Christopher Gable
Encyclopedia
Christopher Gable, CBE (13 March 194023 October 1998) was an English
ballet dancer
, choreographer
, and actor
.
Born in London
, Gable studied at the Royal Ballet School
, joining the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
in 1957. He was promoted to soloist in 1959 and a principal in 1961.
Gable's roles included Romeo
in the Kenneth MacMillan
production of Romeo and Juliet
, Mercury
in Offenbach
's comic operetta
Orpheus in the Underworld
, a production that was filmed and released on DVD. and Colas in La fille mal gardée
. Gable frequently partnered with Lynn Seymour
.
Gable suffered from a chronic rheumatoid condition
in his feet and left the Royal Ballet in 1967 to pursue a career in acting. He appeared in a number of television and film productions directed by Ken Russell
, including the BBC
films Song of Summer
(1968) and The Dance of the Seven Veils (1970), The Music Lovers
(1970), an adaptation of The Boy Friend
(1971), and The Rainbow
(1989). Other roles included that of John, valet and friend of Prince Edward, in the Cinderella
film musical The Slipper and the Rose
, the composer Peter Cornelius
in Wagner (1983), and anti-hero Sharaz Jek in the 1984 Doctor Who
serial The Caves of Androzani
. He also appeared on stage in the 1974 West End
musical The Good Companions
.
In 1982, Gable founded the Central School of Ballet
with Ann Stannard. Five years later he was appointed Artistic Director of Northern Ballet Theatre
. He transformed the small regional troupe into a company of national renown by presenting imaginative new works and staging impressive revivals of old classics. Among the productions mounted during his eleven-year regime were Swan Lake
, A Christmas Carol, The Brontes, The Amazing Adventure of Don Quixote, Dracula, Giselle
, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Many of the projects he created later were performed by other dance companies, including the Atlanta Ballet
and the Royal New Zealand Ballet
.
In 1996 Gable was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
for his services to British Dance. The following year he was awarded the honorary degree
of Doctor of Letters
by the University of Bradford
.
Gable was married to dancer Carole Needham. He died from cancer
in Yorkshire
at the age of 58.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
ballet dancer
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, choreographer
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
, and 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...
.
Born 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...
, Gable studied at the Royal Ballet School
Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...
, joining the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet....
in 1957. He was promoted to soloist in 1959 and a principal in 1961.
Gable's roles included Romeo
Romeo Montague
Romeo is one of the fictional protagonists in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet...
in the Kenneth MacMillan
Kenneth MacMillan
Sir Kenneth MacMillan was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He was artistic director of the Royal Ballet in London between 1970 and 1977.-Early years:...
production of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev)
Romeo and Juliet is a ballet by Sergei Prokofiev based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It is one of the most enduringly popular ballets...
, Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
in Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's comic operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
, a production that was filmed and released on DVD. and Colas in La fille mal gardée
La Fille Mal Gardée
La Fille mal gardée is a comic ballet presented in two acts, inspired by Pierre-Antoine Baudouin's 1789 painting, La réprimande/Une jeune fille querellée par sa mère...
. Gable frequently partnered with Lynn Seymour
Lynn Seymour
Lynn Seymour is a retired Canadian ballerina and choreographer.She was born Lynn Springbett and studied ballet in Vancouver....
.
Gable suffered from a chronic rheumatoid condition
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
in his feet and left the Royal Ballet in 1967 to pursue a career in acting. He appeared in a number of television and film productions directed by Ken Russell
Ken Russell
Henry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
, including the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
films Song of Summer
Song of Summer
Song of Summer is a 1968 black-and-white film written, produced and directed by Ken Russell, who also plays a cameo role as a philandering priest. It portrays the final six years of the life of Frederick Delius, when he was blind and paralysed, and when Eric Fenby lived with the composer and his...
(1968) and The Dance of the Seven Veils (1970), The Music Lovers
The Music Lovers
The Music Lovers is a 1970 British biographical film directed by Ken Russell. The screenplay by Melvyn Bragg, based on Beloved Friend, a collection of personal correspondence edited by Catherine Drinker Bowen and Barbara von Meck, focuses on the life and career of 19th century Russian composer...
(1970), an adaptation of The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
(1971), and The Rainbow
The Rainbow (film)
The Rainbow is a 1989 drama film directed by Ken Russell. The story, adapted from the D. H. Lawrence novel, is a prequel to Lawrence's Women in Love, which was also made into a film by Russell in 1969....
(1989). Other roles included that of John, valet and friend of Prince Edward, in the Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
film musical The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose
The Slipper and the Rose is a 1976 British musical film retelling the classic fairy tale of Cinderella. This film was chosen as the Royal Command Performance motion picture selection for 1976....
, the composer Peter Cornelius
Peter Cornelius
Carl August Peter Cornelius was a German composer, writer about music, poet and translator. He was born and died in Mainz where his grave in the Hauptfriedhof survives....
in Wagner (1983), and anti-hero Sharaz Jek in the 1984 Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial The Caves of Androzani
The Caves of Androzani
The Caves of Androzani is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four twice-weekly parts from 8–16 March 1984. It was Peter Davison's last regular appearance as the Doctor, and marks the first appearance of Colin Baker in the role...
. He also appeared on stage in the 1974 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...
musical The Good Companions
The Good Companions (musical)
The Good Companions is a musical with a book by Ronald Harwood, music by André Previn, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same title by J. B...
.
In 1982, Gable founded the Central School of Ballet
Central School of Ballet
Central School of Ballet is a classical ballet school based in London, with students from countries all over the world.The school was established in 1982 by Ann Stannard and Christopher Gable. It established a touring company, Ballet Central, in 1984...
with Ann Stannard. Five years later he was appointed Artistic Director of Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet Theatre
Northern Ballet, formerly Northern Ballet Theatre, is a dance company based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, with a strong repertoire in theatrical dance productions where the emphasis is on story telling as well as classical ballet...
. He transformed the small regional troupe into a company of national renown by presenting imaginative new works and staging impressive revivals of old classics. Among the productions mounted during his eleven-year regime were Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...
, A Christmas Carol, The Brontes, The Amazing Adventure of Don Quixote, Dracula, Giselle
Giselle
Giselle is a ballet in two acts with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier, music by Adolphe Adam, and choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The librettist took his inspiration from a poem by Heinrich Heine...
, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Many of the projects he created later were performed by other dance companies, including the Atlanta Ballet
Atlanta Ballet
Atlanta Ballet is a ballet company, located in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the nation’s longest continuously performing ballet company and the State Ballet of Georgia.- History :...
and the Royal New Zealand Ballet
Royal New Zealand Ballet
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is based in Wellington, New Zealand.The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a company of 32 dynamic dancers, performing an eclectic repertoire of outstanding dance, for national and international audiences, whilst continuing to build a style that is ultimately unique to the...
.
In 1996 Gable was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire
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...
for his services to British Dance. The following year he was awarded the honorary degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
of Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
by the University of Bradford
University of Bradford
The University of Bradford is a British university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The University received its Royal Charter in 1966, making it the 40th University to be created in Britain, but its origins date back to the early 1800s...
.
Gable was married to dancer Carole Needham. He died from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
at the age of 58.