 |
|
|
|||
|
News
|
|||
|
News
|
Dateline: 9th October, 2011
George Baker (1931 - 2011) The actor George Baker has died of pneumonia following a stroke at the age of 80. Although he began his career in rep and appeared at the Old Vic, he is best known for his TV work, especially as Tiberius in I, Claudius and Inspector Reg Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries. His work at the Old Vic (1959-61) included Bolingbroke in Richard II, Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Jack in The Importance of Being Earnest and the Earl of Warwick in Saint Joan. In 1965 he took charge of the re-opened Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds and was artistic director of Candida Plays which toured many productions, some ending up in the West End. Among them were Rattigan's The Sleeping Prince (1968) in which he played The Regent and Fry's The Lady's Not for Burning (1971) which starred Derek Jacobi. He returned to acting in 1975 when he joined the RSC and appeared as Claudius in Buzz Goodbody's production of Hamlet, which starred Ben Kingsley. He made his first film (The Intruder) in 1953 but his first real success was two years later in The Dambusters. He appeared in over thirty films and was Ian Fleming's first choice to play James Bond but he was under contract to another studio at the time and so ther part went to Sean Connery. Baker did, however, appear in On Her Majest's Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me. In tekevision, as well as The Ruth Rendall Mysteries (which ran for thirteen series) and I, Claudius, he appeared as Number 2 in The Prisoner and, most recently, in a 2005 episode of Spooks. He also appeared, in 1980, in Dr Who.
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
|
||
|
|
