Richard Pearson (actor)

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Richard Pearson (born August 1, 1918 in Monmouth , Monmouthshire , Wales , † August 2, 2011 in Northwood , London , England ; full name Richard de Pearsall Pearson ) was a Welsh actor .

Life

Education and theater

Pearson was born Richard de Pearsall Pearson in south east Wales. He attended Aymestrey Court School in Worcester and Monmouth School .

He made his stage debut in 1937 at the Collins Music Hall in Islington , North London, as Dallis in the comedy The Ruined Lady by Frances Nordstrom (1883-1956). Pearson then played at the West Cliff Theater in Clacton-on-Sea in several repertoire productions; with the play The Housemaster by John Hay Beith (1876-1952) he went on tour. In 1938 he made his debut in London's West End at the Gate Theater in the play Private History by James Frances Courage (1903-1963). In 1938 he took on the role of Larry in the play They Walk Alone by Max Catto ; with this piece Pearson went on tour.

His theater career was interrupted by the Second World War. He served in the 52nd Lowland Infantry Division , was " mentioned in Despatches " and was discharged from the army in 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel .

After the Second World War he took up his career as a stage actor again; he first played in small London theaters, including the Embassy Theater and The Q Theater . From the 1940s he appeared in numerous West End productions, including Family Portrait by Lenore J. Coffee (Strand Theater, 1948), The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry (Duchess Theater, 1949), Macadam and Eve by Roger MacDougall (Aldwych Theater, 1951), The Mortimer Touch by Eric Linklater (Duke of York's Theater, 1952), Both Ends Meet by Arthur Macrae (Apollo Theater, 1954), A Likely Tale by Gerald Savory (Globe Theater, 1956, with Margaret Rutherford as partner) and The Iron Duchess by William Douglas-Home (Cambridge Theater, 1957, with Athene Seyler as partner).

As an actor, Pearson interpreted a wide repertoire , which included plays by William Shakespeare , the classic English playwrights such as Oliver Goldsmith or George Bernard Shaw , the theater of the turn of the century , but also plays from modern times and contemporary theater. Most of the time he embodied characters who exuded security and reliability; he often played lawyers, doctors, policemen and churchmen.

In 1958 he took over at the Lyric Hammersmith Theater in London starring the pianist Stanley Webber at the London premiere of the play The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter , for which he received great reviews.

He had other leading roles on the theater stage, alongside Maggie Smith , as the jealous husband Charles Sidley in the play The Private Eye by Peter Shaffer (Globe Theater, 1962), as the aging husband Harry in the play Staircase by Charles Dyer (Arts Theater , Cambridge , 1969), as Cardinal in Tiny Alice by Edward Albee (Aldwych Theater, 1970, with Irene Worth as partner), as William Cecil in Vivat! Vivat Regina! by Robert Bolt (Chichester Festival Theater and Piccadilly Theater, London, 1970/1971; with Eileen Atkins as partner), as Mr. Hardcastle in She Stoops To Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (Young Vic Theater, 1972), as Sorin in Die Möwe ( Chichester Festival Theater, 1973) and as lawyer Mr. Bardolph in Lettice and Lovage by Peter Shaffer (Globe Theater, 1987), again at Maggie Smith's side. With Smith he played again in 1993 in a production of The Importance of Being Earnest at the Aldwych Theater in London; he embodied a "charismatic" Reverend Chasuble.

Movie and TV

Pearson made his film debut in 1950 in a minor role as a sergeant in the British drama The Girl Is Mine . 1951 followed the role of Mr. Tupper in the British literary film A Christmas Story .

Pearson played mainly supporting roles in the film, such as Osborn in The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), as an accountant in A Successful Dud (1967), as a patient in Sunday, Bloody Sunday , as Doctor Haydock in Mord im Spiegel (1980) and as State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense in the comedy The Bomb Flies (1988). He has appeared several times in films directed by Roman Polański : as a doctor in Macbeth (1971), as pastor of Marlott in Tess (1979) and as a padre in Piraten (1986).

Pearson has worked for television since 1947. He has had episode roles in various television series , including Bleak House (1959), The Days of Vengeance (1960), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1960), Martin Chuzzlewit (1964), Z-Cars (1965-1967), The Forsyte Saga (1967), Middlemarch (1968), The First Churchills (1969), Crown Court (1973; 1977) and Thérèse Raquin (1980).

1983/1984 he had a recurring series role in the British television series A Fine Romance . He played the role of Tom Dalton, the warm and loving father of the female lead Laura Dalton, played by Judi Dench . In 1985, he starred as villager Mr. Pye in the crime thriller film The Shadow Hand in the Miss Marple television series.

In the 1980s and 1990s he took on other guest roles in television series. He played Alfred, the absent-minded and absent-minded brother of series character Victor Meldrew, in the sitcom One Foot in the Grave (1992), Doctor Piggott in the British sitcom Love Hurts (1992-1995), the retired Harry King in My Good Friend (1995 –1996) and the father of character Gary Cole in the British comedy series Men Behaving Badly (1995).

Private

Pearson married British actress Patricia Dickson in 1949 ; both met in 1948 during a successful joint audition for the play This Is Where We Came In . The marriage resulted in two sons. Pearson died the day after his 93rd birthday in an old people's home for actors in Northwood, London .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1950: The Girl Is Mine
  • 1950: The Woman in Question
  • 1950: On the wrong track ( The Clouded Yellow )
  • 1951: A Christmas Story ( Scrooge )
  • 1953: The Blue Parrot
  • 1958: Angry Sea ( Sea Fury )
  • 1958–1959: Our Mutual Friend (TV series)
  • 1959: Dancers in Mourning (TV series)
  • 1959: Bleak House (TV series)
  • 1960: The Days of Vengeance (TV series)
  • 1960: The Mystery of Edwin Drood (TV series)
  • 1961: Secret assignment for John Drake (TV series)
  • 1961: Attempt to Kill
  • 1962: Escape from the darkness ( Guns of Darkness )
  • 1964: Martin Chuzzlewit (TV series)
  • 1964: The Yellow Rolls-Royce ( The Yellow Rolls-Royce )
  • 1965–1967: Z-Cars (TV series)
  • 1967: The Forsyte Saga ( The Forsyte Saga , TV series)
  • 1967: A Successful Dud ( Charlie Bubbles )
  • 1967: How I Won the War ( How I Won the War )
  • 1968: Middlemarch (TV series)
  • 1969: The First Churchills (TV series)
  • 1971: Sunday, Bloody Sunday ( Sunday, Bloody Sunday )
  • 1971: Macbeth ( The Tragedy of Macbeth )
  • 1972: Pope Joan ( Pope Joan )
  • 1973; 1977: Crown Court (TV series)
  • 1975: Love at dusk ( Love Among the Ruins )
  • 1976: The Blue Bird ( The Blue Bird )
  • 1979: Tess ( Tess )
  • 1980: Murder in the Mirror ( The Mirror Crack'd )
  • 1980: Thérèse Raquin (TV series)
  • 1983–1984: A Fine Romance (TV series)
  • 1984-1988: The Wind in the Willows ( The Wind in the Willows )
  • 1985: Miss Marple - The Shadow Hand
  • 1985: Wasser - The Movie ( Water )
  • 1986: Pirates ( Pirates )
  • 1988: The Bomb Flies ( Whoops Apocalypse )
  • 1990: Freddie and Max (TV series)
  • 1992: One Foot in the Grave (TV series)
  • 1992–1995: Love Hurts (TV series)
  • 1995: Men Behaving Badly (TV series)
  • 1995–1996: My Good Friend (TV series)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Richard Pearson obituary in: The Daily Telegraph, August 3, 2011
  2. ^ A b c d Richard Pearson obituary in: The Guardian, August 2, 2011
  3. ^ A b c Richard Pearson obituary in: The Scotsman, August 4, 2011
  4. ↑ Actor Richard Pearson has died in: Der Standard from August 2, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Pearson, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pearson, Richard de Pearsall (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 1, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Monmouth , Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH August 2, 2011
Place of death Northwood , London, England, United Kingdom