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Dateline: 20th March, 2008
Paul Scofield (1922 - 2008) Actor Paul Scofield has died at the age of 86. He had been suffering from leukemia and died yesterday in hospital in Sussex. He was born in Hustpierpoint, Sussex, the son of the village school's headmaster, and it was at the age of 13 while at Varndean School in Brighton that he made his first stage appearance, as Juliet in what he was later to describe as "an embarrassing blonde wig". He went on to appear in the crowd in a touring production of A Tale of Two Cities at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, and these two experiences decided him on what he wanted to do with his life. In 1939 he joined a stage school attached to the Croydon Rep and, when it closed because of the war, went to the Mask School in London which was soon evacuated to Bideford in Devon. He was excused military service during the war because he had deformed toes.He played in a succession of productions during the way, including Emlyn Williams' Night Must Fall, Romeo and Juliet (Tybalt) and Hamlet (Horatio). It was during this period that he met and married actrees Joy Parker. In 1944 he joined Birmingham Rep where he played Konstantin in The Seagull to great acclaim and, the following year, met the 20 year old Peter Brook for whom he played the Bastard in King John, Tanner in Man and Superman and Dr Mangel in The Lady from the Sea. He conitued his assoication with Brook at Stratford from 1946 to 1948, playing a string of roles, including Mercutio and Don Armando. For other directors he played Henry V, Cloten, Hamlet and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, among many others. He made his London debut in 1949 in as Alexander in Rattigan's Adventure Story and then as the Twins in Brook's production of Anouilh's Ring Round the Moon. During the fifties he became well established as one of Britain's leading actors and in 1962 achieved what many believe to have been the pinnacle of his career when he played Lear, again for Peter Brook, at the newly-formed Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2004 a poll of RSC actors voted this performamce as the "greatest Shakespearean performance ever." The production played in Stratford, London, New York, Moscow, Paris and other European cities. However it was two years before this that he became associated with the play which was to bring him fame with a much wider public, A Man for All Seasons. It played in London in 1960 and transferred to Broadway the following year, where he won a Tony for Best Actor for his performance as Sir Thomas More. In 1966 he reprised the part in the film of the play, winning an Oscar. Further film success followed with Amadeus, Expresso Bongo, Staircase, The Ambassadors and The Crucible (for which he won a BAFTA in 1996). He had originated the role of Salieri in the first production of Amadeus in 1979. He also won a TV BAFTA for his roles as Old Martin and Anthony in Martin Chuzzlewit (1994). He was made a CBE in 1956 and a Companion of Honour in 2001, although he is said to have refused a knighthood more than once.
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