Gawn Grainger
Encyclopedia
Gawn Grainger is a leading British
stage and screen actor and husband of actress Zoë Wanamaker
.
) on 12 October 1937. He is the son of Charles Neil Grainger and his wife Elizabeth (née Gall). Educated at Westminster City school, he later trained for the stage at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.
Grainger made his first London appearance as a boy in 1950, when he played the Boy King in King's Rhapsody
at the Palace Theatre
.
, 1962-64. He joined Laurence Olivier
's National Theatre at the Old Vic
company in 1972.
Among his notable television credits are the Apostle Andrew in Son of Man (play)
by Dennis Potter
(1969) and George Stephenson
in the Doctor Who
serial The Mark of the Rani
(1985). American fans of game shows may remember Gawn Grainger as an occasional panelist on the syndicated, New York-based What's My Line?
series in 1968.
, who died on 26 July 1992; he married Zoë Wanamaker in November 1994.
Grainger was a close friend of Laurence Olivier and his family, and had helped the actor write his second book On Acting (1986).
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
stage and screen actor and husband of actress Zoë Wanamaker
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
.
Early life
Some sources indicate he was born in Glasgow, Scotland (other reference sources indicate Holywood, County Down, Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
) on 12 October 1937. He is the son of Charles Neil Grainger and his wife Elizabeth (née Gall). Educated at Westminster City school, he later trained for the stage at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.
Grainger made his first London appearance as a boy in 1950, when he played the Boy King in King's Rhapsody
King's Rhapsody
King's Rhapsody is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall.The musical was first produced at the Palace Theatre, London, on 15 September 1949 and ran for 841 performances, surviving its author, who died in 1951...
at the Palace Theatre
Palace Theatre, London
The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. It is an imposing red-brick building that dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus and is located near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road...
.
Career
He began his professional career at the Dundee Rep in 1961, followed by two years at IpswichIpswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, 1962-64. He joined 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...
's National Theatre at the Old Vic
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...
company in 1972.
Among his notable television credits are the Apostle Andrew in Son of Man (play)
Son of Man (play)
Son of Man is a television play by British playwright Dennis Potter which was directed by Gareth Davies. It premiered in The Wednesday Play slot on 19 April 1969 starring Irish actor Colin Blakely and was an alternative depiction of the last days of Jesus, leading to Potter being accused of...
by Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
(1969) and George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
in the 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 Mark of the Rani
The Mark of the Rani
The Mark of The Rani is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from 2 February to 9 February 1985...
(1985). American fans of game shows may remember Gawn Grainger as an occasional panelist on the syndicated, New York-based What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
series in 1968.
Playwright
Grainger authored the following plays: Four to One (1976), Vamp Till Ready (1978), Lies in Plastic Smiles (1979) and Paradise Lost (1980).Personal life
He first married actress Janet KeyJanet Key
Janet Key was an English actress with a varied career in theatre, film and television from the late 1960s until her death.-Career:...
, who died on 26 July 1992; he married Zoë Wanamaker in November 1994.
Grainger was a close friend of Laurence Olivier and his family, and had helped the actor write his second book On Acting (1986).
Theatre career
- Stage debut as the Boy King in King's Rhapsody, Palace Theatre, 1950
- Professional debut: Dundee Rep, 1961; Ipswich 1962-64; and Bristol Old VicBristol Old VicThe Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
, 1964–66 - Bristol Old Vic, parts included: Title role in Kean; Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western WorldThe Playboy of the Western WorldThe Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on January 26, 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s...
, Romeo, Laertes in Hamlet and Claudio in Measure for Measure - Toured the world in the last three roles, making his New York debut as Romeo in Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo 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...
at the City Center Theatre, February 1967 - Jimmy in There's a Girl in My Soup, Music Box, New York, October 1967
- Cyril Bishop in The Giveaway, Garrick Theatre, London, April 1969
- James Boswell in The Douglas Cause, Duke of York's, November 1971
- McCue in The Front PageThe Front PageThe Front Page is a hit Broadway comedy about tabloid newspaper reporters on the police beat, written by one-time Chicago reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur which was first produced in 1928.-Synopsis:...
, National Theatre at the Old Vic, July 1972 - Macduff in Macbeth, National Theatre, November 1972
- Oronte in The MisanthropeThe MisanthropeThe 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...
, National Theatre, February 1973 - Officer in The BacchaeThe BacchaeThe Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...
, National Theatre, August 1973 - Roberto in Saturday, Sunday, Monday, National Theatre, October 1973
- Jeremy Haynes in The Party, National Theatre, December 1973
- Stephen Lloyd in Next of Kin, National Theatre, May 1974
- Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro (play), National Theatre, July 1974
- Toured the US as Oronte in the NT production of The Misanthrope, 1975, appearing at the St James Theater NY, March 1975
- Osric in Hamlet, National Theatre at the Old Vic, December 1975, and NT Lyttelton, March 1976
- Took part in Tribute to a Lady, Old Vic, February 1976
- Usumcasane in Tamburlaine the Great, NT Olivier, October 1976 and May 1977
- Juggler in Force of Habit, NT, November 1976
- Casca in Julius Caesar, NT, March 1977
- Soldier in The Passion, NT, April 1977
- To Those Born Later, NT, June 1977
- Corporal Stoddard in The Plough and the Stars, NT, September 1977
- Mr Dorilant in The Country WifeThe Country WifeThe Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...
, NT, November 1977 - Schoolmaster in Brand, NT, April 1978
- Ajax in The Woman, NT, August 1978
- Charles I in The World Turned Upside Down, NT, November 1978
- Wesley in Has 'Washington' Legs?, NT, November 1978
- Jack/Nick in The Long Voyage HomeThe Long Voyage HomeThe Long Voyage Home is an American drama film and directed by John Ford. It features John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Ian Hunter, Barry Fitzgerald, Wilfrid Lawson, John Qualen, Mildred Natwick, Ward Bond, among others....
, NT, February 1979 - George/General Heller in Dispatches, NT, June 1979
- Doctor/Squire/Landlord/Rector in Lark Rise and Sir Timothy in Candleford, NT Cottesloe, October and November 1979
- Jimmy Tomorrow in The Iceman Cometh, NT, 1980
- Reverend Hale in The Crucible, NT at the Comedy Theatre, March 1981
- Knight The Passion, NT international tour, 1981
- Party Time and Mountain Language, Almeida Theatre, November 1991
- No Man's Land, Almeida. November 1992; Comedy Theatre, February 1993
- A Month in the Country, Albery, March 1994
- Taking Sides, Minerva, Chichester, May 1995; Criterion, July 1995
- Fool for Love, Donmar Warehouse, October 1996
- Wishbones, Bush, June 1997
- Mutabilitte, NT Cottesloe, November 1997
- Garret Fitzmaurice in Give Me Your Answer Do, Hampstead, March 1998; Gramercy Theatre, NY, October 1999
- Tales from Hollywood, Donmar Warehouse, May 2001
- Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, NT Lyttelton Loft, May 2002; NT Cottesloe, April 2004
- Absolutely (Perhaps), Wyndham's, October 2003
- The Seagull, NT Lyttelton, June 2006
- Frank in Amy's View, Garrick, November 2006
- You Can't Take It With You, Southwark Playhouse, October 2007
- Saint Matthew/Caliphas the Elder, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Almeida, April 2008
- Costa in "Onassis", Derby Theatre & Novello Theatre, 2010