Anthony Andrews
Encyclopedia
Anthony Corin Gerald Andrews (icon; born 12 January 1948) is an English
actor.
, the son of Geraldine Agnes (née Cooper), a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London. At the age of eight he undertook dancing lessons, making his stage debut as the White Rabbit
in a stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll
's Alice in Wonderland
.
After a series of short term "fill-in" jobs that included catering, farming and journalism, he secured a position at the Chichester Theatre
where he worked as an assistant stage manager and later as a stand-in producer. He auditioned in 1968 for a production of Alan Bennett
's new play, Forty Years On
, which featured John Gielgud
as the headmaster of a British public school during the First World War period. Andrews was cast as Skinner, one of twenty school boys; the role gave him the opportunity at an early age of working with Gielgud.
His subsequent work includes a leading role in Brideshead Revisited
as Lord Sebastian Flyte. In 1982, he won a Golden Globe and BAFTA TV Award for his performance, and was nominated for an Emmy Award
. In the United States, Andrews is known for his portrayal of Ivanhoe
as well as that of Sir Percy Blakeney in the 1982 film, The Scarlet Pimpernel
. He was the main star of the ITV television series Danger UXB
, in which Andrews plays a British bomb disposal officer in World War II
during the London Blitz
. The series first aired in the United States in 1979 on Masterpiece Theatre
.
He played Professor Higgins in a stage version of My Fair Lady
(2001) and Count Fosco in Andrew Lloyd Webber's
The Woman in White
.http://www.flyrope.com/sections/people/index.php?var=45703
He was the narrator
for a 21st Anniversary BBC Radio 2
special broadcast of Cameron Mackintosh
's musical Les Misérables
, sung by the (at the time) current West End
cast at the Mermaid Theatre
in London
on Sunday 8 October 2006. Most recently Andrews appeared as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
in the 2010 film The King's Speech.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actor.
Life and career
Andrews was born in LondonLondon
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...
, the son of Geraldine Agnes (née Cooper), a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London. At the age of eight he undertook dancing lessons, making his stage debut as the White Rabbit
White Rabbit
The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice...
in a stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's Alice in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
.
After a series of short term "fill-in" jobs that included catering, farming and journalism, he secured a position at the Chichester Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
where he worked as an assistant stage manager and later as a stand-in producer. He auditioned in 1968 for a production of Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. Born in Leeds, he attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with The Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research mediaeval history at the university for several years...
's new play, Forty Years On
Forty Years On (play)
Forty Years On is a 1968 play by Alan Bennett. It was his first West End play.-Subject:The play is set in a British public school called Albion House , which is putting on an end of term play in front of the parents, i.e. the audience...
, which featured John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
as the headmaster of a British public school during the First World War period. Andrews was cast as Skinner, one of twenty school boys; the role gave him the opportunity at an early age of working with Gielgud.
His subsequent work includes a leading role in Brideshead Revisited
Brideshead Revisited (TV serial)
Brideshead Revisited is a 1981 British television serial produced by Granada Television for broadcast by the ITV network. The teleplay is based on Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited...
as Lord Sebastian Flyte. In 1982, he won a Golden Globe and BAFTA TV Award for his performance, and was nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
. In the United States, Andrews is known for his portrayal of Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe
Ivanhoe is a historical fiction novel by Sir Walter Scott in 1819, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism; John Henry Newman claimed Scott "had first turned men's minds in the direction of the middle ages," while...
as well as that of Sir Percy Blakeney in the 1982 film, The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982 film)
The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1982 film set during the French Revolution. It is based on the novels The Scarlet Pimpernel and Eldorado by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, and stars Anthony Andrews as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel, the protagonist, Jane Seymour as Marguerite St...
. He was the main star of the ITV television series Danger UXB
Danger UXB
Danger UXB is a 1979 British ITV television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, a new direct commission officer in World War II....
, in which Andrews plays a British bomb disposal officer in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
during the London Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
. The series first aired in the United States in 1979 on Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece Theatre
Masterpiece is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running weekly prime time drama series. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions...
.
He played Professor Higgins in a stage version of My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
(2001) and Count Fosco in Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
The Woman in White
The Woman in White (musical)
The Woman in White is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel with a book by Charlotte Jones, based on the novel The Woman in White written by Wilkie Collins...
.http://www.flyrope.com/sections/people/index.php?var=45703
He was the narrator
Narrator
A narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
for a 21st Anniversary BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
special broadcast of Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
's musical Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
, sung by the (at the time) current West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
cast 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...
in 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...
on Sunday 8 October 2006. Most recently Andrews appeared as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
in the 2010 film The King's Speech.
Selected filmography
- Percy's ProgressPercy's ProgressPercy's Progress is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas. It was written by Sid Colin, Harry H. Corbett and Ian Le Frenais. It was released in the United States under the title It's Not the Size That Counts...
(1974) - Take Me HighTake Me HighTake Me High is a 1973 British feature film, directed by David Askey, written by Christopher Penfold and starring Cliff Richard in his final film role, with Deborah Watling, Hugh Griffith, George Cole and Anthony Andrews....
(1974) - Operation: Daybreak (1975)
- IvanhoeIvanhoe (1982 film)Ivanhoe is a 1982 television film adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's novel of the same name. The film was directed by Douglas Camfield and screenplay written by John Gay...
- as Ivanhoe (1982) - The Scarlet PimpernelThe Scarlet Pimpernel (1982 film)The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1982 film set during the French Revolution. It is based on the novels The Scarlet Pimpernel and Eldorado by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, and stars Anthony Andrews as Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel, the protagonist, Jane Seymour as Marguerite St...
- as Sir Percy Blakeney (1982) - Under the VolcanoUnder the VolcanoUnder the Volcano is a 1947 semi-autobiographical novel by English writer Malcolm Lowry . The novel tells the story of Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic British consul in the small Mexican town of Quauhnahuac , on the Day of the Dead.Surrounded by the helpless presences of his ex-wife, his...
(1984) - The Holcroft CovenantThe Holcroft CovenantThe Holcroft Covenant is a 1978 novel by Robert Ludlum. In 1985 it was made into a film of the same name.- Plot :The novel concerns Noel Holcroft, New York architect—and secretly the son of Heinrich Clausen, chief economic advisor to the Third Reich. At some point in the 1970s, Holcroft is...
- as Johann von Tiebolt / Jonathan Tennyson (1985) - The LighthorsemenThe Lighthorsemen (film)The Lighthorsemen is a 1987 Australian feature film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in the 1917 Battle of Beersheeba...
- as Maj. Richard Meinertzhagen (1987) - The Second VictoryThe Second VictoryThe Second Victory is a 1986 British drama film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Anthony Andrews, Helmut Griem and Max von Sydow....
- as Maj. Hanlon (1987) - Hanna's WarHanna's WarHanna's War is a 1988 film co-written and directed by Menahem Golan. The film is based on The Diaries Of Hanna Senesh and the biographical novel A Great Wind Cometh by Yoel Palgi. It is a biopic detailing the true story of Hannah Szenes.-Plot:...
- as McCormack (1988) - HauntedHaunted-Film:* Haunted , a TV film starring Ari Meyers* Haunted , an American children’s comedy-horror film directed by John Magyar* Haunted , a UK film starring Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale...
- as Robert Mariell (1995) - The King's Speech - as Prime Minister Stanley BaldwinStanley BaldwinStanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
(2010)
Theatrical roles
- Count Fosco in The Woman in WhiteThe Woman in White (musical)The Woman in White is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Zippel with a book by Charlotte Jones, based on the novel The Woman in White written by Wilkie Collins...
- Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair LadyMy Fair LadyMy Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
- Pastor Manders in GhostsGhosts (play)Ghosts is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1881 and first staged in 1882.Like many of Ibsen's better-known plays, Ghosts is a scathing commentary on 19th century morality....
- Seasons with The New Shakespeare Company and Chichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
- Somerset Maugham's The Letter at the Wyndham's TheatreWyndham's TheatreWyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
, London (2007) - Oscar in premiere of Bully Boy at the Nuffield TheatreNuffield TheatreNuffield Theatre may refer to:* The Nuffield Theatre at the Lancaster University* The Nuffield Theatre at the University of Southampton...
, Southampton (2011)