the Moon'', the character Sentinel Prime's features were mostly based on Connery. When Leonard Nimoy was to voice the role, however, the effects were altered to incorporate Nimoy's acting as well.

Personal life

Connery dated an attractive blonde named Julie Hamilton in the 1950s; given his rugged appearance and rough charm she initially thought he was the most appalling person and was not attracted to him until she saw him in a kilt. He also shared a mutual attraction with black jazz singer Maxine Daniels, whom he met at the Empire Theatre and made a pass at her, only to be informed by her that she was already happily married with a baby daughter. Connery was married to actress Diane Cilento from 1962 to 1973. They had a son, actor Jason Connery. Connery has been married to Moroccan-French painter Micheline Roquebrune (born 1929) since 1975.

Connery, a keen golfer, owned the Domaine de Terre Blanche in the South of France for twenty years (from 1979) where he planned to build his dream golf course on the of land but the dream was not realised until he sold it to German billionaire Dietmar Hopp in 1999. Connery has also always had an interest in football. He presently supports Rangers F.C. having previously been a Celtic F.C. fan. Commenting on his change of allegiance, Connery stated "I've always supported the team I thought played the best soccer...religious affiliations in sport mean nothing to me." He has been awarded the rank of Shodan in Kyokushin karate.

Connery was knighted in July 2000.

Scottish National Party

Connery is a member of the Scottish National Party, a centre-left political party campaigning for Scottish independence, and has supported the party financially and through personal appearances. In 2008, Connery said in the ''Scottish Sunday Express'' he believed that Scotland will become an independent country within his lifetime and praised the work of the SNP in a minority government after having won the 2007 Scottish Parliamentary elections. Connery has been frequently criticised for remaining outspoken on UK politics while living as a tax exile in the Bahamas. He was also criticised for accepting a knighthood from the Labour government, despite being a vocal critic of it. He has donated thousands of pounds to the SNP and has sworn not to return to Scotland until it is independent.

Health

In 1993, news that Connery was undergoing radiation treatment for an undisclosed throat ailment sparked media reports that the actor was suffering from throat cancer following years of heavy smoking, and he was falsely declared dead by the Japanese and South African news agencies. Connery immediately appeared on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' to deny all of this. In a February 1995 interview with ''Entertainment Weekly'', he said that the radiation treatment was to remove nodules from his vocal cords. (His father, a heavy smoker, died from throat cancer in 1972.) In 2003, he had surgery to remove cataracts from both eyes. On 12 March 2006, he announced he was recovering from surgery in January to remove a kidney tumour. In 2008, he chipped a bone in his shoulder after falling while playing golf. In October 2009, he told ''Wine Spectator'' magazine that he has been diagnosed with a heart condition.

Tribute

Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot". A bronze bust sculpture of Connery was placed in the capital city of Estonia.

Connery shared a Henrietta Award with Charles Bronson for "World Film Favorite – Male" in 1972.

Filmography

''No Road Back'' ''Hell Drivers (film) ''Action of the Tiger'' ''Time Lock'' ''Another Time, Another Place (1958 film) '''' ''Darby O'Gill and the Little People'' ''Tarzan's Greatest Adventure'' ''On the Fiddle'' '''' '''' ''Dr. No (film) ''From Russia with Love (film) ''Marnie (film) ''Woman of Straw'' ''Goldfinger (film) '''' ''Thunderball (film) '''' '''' ''You Only Live Twice (film) '''' ''Shalako (film) '''' '''' '''' ''Diamonds Are Forever (film) ''España campo de golf'' '''' ''Zardoz'' ''Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film) ''Ransom (1975 film) '''' '''' '''' ''Robin and Marian'' '''' '''' '''' ''Meteor (film) ''Cuba (film) ''Outland (film) ''Time Bandits'' ''G'olé!'' ''Five Days One Summer'' ''Wrong Is Right'' ''Sean Connery's Edinburgh'' ''Never Say Never Again'' ''Sword of the Valiant'' ''Highlander (film) '''' '''' '''' ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' ''Family Business (film) '''' '''' ''Highlander II: The Quickening'' ''Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' ''Medicine Man (film) ''Rising Sun (film) '''' ''Just Cause (film) ''First Knight'' ''Dragonheart'' '''' '''' ''Playing by Heart'' ''Entrapment (film) ''Finding Forrester'' '''' ''From Russia with Love (video game)

Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1954	''Lilacs in the Spring''	Undetermined role
1957	|	Spike
1957	Hell Drivers'' ||	Johnny Kates
1957	|	Mike
1957	|	Welder #2
1958	Another Time, Another Place'' ||	Mark Trevor
1958	|	RMS Titanic deck hand	uncredited
1959	|	Michael McBride
1959	|	O'Bannion
1961	|	Pedlar Pascoe
1961	|	Paddy Damion
1962	|	Pte. Flanagan
1962	Dr. No'' ||	James Bond (character)>James Bond
1963	From Russia with Love'' ||	James Bond
1964	Marnie'' ||	Mark Rutland
1964	|	Anthony Richmond
1964	Goldfinger'' ||	James Bond
1965	|	Trooper Joe Roberts
1965	Thunderball'' ||	James Bond
1966	|	Himself	(cameo)
1966	|	Samson Shillitoe
1967	You Only Live Twice'' ||	James Bond
1967	|	Himself	(Director; documentary)
1968	Shalako'' ||	Moses Zebulon 'Shalako' Carlin
1970	|	Jack Kehoe
1971	|	Roald Amundsen
1971	|	John Anderson
1971	Diamonds Are Forever'' ||	James Bond
1972	|	Himself	(short subject)
1973	|	Detective Sergeant Johnson
1974	|	Zed
1974	Murder on the Orient Express'' ||	Colonel Arbuthnot
1975	Ransom'' ||	Nils Tahlvik
1975	|	Himself	(documentary)
1975	|	Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni>Mulay Achmed Mohammed el-Raisuli the Magnificent
1975	|	Daniel Dravot
1976	|	Robin Hood
1976	|	Khalil Abdul-Muhsen
1977	|	Maj. Gen. Roy Urquhart
1979	|	Edward Pierce/John Simms/Geoffrey
1979	Meteor'' ||	Dr. Paul Bradley
1979	Cuba'' ||	Maj. Robert Dapes
1981	Outland'' ||	Marshal William T. O'Niel	Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Actor
1981	|	Agamemnon>King Agamemnon/Fireman
1982	|	Narrator	(documentary)
1982	|	Douglas Meredith
1982	|	Patrick Hale
1983	|	Himself	(short subject)
1983	|	James Bond	(Unofficial James Bond film)
1984	|	Green Knight>The Green Knight
1986	Highlander'' ||	Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
1986	|	William of Baskerville	BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1987	|	Jim Malone
1988	|	Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell
1989	|	Henry Jones, Sr.>Professor Henry Jones Senior
1989	Family Business'' ||	Jessie McMullen
1990	|	Captain Marko Ramius	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
1990	|	Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair
1991	|	Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
1991	|	King Richard I	(uncredited cameo)
1992	Medicine Man'' ||	Dr. Robert Campbell
1993	Rising Sun'' ||	Capt. John Connor	(also executive producer)
1994	|	Dr. Alex Murray
1995	Just Cause'' ||	Paul Armstrong	(also executive producer)
1995	|	King Arthur
1996	|	Draco	(voice)
1996	|	Capt. John Patrick Mason (Ret.)	(also executive producer)
1998	|	Sir August de Wynter
1998	|	Paul
1999	Entrapment'' ||	Robert MacDougal	(also producer)
2000	|	William Forrester
2003	|	Allan Quatermain	(also executive producer)
2005	From Russia with Love'' ||	James Bond	(voice and likeness) video game

References

Bibliography

External links

BBC: Sean Connery Biography (1999)

Profile @ Turner Classic Movies

Photographs and literature

Category:1930 births Category:Actors awarded British knighthoods Category:European Film Awards winners (people) Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Cecil B. DeMille Award Golden Globe winners Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Légion d'honneur recipients Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Royal Navy sailors Category:Scottish people of Irish descent Category:Scottish bodybuilders Category:Scottish film actors Category:Scottish film producers Category:Scottish nationalists Category:Scottish stage actors Category:Scottish television actors Category:Scottish actors Category:Scottish voice actors Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic F.C. players Category:British film actors Category:British bodybuilders

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