Alec McCowen

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Alexander "Alec" Duncan McCowen (born May 26, 1925 in Royal Tunbridge Wells , England ; † February 6, 2017 in London , England) was a British theater and film actor and director .

Life

McCowen grew up as the son of shopkeeper Duncan McCowen and dancer Mary McCowen, née Walkden, in Tunbridge Wells, southeast England, and attended the local Skinners' School . He took acting classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. With the role of Mickey in the play Paddy, the Next Best Thing at the Repertory Theater in Macclesfield , McCorwen made his debut as a stage actor in 1942.

In the following years McCowen played mainly classical roles, including in several Shakespeare productions. With Love in a Mist he went on tour through India and Burma in 1945. In 1950 he had first appearances at the London Arts Theater, a year later his Broadway debut in the ensemble of a double production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra at the Ziegfeld Theater .

McCowen played his first screen role in the war film The Great Atlantic in 1953. He worked for decades in various film productions, including as investigative commissioner in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972) and as quartermaster in Sean Connery's last James Bond film Never Say Never (1983), as well as some television series, but remained primarily a theater actor . He played his last screen role in 2002 in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York .

Until the 1990s, McCowen mainly played on the London theater stages. At the Old Vic Theater around 1960 he embodied Richard II in the drama of the same name and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream in addition to several smaller roles . He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company , which toured Europe, the Soviet Union and the United States with King Lear . He has also directed several theaters, including performances of plays by Martin Crimp and Terence Rattigan at the Orange Tree Theater and the Hampstead Theater .

McCowen also wrote books on acting and published his two-part autobiography under the titles Young Gemini and Double Bill in 1979 and 1980. His partner, actor Geoffrey Burridge, died of AIDS in 1987 .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

McCowen was three times as best actor with the Evening Standard Theater Award awarded: 1968 Hadrian VII , in 1973 for The Misanthrope (The Misanthrope) and 1982 for The Portage to San Cristobal of AH

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Michael Billington: Alec McCowen Obituary. In: The Guardian . February 7, 2017, accessed February 8, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Alec McCowen Biography (1925–). In: filmreferences.com. Retrieved February 8, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Alec McCowen - Biography. In: Internet Movie Database . Retrieved February 8, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Hal Erickson: Alec McCowen Biography. In: Fandango.com. Retrieved July 8, 2017 .
  5. ^ Alec McCowen, British Actor Who Played Saint and Fool, Dies at 91 . ( nytimes.com [accessed July 31, 2018]).
  6. ^ Winner of the 1982 Evening Standard Awards. In: Albemarle of London. Archived from the original on September 17, 2010 ; accessed on August 5, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME McCowen, Alec
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McCowen, Alexander Duncan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British theater and film actor and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Royal Tunbridge Wells , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 2017
Place of death London , England