Tom Courtenay

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Tom Courtenay (1974)
Tom Courtenay (2015)

Sir Thomas Daniel Courtenay (born February 25, 1937 in Kingston upon Hull , Humberside , England ) is a British actor .

biography

With his first major role in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), based on a short story by Alan Sillitoe , Courtenay caught the attention of both cineastes and film producers. His next two films Geliebter Spinner (1963) and King and Country - For King and Fatherland (1964) were each nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival . With these films he became one of the great protagonists of the British New Wave .

He has been known to the general public at least since his role in the spy thriller Crossbow (1965) with Sophia Loren and George Peppard , but his best-known appearance was as Pasha in David Lean's Doctor Zhivago . For this he received an Oscar nomination for best male supporting actor. He then withdrew completely from the film business and concentrated on his career as a character actor in the theater.

He had an amazing comeback in 1983 with Albert Finney in An Unequal Couple , for which he received his second Oscar nomination (this time for best male leading actor). In 2001 he starred in the film The Last Round with Michael Caine , and in 2002 in the drama Nicholas Nickleby . In 2001 he was selected by Queen Elizabeth II. The Knights defeated. In 2009 he received his first Emmy nomination for the supporting role of Mr. Dorrit in the series Little Dorrit . Courtenay received a Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 2015 Berlinale for his role in 45 Years  (director: Andrew Haigh ) .

Courtenay was married to fellow actress Cheryl Kennedy from 1973 until their divorce in 1982. He has been married to theater manager Isabel Crossley since 1988.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Tom Courtenay  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Information on berlinale.de, accessed on February 15, 2015