Nicol Williamson
Encyclopedia
Nicol Williamson is a Scottish
-born English actor
who was described by English
playwright
John Osborne
as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando
".
, the son of Mary (née
Storrie) and Hugh Williamson. He came from a struggling working class
family, but managed to attend the Birmingham School of Speech & Drama.
in 1960 and the following year appeared with the Arts Theatre in Cambridge
. The following year, he made his London
debut in Tony Richardson's
production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
at the Royal Court Theatre
. His first major success came in 1964 with John Osborne's
Inadmissible Evidence
for which he won a Tony award
when it transferred to Broadway
in 1965. In 1968, he starred in the film version. Williamson's Hamlet
for Tony Richardson
at the Roundhouse
caused a sensation and was later transferred to New York
and made into a film, with a cast including Anthony Hopkins
and Marianne Faithfull
. Faithfull later stated in her autobiography "Faithfull" that she and Williamson had had an affair while filming Hamlet.
Some of his other notable film performances are as an alcoholic attorney in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
; a Colonel in the Cincinnati Gestapo in Neil Simon's
The Cheap Detective
; a suicidal Irish soldier in the 1968 film The Bofors Gun
; Sherlock Holmes
in the 1976 Herbert Ross
film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
; and Little John
in the 1976 Richard Lester
film Robin and Marian
. More recently he has appeared as Lord Louis Mountbatten in Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy (1985); the dual roles of Dr. Worley/The Nome King in Return To Oz
(1985); Father Morning in The Exorcist III
(1990); Badger in the 1996 movie adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's
The Wind in the Willows
; and Cogliostro in the 1997 movie adaptation of Todd McFarlane's
comic book, Spawn
.
Williamson made a major contribution to the documentary "John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship", recalling episodes from his long professional relationship with Osborne. Recorded excerpts of his award-winning stage performance in Inadmissible Evidence
also feature in the video.
Williamson is known for several tantrums and on-stage antics. During the Philadelphia tryout of Inadmissible Evidence
, a play in which he delivered a performance that would win him a Tony Award
nomination in 1965 he hit producer David Merrick
. In 1968 he apologised to the audience for his performance one night while playing Hamlet
and then walked off the stage, announcing he was retiring. In 1976 he slapped an actor during the curtain call for the Broadway musical Rex
, and in 1991 he hit his co-star (Evan Handler
) on the backside with a sword during a Broadway performance of I Hate Hamlet
.
When Williamson appeared in the 1981 film Excalibur
, director John Boorman
cast him as Merlin opposite Helen Mirren
as Morgana
over the protests of both actors; the two had previously appeared together in Macbeth
, with disastrous results. It was Boorman's hope that the very real animosity that they had towards each other would generate more tension between them on screen.
, for Argo Records
, with authorisation for abridgement provided by Tolkien's publisher. The recording was produced by Harley Usill.
, who had played the role of his daughter in the Broadway production of Inadmissible Evidence. The marriage ended in divorce in 1977.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
-born 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...
who was described by English
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...
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
".
Early life
Williamson was born in Hamilton, South LanarkshireHamilton, South Lanarkshire
Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...
, 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....
Storrie) and Hugh Williamson. He came from a struggling working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
family, but managed to attend the Birmingham School of Speech & Drama.
Stage and screen
Williamson made his professional debut with the Dundee RepDundee Repertory Theatre
Dundee Repertory Theatre or Dundee Rep is a theatre and arts company in the city of Dundee, Scotland. It operates as both a producing house - staging at least six of its own productions each year, and a receiving house - hosting work from visiting companies throughout Scotland and the United...
in 1960 and the following year appeared with the Arts Theatre in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
. The following year, 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 in Tony Richardson's
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
production of 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...
at the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...
. His first major success came in 1964 with John Osborne's
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence is a play written by John Osborne in November 1964. It was also filmed in 1968.The protagonist of the play is William Maitland, a middle-aged English solicitor who has come to hate his entire life. Much of the play consists of lengthy monologues in which Maitland tells the...
for which he won a Tony award
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...
when it transferred to 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 1965. In 1968, he starred in the film version. Williamson's Hamlet
Hamlet (1969 film)
Hamlet is a 1969 British film adaptation of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, starring Nicol Williamson as Prince Hamlet. It was directed by Tony Richardson and based on his own stage production at the Roundhouse theatre in London...
for Tony Richardson
Tony Richardson
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
at the Roundhouse
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England, which has been converted into a performing arts and concert venue. It was originally built in 1847 as a roundhouse , a circular building containing a railway turntable, but was only used for railway...
caused a sensation and was later transferred to 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...
and made into a film, with a cast including Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
and Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
. Faithfull later stated in her autobiography "Faithfull" that she and Williamson had had an affair while filming Hamlet.
Some of his other notable film performances are as an alcoholic attorney in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can is a 1982 American biographical film directed by Jack Hofsiss, starring Jill Clayburgh. The screenplay by David Rabe is based on the memoir of the same title by Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Gordon, whose addiction to and difficult withdrawal from...
; a Colonel in the Cincinnati Gestapo in Neil Simon's
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
The Cheap Detective
The Cheap Detective
The Cheap Detective is a 1978 American satirical comedy film written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore as a follow-up to their successful Murder by Death ....
; a suicidal Irish soldier in the 1968 film The Bofors Gun
The Bofors Gun
The Bofors Gun is a 1968 British drama film directed by Jack Gold and starring Nicol Williamson, Ian Holm and John Thaw. It was based on the play Events While Guarding The Bofors Gun by John McGrath. It portrays the British peacetime occupation of West Germany following the Second World War.-Cast:*...
; Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
in the 1976 Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross
Herbert Ross was an American film director, producer, choreographer and actor.-Early life and career:Born Herbert David Ross in Brooklyn, New York, he made his stage debut as Third Witch with a touring company of Macbeth in 1942...
film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (film)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution is a 1976 Universal Studios Sherlock Holmes film, directed by Herbert Ross and written by Nicholas Meyer. It is based on Meyer's 1974 novel of the same name. The film stars Nicol Williamson, Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin, and Laurence Olivier.-Plot synopsis:When Dr...
; and Little John
Little John
Little John was a legendary fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...
in the 1976 Richard Lester
Richard Lester
Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...
film Robin and Marian
Robin and Marian
Robin and Marian is a 1976 British/American co-produced romantic adventure period film filmed in Pamplona, Spain starring Sean Connery as Robin Hood, Audrey Hepburn as Lady Marian, Nicol Williamson as Little John, Robert Shaw as the Sheriff of Nottingham and Richard Harris as King Richard. It also...
. More recently he has appeared as Lord Louis Mountbatten in Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy (1985); the dual roles of Dr. Worley/The Nome King in Return To Oz
Return to Oz
Return to Oz is a 1985 film which is an unofficial sequel to Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz. The film is based on the second and third Oz books, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz...
(1985); Father Morning in The Exorcist III
The Exorcist III
The Exorcist III is a 1990 American supernatural thriller written and directed by William Peter Blatty. It is the second sequel of The Exorcist series and a film adaptation of Blatty's novel, Legion . The film stars George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, Ed Flanders, and Nicol Williamson...
(1990); Badger in the 1996 movie adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's
Kenneth Grahame
Kenneth Grahame was a Scottish writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature. He also wrote The Reluctant Dragon; both books were later adapted into Disney films....
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows (1996 film)
The Wind in the Willows, released on video in the U.S. as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, is a 1996 adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic novel The Wind in the Willows , although it differs substantially from the novel...
; and Cogliostro in the 1997 movie adaptation of Todd McFarlane's
Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn....
comic book, Spawn
Spawn (comics)
Spawn is a fictional comic book superhero who appears in a monthly comic book of the same name published by Image Comics. Created by writer/artist Todd McFarlane, Spawn first appeared in Spawn #1...
.
Williamson made a major contribution to the documentary "John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship", recalling episodes from his long professional relationship with Osborne. Recorded excerpts of his award-winning stage performance in Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence is a play written by John Osborne in November 1964. It was also filmed in 1968.The protagonist of the play is William Maitland, a middle-aged English solicitor who has come to hate his entire life. Much of the play consists of lengthy monologues in which Maitland tells the...
also feature in the video.
Williamson is known for several tantrums and on-stage antics. During the Philadelphia tryout of Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence
Inadmissible Evidence is a play written by John Osborne in November 1964. It was also filmed in 1968.The protagonist of the play is William Maitland, a middle-aged English solicitor who has come to hate his entire life. Much of the play consists of lengthy monologues in which Maitland tells the...
, a play in which he delivered a performance that would win him a Tony Award
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 in 1965 he hit producer David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
. In 1968 he apologised to the audience for his performance one night while playing Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
and then walked off the stage, announcing he was retiring. In 1976 he slapped an actor during the curtain call for the Broadway musical Rex
Rex (musical)
Rex is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and libretto by Sherman Yellen, based on the life of King Henry VIII.-Production history:...
, and in 1991 he hit his co-star (Evan Handler
Evan Handler
Evan Handler is an American actor who is best known for playing Harry Goldenblatt, Charlotte's divorce attorney and later husband, on Sex and the City, and Charlie Runkle, Hank's comically bumbling friend and agent, on Californication.-Early life:Handler was born in New York City, the son of Enid...
) on the backside with a sword during a Broadway performance of I Hate Hamlet
I Hate Hamlet
I Hate Hamlet is a dramatic comedy written in 1991 by Paul Rudnick. Set in John Barrymore's old apartment in New York City - at the time, the author's real-life home - the play follows successful television actor Andrew Rally as he struggles with taking on the dream role of Hamlet, dealing with a...
.
When Williamson appeared in the 1981 film Excalibur
Excalibur (film)
Excalibur is a 1981 dramatic fantasy film directed, produced and co-written by John Boorman that retells the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Adapted from the 15th century Arthurian romance, Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory, Excalibur features the music of Richard Wagner...
, director John Boorman
John Boorman
John Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
cast him as Merlin opposite Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
as Morgana
Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay , alternatively known as Morgane, Morgaine, Morgana and other variants, is a powerful sorceress in the Arthurian legend. Early works featuring Morgan do not elaborate her character beyond her role as a fay or magician...
over the protests of both actors; the two had previously appeared together in Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, with disastrous results. It was Boorman's hope that the very real animosity that they had towards each other would generate more tension between them on screen.
Other work
In 1974, Williamson recorded a dramatic, abridged reading of The HobbitThe Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
, for Argo Records
Argo Records (UK)
Argo Records was a record label founded in 1951 by Harley Usill , and musicologist Cyril Clarke with £500 capital, initially as a company specialising in "British music played by British artists" , but it quickly became a company primarily specialising in spoken-word recordings and other esoteric ...
, with authorisation for abridgement provided by Tolkien's publisher. The recording was produced by Harley Usill.
Personal life
In 1971, Williamson married the actress Jill TownsendJill Townsend
Jill Townsend, born 25 January 1945 in Santa Monica, California, United States, is an actress best known for her roles as Elizabeth Warleggan in Poldark and Dulcey Coopersmith in the 1967 western television series Cimarron Strip...
, who had played the role of his daughter in the Broadway production of Inadmissible Evidence. The marriage ended in divorce in 1977.