Alan Badel
(1923–82),British actor. A player of great flair, he appeared in 1950 at Stratford-upon-Avon as Claudio in Measure for Measure and as Lear's Fool. He vividly proved his versatility the ...
Albert Finney
(1936– )English actor. One of the young, rough-edged regional actors of the English new wave theatre, Finney has proven to be a versatile performer in classical and comic roles. After ...
Alec McCowen
(1925– )Restrained and intelligent English actor who worked with regional repertory theatres in the 1940s. He joined the Old Vic in 1959 and was quickly established as a versatile actor ...
amateur theatre
In Britain amateur theatre reached its height in the 19th century, when many of the best-known amateur societies were founded, among them the Old Stagers, who have given performances closely ...
Barry Jackson
(1879–1961)English director and manager. Trained as an architect, Jackson was heir to a fortune derived from one of the leading grocery firms in the Midlands. In 1907 he founded ...
Birmingham
City in West Midlands, Eng., with splendid mus. tradition. Fest. was held there triennially, with occasional breaks, from 1768 to 1912. Costa cond., 1849–82; Mendelssohn's Elijah f.p. 1846 and ...
Brian Cox
(b. Dundee, 1 June 1946)Actor. His first professional appearance, with Dundee Repertory Theatre (1961), was followed by seasons at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Since ...
Cedric Hardwicke
(1893–1964)English actor, knighted in 1934. After beginning with Frank Benson's company, Hardwicke moved to the Old Vic in 1914. After the war he joined the Birmingham Rep, then shifted ...
Christopher Morley
(1937– )English designer. The structural simplicity of Morley's scenographic approach came to prominence in 1966 in his brightly lit golden box within a larger box for Gaskill's controversial Royal ...
Cyril Tourneur
(?1575–1626),dramatist. Practically nothing is known of his life. His small known output includes The Atheist's Tragedy (1611) and an elegy on the death of Prince Henry (1613). The Revenger's ...
Dame Peggy Ashcroft
1907–1991)British actress. She was made a DBE in 1956.Born in Croydon, Ashcroft studied drama at the Central School of Dramatic Art and began her long and distinguished career playing Margaret in ...
Denis Quilley
(1927– )English actor. Quilley began his career while still a teenager at the Birmingham Rep, later joining the Old Vic and John Neville's company at Nottingham. A succession of West ...
Dennis King
(b. Coventry, 2 Nov. 1897; d. New York, 21 May 1971)Actor and singer. After repertory work in England, he came to America in 1921 and was applauded for his ...
Derek Jacobi
(1938– )English actor. Starting at the Birmingham Repertory Company, Jacobi joined the fledgling National Theatre in 1963, playing Laertes to Peter O'Toole's Hamlet. He also appeared in Othello with ...
Donald Pleasence
(1919–95)English actor whose professional career began in 1939 in Jersey and was almost immediately interrupted by national service and time as a prisoner of war. Thereafter early work included ...
Dusty Hughes
(1947– )English playwright, who has also been assistant director at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (1970–2), theatre editor for the magazine Time Out (1973–6), television script editor for the ...
Eden Phillpotts
(1862–1960),prolific and popular novelist, playwright, and poet, most of whose many novels are set in Dartmoor. He collaborated as playwright with Arnold Bennett and J. K. Jerome.
Edith Evans
(1888–1976)English actress; made DBE in 1946. After beginning her career with William Poel and then touring with Ellen Terry, she established herself in the 1920s as a distinguished London ...
Eric Porter
(1928–95)English actor whose long stage career was perhaps overshadowed by the celebrity of his television role of Soames Forsyte in the landmark series The Forsyte Saga (1967). Porter made ...
Felix Aylmer
(b. Corsham, Wilts, 21 Feb. 1889; d. Sussex, 2 Sept. 1979)Actor. His long and distinguished career on the West End stage (starting with Seymour Hicks in 1911) and in ...
