Robert Stephens
Sir Robert Graham Stephens (born July 14, 1931 in Bristol , Somerset , England , † November 12, 1995 in London , England) was a British film and theater actor .
Life
Robert Stephens completed his acting training at the Northern Theater School in Bradford . In 1956 he was seen for the first time on a London stage with Arthur Miller's drama Witch Hunt . Stephens became known as a Shakespeare actor from the late 1950s and worked for many years at the Royal National Theater . He was considered one of the most renowned and well-known theater actors in England of his generation. Among other things, he was in Hamlet , Much Ado About Nothing and Heinrich V on stage. For the latter play he was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 1993.
Stephens also took part in numerous films and television series, but unlike other British theater greats, he never achieved great success there. Billy Wilder gave him his probably most important leading role in cinema in his film satire The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), where Stephens played the title character of the master detective. Otherwise, Stephens played mostly supporting roles, for example as "the prince" in Franco Zeffirelli's classic Shakespeare film Romeo and Juliet (1968) or in the role of Mr. Lockwood in Steven Spielberg's Das Reich der Sonne (1987).
Private life
Stephens has been married four times. While his first two wives, Nora Ann Simmonds and Tarn Bassett, did not work in the show business, the third, Maggie Smith and fourth wife Patricia Quinn are better known. Through Maggie Smith, Stephens became the father of both actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin . He had a long-standing, close friendship with actor Jeremy Brett .
Robert Stephens was at times considered an alcoholic . The Shakespeare actor nicknamed himself " Knight Errant ". This was also the title of his autobiography: Knight Errant: Memoirs of a Vagabond Actor, which appeared in Great Britain on November 2, 1995, just a few days before his death. He died at the age of 64 from complications after a liver and kidney transplant. On March 7, 1995, seven months before his death, Queen had him Elizabeth II. To Knight Bachelor beaten ( "Sir").
Filmography (selection)
- 1956: War and Peace (War and Peace)
- 1961: Bitter Honey (A Taste of Honey)
- 1961: Pirates of Tortuga
- 1962: The Inspector ( Lisa )
- 1963: Cleopatra (Cleopatra)
- 1963: The Gehetzte of Soho (The Small World of Sammy Lee)
- 1966: Protest (Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment)
- 1968: Romeo and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet)
- 1969: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)
- 1970: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes)
- 1972: Travels with My Aunt (Travels with my Aunt)
- 1973: Experiments (The Asphyx)
- 1974: Luther
- 1977: The Duellists (The Duellists)
- 1978: The Shout (The Shout)
- 1978: Holocaust - The Story of the White Family ( Holocaust ; TV miniseries, 4 episodes)
- 1981: The forbidden games of the Countess Dolingen von Gratz (Les jeux de la Comtesse Dolingen de Gratz)
- 1986: Rebellion of the Lawless (Comrades)
- 1987: Empire of the Sun (Empire of the Sun)
- 1988, testimony (Testimony)
- 1988: Firestorm and Ashes ( War and Remembrance ; television miniseries, 3 episodes)
- 1988: American Roulette (American Roulette)
- 1989: Henry V. (Henry V)
- 1990: Bonfire of the Vanities (The Bonfire of the Vanities)
- 1990: Meine liebe Rose (The Children)
- 1991: The bath doctor (Mio caro dottor Gräsler)
- 1991: The Pope Must Die (The Pope Must Die)
- 1991: fear of the dark (Afraid of the Dark)
- 1992: Chaplin (Chaplin)
- 1993: The King's Game - A Master Is Born (Searching for Bobby Fischer)
- 1995: England, My England
Web links
- Robert Stephens in Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Obituary for Robert Stephens
- ^ Robert Stephens at Allmovie
- ^ Obituary for Robert Stephens in the Independent
- ↑ Knights and Dames at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Stephens, Robert |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stephens, Robert Graham |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British film and stage actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | July 14, 1931 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Bristol , Somerset , England, UK |
DATE OF DEATH | November 12, 1995 |
Place of death | London , England, UK |