Alec McCowen
Encyclopedia
Alexander Duncan "Alec" McCowen CBE
(born 26 May 1925) is an English actor
. He is known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. He was awarded the CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours List.
, the son of Mary (née
Walkden), a dancer, and Duncan McCowen, a shopkeeper. He attended the Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
.
His partner, the actor Geoffrey Burridge
, died in 1987 from AIDS complications.
, in August 1942 as Micky in Paddy The Next Best Thing. He appeared in repertory in York
and Birmingham
1943-45, and toured India
and Burma in a production of Kenneth Horne
's West End comedy Love in a Mist
during 1945 with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA
). He continued in repertory 1946-49, during which time he played a season at St Johns, Newfoundland
.
He made his London
debut on 20 April 1950 at the Arts Theatre
as Maxim in Ivanov, and made his first appearances on the New York
stage at the Ziegfeld Theatre
on 19 December 1951 as an Egyptian Guard in Caesar and Cleopatra
, and on 20 December 1951 as the Messenger in Antony and Cleopatra
. Following a series of roles at the Arts and with the Repertory Players, he had rising success as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge at the then New Theatre, Bromley
, and appeared as Barnaby Tucker in The Matchmaker
at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, both 1954.
After appearances as Dr Bird in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial at the London Hippodrome in 1956, and Michael Claverton-Ferry in T. S. Eliot
's The Elder Statesman
, first at the Edinburgh Festival
in 1958, then at the Cambridge Theatre
, he joined the Old Vic
Company for its 1959-60 season, among several parts taking the title role in Richard II
, then stayed on for the 1960-61 season to play Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet
, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream
and Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
in September 1962, appearing at Stratford-upon-Avon
playing Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors
and the Fool to Paul Scofield
's King Lear
, subsequently appearing in both plays at the Aldwych Theatre
in December 1962 — performing these roles again for a British Council
tour of the USSR, Europe and the US from February to June 1964. With the RSC he also played "the gruelling role" of Father Riccardo Fontana in Rolf Hochhuth
's controversial play The Representative
at the Aldwych in December 1963.
in April 1968 as Fr. William Rolfe in Hadrian the Seventh
, winning his first Evening Standard Award as Best Actor for the London
production and a Tony
nomination after taking it to Broadway. And more triumphs were to follow.
At the Royal Court in August 1970 McCowen was cast to play the title role in Christopher Hampton
's sophisticated comedy masterpiece, The Philanthropist
. If a philanthropist is literally someone who likes people, McCowen's Philip was a philologist with a compulsive urge not to hurt people's feelings — the inverse of Molière
's The Misanthrope
. Following enthusiastic reviews the production played to packed houses and transferred to the Mayfair Theatre
where it ran for a further three years, making it the Royal Court's most successful straight play. McCowen and his co-star Jane Asher
went with it to Broadway in March 1971 where he won the 1971 Drama Desk Award
for Outstanding Performance.
His next big successes were in National Theatre
productions at the Old Vic
. In February 1973 he co-starred with Diana Rigg
in Molière's The Misanthrope for which he won his second Evening Standard award; followed in July 1973 by the role of psychiatrist Martin Dysart ("played on a knife edge of professional skill and personal disgust by McCowen", according to Irving Wardle
reviewing for The Times) in the world premiere of Peter Shaffer
's Equus
.
In January 1978 he devised and directed his own solo performance of the complete text of the Saint Mark's Gospel
, for which he received worldwide acclaim and another Tony
nomination. It opened first at the Riverside Studios
before beginning a long West End season at the Mermaid Theatre
then at the Comedy Theatre. Taking the production to New York he appeared at the Marymount Manhattan and Playhouse
theaters.
Christopher Hampton
's stage adaptation of George Steiner
's novel The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.
at the Mermaid in 1982 gave McCowen a great final speech, an attempted vindication of racial extermination delivered by Adolf Hitler, which for Guardian critic Michael Billington
was "one of the greatest pieces of acting I have ever seen: a shuffling, grizzled, hunched, baggy figure, yet suggesting the monomaniac power of the Nuremberg Rallies, inhabiting the frail vessel of this old man's body." It was a performance that also won him his third Evening Standard Best Actor award, a record equalled only by Laurence Olivier
and Paul Scofield
.
Two years later, again at the Mermaid, McCowen gave a portrayal of the British poet Rudyard Kipling
in a one-man play by Brian Clark
, performed in a setting that exactly matched Kipling's own study at Bateman's
(his Jacobean rustic haven in Sussex) "and turning", as Michael Billington wrote, "an essentially private man into a performer." McCowen appeared in the play on Broadway and on television for Channel 4
.
's Estragon in Michael Rudman
's acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot
at the National Theatre
in November 1987, McCowen also spent a busy autumn staging Martin Crimp
's trilogy of short plays Definitely the Bahamas at the Orange Tree Theatre
in Richmond upon Thames, having previously enjoyed Crimp's style of writing in a BBC radio version of Three Attempted Acts. As Charles Spencer
wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "As a director McCowen captures both the subtlety and the richness of these three original and beautifully written plays."
At the Hampstead Theatre
in December 1972 he directed a revival of Terence Rattigan
's wartime London comedy While the Sun Shines.
.
McCowen has appeared in the films Time Without Pity
(1957), Town on Trial
(1957), The One That Got Away (1957), The Silent Enemy (1958), A Night to Remember
(1958), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
(1962), In the Cool of the Day
(1963), The Agony and the Ecstasy
(1965), The Witches
(1966), The Hawaiians
(1970), Frenzy (1972), Travels With My Aunt
(1972) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, Stevie
(1978), Hanover Street
(1979), Never Say Never Again
(1983), The Assam Garden
(1985), Personal Services
(1987), Cry Freedom
(1987), Henry V
(1989) The Age of Innocence
(1993), and Longitude
(TV, 2000).
Television roles included the BBC four-part adaptation of J. B. Priestley
's Angel Pavement
in 1958, and his one-man stage performance of The Gospel According to Saint Mark, transferred to television by Thames for Easter 1979. He appeared in the BBC Television Shakespeare series as Malvolio in Twelfth Night
and as Chorus in Henry V
, and starred in the lead role of the 1980s TV series Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
. His one-man Kipling stage performance was broadcast in 1984, and he played Albert Speer
and Rudolf Hess
in the BBC docudramas The World Walk in 1984 and 1985.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 26 May 1925) is an English actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. He is known for his work in numerous film and stage productions. He was awarded the CBE in the 1985 New Year's Honours List.
Personal
McCowen was born in Tunbridge Wells, KentRoyal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...
, the son of Mary (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Walkden), a dancer, and Duncan McCowen, a shopkeeper. He attended the Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
.
His partner, the actor Geoffrey Burridge
Geoffrey Burridge
Geoffrey Burridge was an English actor noted for his performances in theatre and television.On television, he appeared as Mark Proctor in early episodes of Emmerdale Farm and is also remembered for his guest appearance in Blake's 7 .His extensive theatre credits included many musicals, notably the...
, died in 1987 from AIDS complications.
Early theatre work
McCowen first appeared on stage at the Repertory Theatre, MacclesfieldMacclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town within the unitary authority of Cheshire East, the county palatine of Chester, also known as the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the Macclesfield urban sub-area at the time of the 2001 census was 50,688...
, in August 1942 as Micky in Paddy The Next Best Thing. He appeared in repertory in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
and Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
1943-45, and toured India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and Burma in a production of Kenneth Horne
Kenneth Horne
Kenneth Horne was an English comedian and businessman. The son of a clergyman and politician, he combined a successful business career with regular broadcasting for the BBC. His first hit series Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh written with his co-star Richard Murdoch arose out of his wartime service as...
's West End comedy Love in a Mist
Love in a Mist
Love in a Mist is a 1967 studio album by British musician Marianne Faithfull. This would be her last studio album release until 1977's Dreamin' My Dreams.-Track listing:# "Yesterday"...
during 1945 with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA
ENSA
ENSA may refer to:* ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association* ENSA * École Nationale des Sciences Appliquées d'Oujda, an engineering school in Morocco* EC-Council Network Security Administrator...
). He continued in repertory 1946-49, during which time he played a season at St Johns, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
.
He made his London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
debut on 20 April 1950 at the Arts Theatre
Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre is a theatre in Great Newport Street, in Westminster, Central London. It now operates as the West End's smallest commercial receiving house.-History:...
as Maxim in Ivanov, and made his first appearances on the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
stage at the Ziegfeld Theatre
Ziegfeld Theatre
The Ziegfeld Theatre was a Broadway theater located at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1927 and, despite public protests, was razed in 1966....
on 19 December 1951 as an Egyptian Guard in Caesar and Cleopatra
Caesar and Cleopatra (play)
Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899...
, and on 20 December 1951 as the Messenger in Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...
. Following a series of roles at the Arts and with the Repertory Players, he had rising success as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge at the then New Theatre, Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
, and appeared as Barnaby Tucker in The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder.The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent had been extended into a full-length play entitled Einen Jux will er sich machen by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842...
at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, both 1954.
After appearances as Dr Bird in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial at the London Hippodrome in 1956, and Michael Claverton-Ferry in T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's The Elder Statesman
The Elder Statesman
The Elder Statesman is a play in verse by T. S. Eliot first performed in 1958 and published in 1959.-Overview:T. S. Eliot once quipped: “A play should give you something to think about...
, first at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 1958, then at the Cambridge Theatre
Cambridge Theatre
The Cambridge Theatre is a West End theatre, on a corner site in Earlham Street facing Seven Dials, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1929-30. It was designed by Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie; interior partly by Serge Chermayeff, with interior bronze friezes by sculptor Anthony Gibbons...
, he joined the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
Company for its 1959-60 season, among several parts taking the title role in Richard II
Richard II (play)
King Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
, then stayed on for the 1960-61 season to play Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
and Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
in September 1962, appearing at Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
playing Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
and the Fool to Paul Scofield
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
's King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, subsequently appearing in both plays at the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
in December 1962 — performing these roles again for a British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
tour of the USSR, Europe and the US from February to June 1964. With the RSC he also played "the gruelling role" of Father Riccardo Fontana in Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth
Rolf Hochhuth is a German author and playwright. He is best known for his 1963 drama The Deputy and remains a controversial figure for his plays and other public comments, such as his insinuation of Pope Pius XII's sympathies for Hitler's extermination of the Jews in the 1963 play The Deputy and...
's controversial play The Representative
The Deputy
The Deputy, a Christian tragedy , also known as The Representative, is a controversial 1963 play by Rolf Hochhuth which indicts Pope Pius XII for his failure to take action or speak out against The Holocaust. It has been translated into more than twenty languages...
at the Aldwych in December 1963.
Later theatre work
He enjoyed a career breakthrough at the Mermaid TheatreMermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
in April 1968 as Fr. William Rolfe in Hadrian the Seventh
Hadrian the Seventh
Hadrian the Seventh is a 1904 novel by the English novelist Frederick Rolfe, who wrote under the pseudonym "Baron Corvo"....
, winning his first Evening Standard Award as Best Actor for the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
production and a Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination after taking it to Broadway. And more triumphs were to follow.
At the Royal Court in August 1970 McCowen was cast to play the title role in Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
's sophisticated comedy masterpiece, The Philanthropist
The Philanthropist (play)
The Philanthropist is a play by Christopher Hampton, written as a response to Molière's The Misanthrope. After a tryout at the Royal Court Theatre, London, the piece premiered on Broadway under the direction of Robert Kidd...
. If a philanthropist is literally someone who likes people, McCowen's Philip was a philologist with a compulsive urge not to hurt people's feelings — the inverse of Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
's The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope is the first EP from metal band Darkest Hour. It was released in 1996 on the defunct label Death Truck Records. It is much more hardcore orientated metalcore unlike their later releases.- Track listing :# "Vise" - 5:30...
. Following enthusiastic reviews the production played to packed houses and transferred to the Mayfair Theatre
Mayfair Theatre
The Mayfair Theatre is Ottawa's oldest active movie theatre, operating since 1932. It operates as an independent repertory cinema. The theatre's programming includes independent, second-run and classic films....
where it ran for a further three years, making it the Royal Court's most successful straight play. McCowen and his co-star Jane Asher
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
went with it to Broadway in March 1971 where he won the 1971 Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Outstanding Performance.
His next big successes were in National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
productions at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
. In February 1973 he co-starred with Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
in Molière's The Misanthrope for which he won his second Evening Standard award; followed in July 1973 by the role of psychiatrist Martin Dysart ("played on a knife edge of professional skill and personal disgust by McCowen", according to Irving Wardle
Irving Wardle
John Irving Wardle is an English writer and theatre critic.He was born on 20 July 1929 in Manchester, Lancashire, the son of John Wardle and his wife Nellie . His father was drama critic on the Bolton Evening News, and a regular performer at the Bolton Little Theatre...
reviewing for The Times) in the world premiere of Peter Shaffer
Peter Shaffer
Sir Peter Levin Shaffer is an English dramatist and playwright, screenwriter and author of numerous award-winning plays, several of which have been filmed.-Early life:...
's Equus
Equus (play)
Equus is a play by Peter Shaffer written in 1973, telling the story of a psychiatrist who attempts to treat a young man who has a pathological religious fascination with horses....
.
In January 1978 he devised and directed his own solo performance of the complete text of the Saint Mark's Gospel
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
, for which he received worldwide acclaim and another Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination. It opened first at the Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios
Riverside Studios is a production studio, theatre and independent cinema on the banks of the River Thames in Hammersmith, London, England. It plays host to contemporary and international dramatic and dance performance, film, visual art exhibitions and television production.-History:In 1933, the...
before beginning a long West End season at the Mermaid Theatre
Mermaid Theatre
The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre at Puddle Dock, in Blackfriars, in the City of London and the first built there since the time of Shakespeare...
then at the Comedy Theatre. Taking the production to New York he appeared at the Marymount Manhattan and Playhouse
Playhouse
Playhouse is a common Elizabethan term for a theatre, especially those built in London such as The Globe and The Rose.It is also used as the name for theatres today:- Australia :* Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre...
theaters.
Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
's stage adaptation of George Steiner
George Steiner
Francis George Steiner, FBA , is an influential European-born American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, translator, and educator. He has written extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the impact of the Holocaust...
's novel The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.
The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.
The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. is a 1981 literary novella written by George Steiner, in which Jewish Nazi hunters find Adolf Hitler alive in the Amazon jungle thirty years after the end of World War II...
at the Mermaid in 1982 gave McCowen a great final speech, an attempted vindication of racial extermination delivered by Adolf Hitler, which for Guardian critic Michael Billington
Michael Billington (critic)
Michael Keith Billington is a British author and arts critic. Drama critic of The Guardian since October 1971, he is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts; most notably, he is the authorised...
was "one of the greatest pieces of acting I have ever seen: a shuffling, grizzled, hunched, baggy figure, yet suggesting the monomaniac power of the Nuremberg Rallies, inhabiting the frail vessel of this old man's body." It was a performance that also won him his third Evening Standard Best Actor award, a record equalled only by Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and Paul Scofield
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE , better known as Paul Scofield, was an English actor of stage and screen...
.
Two years later, again at the Mermaid, McCowen gave a portrayal of the British poet Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
in a one-man play by Brian Clark
Brian Clark (playwright)
Brian Burgess Clark is a full time playwright and playwright teacher. He is director of the Perry-Mansfield School of Arts theater program in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He was the bicentennial playwright for Worthington, Ohio in the summer of 2003....
, performed in a setting that exactly matched Kipling's own study at Bateman's
Bateman's
Bateman's is a 17th-century house located in Burwash, East Sussex, England. British author Rudyard Kipling lived in Bateman's from 1902 to his death in 1936. His wife left the house to the National Trust on her death in 1939, and it has since been opened to the public.- Exterior :Bateman's is a...
(his Jacobean rustic haven in Sussex) "and turning", as Michael Billington wrote, "an essentially private man into a performer." McCowen appeared in the play on Broadway and on television for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
.
Directing
While preparing to co-star as Vladimir to John AldertonJohn Alderton
John Alderton is an English actor who is best known for his roles in Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah and Please Sir!. Alderton has often starred alongside his wife, Pauline Collins.-Early life:...
's Estragon in Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman
Michael Rudman is an American theatre director.In 1960, he graduated from Oberlin College cum laude in Government and in 1964 he received an MA in English Language and Literature at Oxford where he was President of the Oxford University Dramatic Society....
's acclaimed production of Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
in November 1987, McCowen also spent a busy autumn staging Martin Crimp
Martin Crimp
Martin Andrew Crimp is a British playwright.Sometimes described as a practitioner of the "in-yer-face" school of contemporary British drama, Crimp though rejects the label...
's trilogy of short plays Definitely the Bahamas at the Orange Tree Theatre
Orange Tree Theatre
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 172-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south west London, built specifically as a theatre in the round....
in Richmond upon Thames, having previously enjoyed Crimp's style of writing in a BBC radio version of Three Attempted Acts. As Charles Spencer
Charles Spencer (journalist)
Charles Spencer is a British journalist. He has been the drama critic of The Daily Telegraph since 1991. In 2006, Compton Miller of The Independent wrote in a profile: "This convivial ex-alcoholic is best remembered for his description of Nicole Kidman's nude scene in The Blue Room as 'pure...
wrote in the Daily Telegraph: "As a director McCowen captures both the subtlety and the richness of these three original and beautifully written plays."
At the Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
in December 1972 he directed a revival of Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's wartime London comedy While the Sun Shines.
Film and television
McCowen made his film debut in 1953 in a British film, The Cruel SeaThe Cruel Sea (film)
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister...
.
McCowen has appeared in the films Time Without Pity
Time Without Pity
Time Without Pity is a thriller about a father trying to save his son from execution for murder.It stars Michael Redgrave, Ann Todd, and Leo McKern.-Plot:David Graham has only 24 hours to save his son, Alec, from hanging...
(1957), Town on Trial
Town on Trial
Town on Trial is a 1957 British mystery film directed by John Guillermin and starring John Mills, Charles Coburn, Barbara Bates and Derek Farr. A whole town comes under suspicion when a series of grisly murders are carried out - particularly members of the local tennis club.-Cast:* Charles Coburn...
(1957), The One That Got Away (1957), The Silent Enemy (1958), A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember
A Night to Remember is a 1955 non-fiction book by Walter Lord about the sinking of the ocean liner R.M.S. Titanic in 1912. The book was very successful, and is still considered a definitive resource about the R.M.S. Titanic. Lord authored a follow-up book, The Night Lives On, in 1986.A film...
(1958), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is a short story by Alan Sillitoe which was set in Irvine Beach, and published in 1959 as part of a short story collection of the same name. The work focuses on Colin, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a blue-collar area, who has bleak...
(1962), In the Cool of the Day
In the Cool of the Day
In the Cool of the Day is a 1963, Metrocolor, American romantic drama film directed by Robert Stevens and starring Peter Finch, Jane Fonda, Angela Lansbury, Nigel Davenport, and John Le Mesurier.-Plot:...
(1963), The Agony and the Ecstasy
The Agony and the Ecstasy (film)
The Agony and the Ecstasy is a 1965 film directed by Carol Reed, starring Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as Pope Julius II. The film was partly based on Irving Stone's biographical novel of the same name. This film deals with the conflicts of Michelangelo and Pope Julius II...
(1965), The Witches
The Witches (1966 film)
The Witches is a 1966 British horror film made by Hammer Films. It was adapted by Nigel Kneale from the novel The Devil's Own by Norah Lofts, under the pseudonym Peter Curtis...
(1966), The Hawaiians
The Hawaiians (film)
The Hawaiians is a 1970 American historical film based on the novel Hawaii by James A. Michener. It was directed by Tom Gries with a screenplay by James R. Webb. The cast included Charlton Heston as Whipple Hoxworth, and Geraldine Chaplin...
(1970), Frenzy (1972), Travels With My Aunt
Travels with My Aunt (film)
Travels with My Aunt is a 1972 American comedy film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Jay Presson Allen and Hugh Wheeler is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Graham Greene.-Plot:...
(1972) for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, Stevie
Stevie (1978 film)
Stevie is a 1978 British biographical film directed by Robert Enders and starring Glenda Jackson, Trevor Howard, Mona Washbourne and Alec McCowen. It was based on the play Stevie by Hugh Whitemore. The film depicts the life of the British poet Stevie Smith....
(1978), Hanover Street
Hanover Street
Hanover Street is a 1979 Anglo-American war film written and directed by Peter Hyams, starring Harrison Ford, Lesley-Anne Down and Christopher Plummer.-Plot:...
(1979), Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
(1983), The Assam Garden
The Assam Garden
The Assam Garden is a 1985 British drama film made by Moving Picture Company and distributed by Contemporary Films Ltd. The film was directed by Mary McMurray and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark with Peter Jaques as associate producer. It was written by Elisabeth Bond...
(1985), Personal Services
Personal Services
Personal Services is a 1987 British comedy film directed by Terry Jones and written by David Leland. It is the story of the rise of a madam of a suburban brothel which caters to older men. The story is inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne, the legendary "House of Cyn" madam. The film...
(1987), Cry Freedom
Cry Freedom
Cry Freedom is a 1987 British drama film directed by Richard Attenborough, set in the late 1970s, during the apartheid era of South Africa. It was written from a screenplay by John Briley based on a pair of books by journalist Donald Woods...
(1987), Henry V
Henry V (1989 film)
Henry V is a 1989 film directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare's play The Life of Henry the Fifth about the famous English king. Branagh stars in the title role, and wrote the screenplay. The film was highly acclaimed on its release....
(1989) The Age of Innocence
The Age of Innocence (film)
The Age of Innocence is a 1993 American film adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1920 novel of the same name. The film was released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Martin Scorsese, and stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder....
(1993), and Longitude
Longitude (TV serial)
Longitude is a 2000 TV drama produced by Granada Productions and the A&E Network for Channel 4, first broadcast in 2000 in the UK on Channel 4 and the US on A&E. It is an adaptation of the 1997 book of the same title by Dava Sobel...
(TV, 2000).
Television roles included the BBC four-part adaptation of J. B. Priestley
J. B. Priestley
John Boynton Priestley, OM , known as J. B. Priestley, was an English novelist, playwright and broadcaster. He published 26 novels, notably The Good Companions , as well as numerous dramas such as An Inspector Calls...
's Angel Pavement
Angel Pavement
Angel Pavement is a novel by J. B. Priestley, published in 1930 after the enormous success of The Good Companions. It is often paired with English Journey ....
in 1958, and his one-man stage performance of The Gospel According to Saint Mark, transferred to television by Thames for Easter 1979. He appeared in the BBC Television Shakespeare series as Malvolio in Twelfth Night
BBC Television Shakespeare
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...
and as Chorus in Henry V
BBC Television Shakespeare
The BBC Television Shakespeare was a set of television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, produced by the BBC between 1978 and 1985.-Origins:...
, and starred in the lead role of the 1980s TV series Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
Mr. Palfrey of Westminster
Mr Palfrey of Westminster was a British television drama which ran in 1984–85.-Plot summary:Mr Palfrey is a mild, middle aged man—the epitome of a middle rank British Civil Servant.He is also a spook....
. His one-man Kipling stage performance was broadcast in 1984, and he played Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
and Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
in the BBC docudramas The World Walk in 1984 and 1985.
Literature
McCowen published his first volume of autobiography, Young Gemini in 1979, followed a year later by Double Bill (Elm Tree Books).List of theatre roles
- Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly in The Cocktail PartyThe Cocktail PartyThe Cocktail Party is a play by T. S. Eliot. Elements of the play are based on Alcestis, by the Ancient Greek playwright Euripides. The play was the most popular of Eliot's seven plays in his lifetime, although his 1935 play, Murder in the Cathedral, is better remembered today.The Cocktail Party...
, Phoenix TheatrePhoenix Theatre (London)The Phoenix Theatre is a West End theatre in the London Borough of Camden, located on Charing Cross Road . The entrance is in Phoenix Street....
, July 1986; - Nikolai in Brian FrielBrian FrielBrian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's Turgenev adaptation Fathers and SonsFathers and SonsFathers and Sons is an 1862 novel by Ivan Turgenev, his best known work. The title of this work in Russian is Отцы и дети , which literally means "Fathers and Children"; the work is often translated to Fathers and Sons in English for reasons of euphony.- Historical context and notes :The fathers...
, National Theatre, July 1987; - Vladimir in Waiting for GodotWaiting for GodotWaiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, National Theatre, November 1987; - Harry Rivers in Jeffrey Archer's Exclusive, Strand TheatreNovello TheatreThe Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...
, September 1989, - George in A Single Man, Greenwich Theatre, June 1990;
- Jack in Brian Friel's Dancing at LughnasaDancing at LughnasaDancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator...
, Abbey Theatre Dublin and National Theatre, October 90; Phoenix Theatre, March 1991; and Garrick Theatre, December 1991; - Caesar in Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's Caesar and CleopatraCaesar and Cleopatra (play)Caesar and Cleopatra, a play written in 1898 by George Bernard Shaw, was first staged in 1901 and first published with Captain Brassbound's Conversion and The Devil's Disciple in his 1901 collection, Three Plays for Puritans. It was first performed at Newcastle-on-Tyne on March 15, 1899...
, Greenwich Theatre, February 1992, - Michael in Someone Who'll Watch Over MeSomeone Who'll Watch Over MeSomeone Who'll Watch over Me is a play written by Irish dramatist Frank McGuinness. The play focuses on the trials and tribulations of an Irishman, an Englishman and an American who are kidnapped and held hostage by unseen Arabs in Lebanon. As the three men strive for survival they also strive to...
, Hampstead TheatreHampstead TheatreHampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...
, July 1992; Vaudeville TheatreVaudeville TheatreThe Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
, September 1992; the Booth TheatreBooth TheatreThe Booth Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan, New York City.Architect Henry B. Herts designed the Booth and its companion Shubert Theatre as a back-to-back pair sharing a Venetian Renaissance-style façade...
, New York, November 1992 to June 1993; - Edward Elgar in David PownallDavid PownallDavid Pownall FRSL is a British playwright and author of novels and short stories. Some of his plays have been adapted as films, for instance, Music to Murder By , and others were written as radio plays.-Life and career:...
's Elgar, RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
The PitThe Pit-Places:* The Pit , the main indoor arena at the University of New Mexico* Elder 'The Pit' Stadium, the football stadium at Elder High School in Cincinnati, Ohio* The Pit, a 200-seat studio theatre at the Barbican Arts Centre in the City of London...
, May 1994; - Prospero in The TempestThe TempestThe Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
RSC Barbican Theatre, July 1994; - Reginald Pager (a retired opera singer) in Ronald HarwoodRonald HarwoodSir Ronald Harwood CBE is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
's QuartetQuartet (Harwood)Quartet is a play by Ronald Harwood about aging opera singers.The play, presented by Michael Codron, was first directed by Christopher Morahan at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford prior to its West End opening at the Albery Theatre on 8 September 1999 starring Sir Donald Sinden.Following a...
, Yvonne Arnaud TheatreYvonne Arnaud TheatreThe Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey presents in-house productions which often tour and transfer to London's West End. Other performances include opera, ballet and pantomime. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, the company has two performance venues, a main theatre and the smaller Mill...
and Albery Theatre, September 1999-January 2000.