Alan Howard

Alan Mackenzie Howard CBE (born August 5, 1937 in London , † February 14, 2015 in London ) was a British theater and film actor .

biography

Alan Howard comes from a well-known family of actors. His mother's family, Jean Compton Mackenzie, had produced several generations of actors since the early 19th century. His father Arthur John Howard was the younger brother of the British film star Leslie Howard , who played the role of Ashley Wilkes in the film Gone with the Wind .

Howard, who had never attended drama school, began his career in 1958 at the Belgrade Theater in Coventry . From 1967 to 1982 he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company , where he played one of the leading roles in numerous Shakespeare plays. He was widely regarded as one of the leading cast of hero roles from his generation of actors, one of his trademarks was his clear, loud voice. He has received numerous awards for his theater roles. 1998 Queen appointed him Elizabeth II. To the Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

Although the theater remained the focus of his acting work, Howard has also appeared in many motion pictures and television productions since 1961. He had one of his most famous cinema roles in Peter Greenaway's The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover as an intellectual and polite but defenseless lover of Helen Mirren's character. In Peter Jackson's three-part film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings , he gave the dark ruler Sauron and the eponymous ring his voice.

In 2004 Howard married his longtime partner, journalist and writer Sally Beauman, with whom he had a son. He died in February 2015 in his hometown of London at the age of 77 of complications from pneumonia .

Stage roles (selection)

• Half in Earnest , an adaptation of The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde , The Belgrade Theater, Coventry, 1958, as Footman
• Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare , The Belgrade Theater, Coventry, 1959, as Marullus and Messala
• Pygmalion by GB Shaw , The Belgrade Theater, Coventry, 1960, as Henry Higgins
• As You Like It by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1967, as Jacques
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970, as Hamlet
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1970, as Oberon and Theseus
• A Ride Across Lake Constance by Peter Handke , Hampstead Theater, London, 1973, as Eric von Stroheim
• Henry V by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1975, as Henry V
• Wild Oats by John O'Keeffe, Aldwych Theater, London, 1976, as Jack Rover
• Henry VI by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1977, as Henry VI
• Richard II by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1980, as Richard II
• Richard III by William Shakespeare, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1980, as Richard III
• Scenes From A Marriage by Ingmar Bergman , Minerva Studio Theater, Chichester, 1990, as Johann
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Royal National Theater (Olivier Theater) London, 1993, as Macbeth
• Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett , The Peter Hall Company at The Old Vic, 1997, as Vladimir
• The Hollow Crown by John Barton, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, 2005, as reader

Filmography (selection)

• 1961: The vicious circle (Victim)
• 1965: Password "Heavy Water" (The Heroes of Telemark)
• 1968: Work can also be bad (Work is a Four Letter Word)
• 1984: Oxford Blues - Help the Americans Are Coming ( Oxford Blues ; TV movie)
• 1988: An almost anonymous relationship ( Strapless ; TV movie)
• 1990: There is no going back ( Pride and extreme prejudice ; TV movie)
• 1989: The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover)
• 1989: The Return of the Musketeers
• 1989: Little Peace of Sunshine (TV movie)
• 1989: A Casualty of War (TV movie)
• 1990: The Summer of the Jackal (Death has a bad Reputation) (TV movie)
• 1993: Anna Lee (1): Daddys Darling ( Anna Lee (1): Headcase ; TV movie)
• 1993: The Secret Rapture
• 2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) (voice)
• 2001: Midsomer Murders - murders, when the leaves fall (Midsomer Murder: Dark Autumn) (TV series, one episode)
• 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) (voice)
• 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) (voice)

Web links

• The Alan Howard Web Theater
• Alan Howard in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Coveney: Alan Howard obituary . In: The Guardian . February 19, 2015, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed June 13, 2020]).
2. ^ Margalit Fox: Alan Howard, Actor With Royal Shakespeare Company, Dies at 77. In: The New York Times, February 23, 2015 (accessed February 24, 2015).