Alec McCowen

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Alexander Duncan McCowen, (26 May 1925 – 6 February 2017), an English actor.

He was known for his work in numerous film and stage productions.

Early life

McCowen was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, son of Mary (née Walkden), a dancer), and Duncan McCowen, a shopkeeper. He attended The Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells, affectionately known as 'Squeaker' McCowan by his family's relatives, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Personal life

In 1987, Geoffrey Burridge, his partner, died of AIDS related complications.

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Career

McCowen appeared on stage at the Repertory Theatre in Macclesfield in August 1942 as Micky in Paddy the Next Great Thing. He appeared in repertory in York and Birmingham 1943-45, as well as in a tour of Kenneth Horne's West End comedy Love in a Mist during 1945 with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). He continued in repertory 1948–49, during which he spent a season at St John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Maxim in Anton Chekhov's Ivanov's Ivanov's Ivanov's Maxim in 1950, he made his London debut on April 20th, 1951 as the Messenger of Caesar and Cleopatra and on December 20th, 1951, in Anton and Cleopatra, and on December 20, 1951 as the Messenger in Anton and Cleopatra. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in Moulin Rouge, Bromley, and Barnaby Tucker in The Matchmaker at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, both 1954, after a string of appearances in the Arts and with the Repertory Players.

Dr Bird appeared in The Caine Mutiny Court Martial in 1954, and Michael Claverton-Ferry in T. S. Eliot's The Elder Statesman, first at the Edinburgh Hippodrome in 1958, then at the Cambridge Theatre, then in T.S. Eliot's The Elder Statesman, in which he appeared in Richard II, he appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Malvolio in Twelfth Night, then in T.

He appeared in both acts at the Aldwych Theatre in September 1962, becoming a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-Avon's The Comedy of Errors and the Fool to Paul Scofield's King Lear in The Comedy of Errors and the Fool, before appearing in both plays at the Aldwych Theatre in December 1962, performing these roles again during a British Council tour of Bulgaria, Europe, and the United States from February to June 1964. He appeared in Father Riccardo Fontana's controversial role with the RSC in Rolf Hochhuth's controversial role The Representative at the Aldwych in December 1963.

In April 1968, he had a career breakthrough at the Mermaid Theatre, as Fr. Connor. After the transfer to Broadway, William Rolfe in Hadrian the Seventh received his first Evening Standard Award as Best Actor for the London production and a Tony nomination.

McCowen was chosen to appear in Christopher Hampton's sophisticated comedy, The Philanthropist, at the Royal Court in August 1970. If a philanthropist is really someone who likes people, McCowen's Philip was a philologist with the desire not to offend people's feelings – the inverse of Molière's The Misanthrope. Following enthusiastic audiences, the performance was sold to packed houses and then moved to the Mayfair Theatre, where it remained for a further three years, making it the Royal Court's most profitable straight play. In March 1971, McCowen and his co-star Jane Asher took the show to Broadway, where they received the 1971 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Achievement.

In National Theatre Company productions at the Old Vic, his next big hits were in the National Theatre Company. In February 1973, he co-starred with Diana Rigg in Moliere's The Misanthrope for his second Evening Standard award; in July 1973, he appeared in psychiatrist Martin Dysart's "played on a knife edge of professional competence and personal disgust by McCowen," according to Irving Wardle, who wrote for The Times.

McCowen conceived and directed his own solo performance of the complete text of St. Mark's Gospel, for which he received international recognition and another Tony Award. It opened at the Riverside Studios in January 1978 and then began a long West End season at the Mermaid Theatre and the Comedy Theatre. He appeared at the Marymount Manhattan and Playhouse theatres in New York, bringing the show to New York.

Christopher Hampton's stage adaptation of George Steiner's book The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H. at the Mermaid in 1982 gave McCowen a memorable last address, and it was "one of the finest pieces of acting I've ever seen" in a Guardian review, but it suggested the Nuremberg Rallies' monomaniac power. It was also his third Evening Standard Best Actor award, a record equalled only by Laurence Olivier and Paul Scofield.

"and turning" in a setting that closely matches Kipling's own study at Bateman's (his Jacobean rustic haven in Sussex), two years later, McCowen gave a portrayal of the British poet Rudyard Kipling in a one-man play at the Mermaid (his Jacobean rustic haven in Sussex). McCowen appeared in the play on Broadway and on television for Channel 4's Channel 4 as McCowen.

McCowen spent a tumultuous fallstage in Michael Rudman's award-winning production Waiting for Godot at the National Theatre in November 1987, having previously adored Crimp's style of writing in a BBC radio version of Three Attempted Acts. "As a director McCowen captures both the subtlety and the richness of these three original and beautifully written plays," Charles Spencer wrote in The Daily Telegraph.

He produced a revival of Terence Rattigan's wartime London comedy Although the Sun Shines at the Hampstead Theatre in December 1972.

In 1953, McCowen made his film debut in The Cruel Sea. Henry V (1989), Personal Services (1987) and Town on Trial (1958), A Night to Remember (1958), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1958), A Night to Remember (1959), Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy (1972), The Lonelines of the Long Distance Runner (1966), Never Say Never Again (1984), Iss (1980), and A Night to Remember (1989).

The BBC's four-part adaptation of J. The BBC's four-part adaptation of J. Angel Pavement (1958), a B. Priestley youth, and his one-man stage version of The Gospel According to Saint Mark, were transferred to television by Thames for Easter 1979.

In The Green Tie's The Little Yellow Dog, produced 1982-1984, he appeared alongside Maury and Arthur Askey doing comedic monologues.

He appeared in the BBC Television Shakespeare series Malvolio in Twelfth Night and as Chorus in Henry V. In 1984 and 1985, McCowen appeared in ten episodes of Mr Palfrey of Westminster as a "spy catcher" working for British intelligence under the direction of a female boss, played by Caroline Blakiston.

Rudyard Kipling's one-man appearance was on television in 1984. His later appearances included appearances in The World Walk in 1984 and 1985, as astronomer Sir Frank Dyson in Longitude in 2000. When Michael Aspel surprised him at the Strand Theatre in London in 1989, he was the subject of This Is Your Life. He was furious when no mention was made of his long-time male companion, fellow actor Geoffrey Burridge, and threatened to prevent the show from being broadcast. Michael Aspel, the host, resolving the controversy by adding a voice over the final credits acknowledging the date.

Young Gemini, McCowen's first autobiography, was published in 1979, then Double Bill was published a year later (Elm Tree Books).

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