Michael Denison
Encyclopedia
John Michael Terence Wellesley Denison CBE (1 November 191522 July 1998) was an English
actor
.
, South Yorkshire
in 1915. He was raised by his aunt and uncle from the age of three weeks, following the death of his mother and his estrangement from his father. He was educated at Harrow
where he took part in school productions. It was while at Magdalen College
, Oxford University
, studying modern languages that he met John Gielgud
and decided to take up acting seriously.
After graduating, he attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
, where he met Dulcie Gray
, a fellow student, who later became his wife in 1939 and his acting partner. They appeared in over 100 West End
productions, together in some 28 plays in London
and countless tours of England and elsewhere. They also appeared together in several films. Their intertwined professional lives reached their pinnacle in 1996 with their first appearance together on Broadway
, in the Peter Hall production of Oscar Wilde
's An Ideal Husband
. Their last appearance together was in Curtain Up, an evening of reminiscences at the Jermyn Street Theatre
in London
, shortly before he died.
Denison made his stage debut in 1938 as Lord Fancourt Babberly in a Frinton-on-Sea
production of Charley's Aunt
and in the same year, he made his West End appearance at the Westminster Theatre, playing Paris in Troilus and Cressida
. During the second world war, he interrupted his career to join the Royal Signals and then transferred to the Intelligence Corps and was involved in the liberation of Greece, He remained in the British Army
until he was demobbed in 1946.
Denison typically played the quintessential English gentleman. He made his film debut in the film Tilly of Bloomsbury in 1940. While Denison acted in only 21 films during his course of his career, these included such classics as Anthony Asquith
's The Importance of Being Earnest
(1952; with Michael Redgrave
and Edith Evans
) and Richard Attenborough
's Shadowlands
(1993) with Anthony Hopkins
and Debra Winger
). He also worked in television, taking the lead in the Associated-Rediffusion
/ITV
series Boyd Q.C.
, which ran for 78 episodes from 1957 to 1963. He became the director of the New Shakespeare Company in 1971. He also served as council and vice-president of Equity
.
He published two volumes of memoirs, Overture and Beginners (1973) and Double Act (1985). He also contributed many entries to the Dictionary of National Biography
. Denison was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with the Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and both he and his wife were designated Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) in 1983.
He died in Amersham
, Buckinghamshire
, in 1998, aged 82.
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...
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...
.
Background
Denison was born in DoncasterDoncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
in 1915. He was raised by his aunt and uncle from the age of three weeks, following the death of his mother and his estrangement from his father. He was educated at Harrow
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
where he took part in school productions. It was while at Magdalen College
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
, Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, studying modern languages that he met 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...
and decided to take up acting seriously.
After graduating, he attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a...
, where he met Dulcie Gray
Dulcie Gray
Dulcie Gray, CBE was a British singer and actress of stage, screen and television, a mystery writer and lepidopterist.-Early life and career:...
, a fellow student, who later became his wife in 1939 and his acting partner. They appeared in over 100 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...
productions, together in some 28 plays 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...
and countless tours of England and elsewhere. They also appeared together in several films. Their intertwined professional lives reached their pinnacle in 1996 with their first appearance together on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, in the Peter Hall production of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour...
. Their last appearance together was in Curtain Up, an evening of reminiscences at the Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated in Jermyn Street, London.Formerly a restaurant, under the leadership of Howard Jameson, it was transformed into a 70-seat studio theatre right in the heart of London's West End...
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...
, shortly before he died.
Denison made his stage debut in 1938 as Lord Fancourt Babberly in a Frinton-on-Sea
Frinton-on-Sea
Frinton-on-Sea is a small seaside town in the Tendring District of Essex, England. It is part of the Parish of Frinton and Walton.-History:...
production of Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt
Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....
and in the same year, he made his West End appearance at the Westminster Theatre, playing Paris in Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida
Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...
. During the second world war, he interrupted his career to join the Royal Signals and then transferred to the Intelligence Corps and was involved in the liberation of Greece, He remained in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
until he was demobbed in 1946.
Denison typically played the quintessential English gentleman. He made his film debut in the film Tilly of Bloomsbury in 1940. While Denison acted in only 21 films during his course of his career, these included such classics as Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...
's The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)
The Importance of Being Earnest is a British film adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, who also adapted the screenplay, and was produced by Teddy Baird.-Adaptation:...
(1952; with Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
and Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...
) and Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
's Shadowlands
Shadowlands (film)
Shadowlands is a 1993 British biographical film directed by Richard Attenborough. The screenplay by William Nicholson is based on his 1985 television production and 1989 stage adaptation of the same name. The original television film began life as a script entitled I Call it Joy written for Thames...
(1993) with Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
and Debra Winger
Debra Winger
Mary Debra Winger is an American actress. Three-times an Oscar nominee, she received awards for acting in Terms of Endearment, for which she won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress in 1983, and in A Dangerous Woman, for which she won the Tokyo International Film Festival...
). He also worked in television, taking the lead in the Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion, London, was the British ITV contractor for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 1954 and 29 July 1968. Transmissions started on 22 September 1955.-Formation:...
/ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
series Boyd Q.C.
Boyd Q.C.
Boyd Q.C. is a British legal television programme transmitted from December 1956 to 1964 by the ITV franchise holderlicensee Associated-Rediffusion. It focused around a barrister in a London courtroom and the cases he had to solve, hence the show's title. It ran for 7 series in total.Most of the...
, which ran for 78 episodes from 1957 to 1963. He became the director of the New Shakespeare Company in 1971. He also served as council and vice-president of Equity
British Actors' Equity Association
Equity is the trade union for actors, stage managers and models in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1930 by a group of West End performers....
.
He published two volumes of memoirs, Overture and Beginners (1973) and Double Act (1985). He also contributed many entries to the Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
. Denison was honoured by Queen Elizabeth II with the Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and both he and his wife were designated Commanders 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...
(CBE) in 1983.
He died in Amersham
Amersham
Amersham is a market town and civil parish within Chiltern district in Buckinghamshire, England, 27 miles north west of London, in the Chiltern Hills. It is part of the London commuter belt....
, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, in 1998, aged 82.
Selected filmography
- Tilly of BloomsburyTilly of Bloomsbury (1940 film)Tilly of Bloomsbury is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscot and based on the play Tilly of Bloomsbury by Ian Hay. It starred Sydney Howard, Jean Gillie, Kathleen Harrison and Henry Oscar...
(1940) - Hungry HillHungry Hill (film)Hungry Hill is a 1947 British film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Margaret Lockwood, Dennis Price and Cecil Parker with a screenplay by Terence Young and Daphne du Maurier, from the novel by Daphne du Maurier....
(1947) - LandfallLandfall (1949 film)Landfall is a 1949 British war film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Michael Denison, Patricia Plunkett and Kathleen Harrison. It is based on the 1940 novel, Landfall: A Channel Story, written by author Nevil Shute.-Cast:* Michael Denison as Rick...
(1949) - The Franchise AffairThe Franchise Affair (film)The Franchise Affair is a 1951 British thriller film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, Anthony Nicholls and Marjorie Fielding...
(1951) - The Magic BoxThe Magic BoxThe Magic Box is a fictional magic shop in the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon. It is located in Sunnydale and was last owned and operated by Rupert Giles, and served as the primary headquarters of the Scooby Gang for seasons five and six.-Ownership history:The shop went...
(1952) - Angels One FiveAngels One FiveAngels One Five is a 1952 British film directed by George More O'Ferrall, and starring Jack Hawkins, Michael Denison, Dulcie Gray, John Gregson, Cyril Raymond, Veronica Hurst and also featuring Bill Everett. Based on the book 'What Are Your Angels Now?' by Pelham Groom Angels One Five is a 1952...
(1952) - The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
(1952) - Contraband SpainContraband SpainContraband Spain is a 1956 British-Spanish crime film directed by Lawrence Huntington and starring Richard Greene, Anouk Aimée and Michael Denison. Its Spanish title is Contrabando.-Cast:* Richard Greene - Lee Scott* Anouk Aimée - Elena Vargas...
(1955) - The Truth About WomenThe Truth About WomenThe Truth About Women is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Muriel Box and starring Laurence Harvey, Julie Harris, Mai Zetterling and Diane Cilento...
(1957) - Faces in the DarkFaces in the DarkFaces in the Dark is a 1960 British thriller film directed by David Eady and starring John Gregson, Mai Zetterling and John Ireland. A blind inventor is convinced he is going mad, but it soon becomes apparent it is a deliberate attempt by someone else....
(1960) - ShadowlandsShadowlands (film)Shadowlands is a 1993 British biographical film directed by Richard Attenborough. The screenplay by William Nicholson is based on his 1985 television production and 1989 stage adaptation of the same name. The original television film began life as a script entitled I Call it Joy written for Thames...
(1993)