Jeffrey Richard Shankley (born 17 November 1947) is a British actor, singer and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company who has had a long career as a television and stage actor particularly in the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber for whom he originated several roles, including

Munkustrap Munkustrap is a Jellicle cat from T. S. Eliot's 1939 poem "The Naming of Cats". He is a principal character and the main narrator in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1981 musical ''Cats'', which is based on Eliot's poems. Munkustrap is the storyteller and ...

in the original London production of '' Cats'' at the

New London Theatre The Gillian Lynne Theatre (formerly New London Theatre) is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden. The Winter Garden Theatre formerly occupied the site until 1965 ...

in London in 1981 and Greaseball in ''

Starlight Express ''Starlight Express'' is a 1984 British musical, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, who races in a championship against modern engines in the hope o ...

'' at the

Apollo Victoria Theatre The Apollo Victoria Theatre is a West End theatre on Wilton Road in the Westminster district of London, across from London Victoria Station. (The theatre also has an entrance on Vauxhall Bridge Road.) Opened in 1930 as a cinema and variety t ...

in 1984.

Early life

Jeff Shankley was born in London in 1947, the son of Louisa Mary ''née'' Bundy (1922–1991) and Frederick John Shankley (1920–2006). He trained from 1966 to 1968 at the

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA; ) is a drama school in London, England, that provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in the Bloomsbury area of Central London, close to the Senat ...

(RADA), where he won a silver medal for acting, and prizes for diction and expressiveness in movement.

Television

His first television role was as Sydney in an episode of ''

No Hiding Place ''No Hiding Place'' is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series ''Murder Bag'' (1957–1958) ...

'' in 1963. His other appearances include Alec Law/Tom/Walker/George Ward in ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' was a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 19 ...

'' (1963–1966); Lionel in ''

ITV Play of the Week ''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. Synopsis From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes ...

'' (1964); Peter in '' Our Man at St. Mark's'' (1964); Peter in ''The Barnstormers'' (1964); Ken in ''You and the World'' (1965); 1st Soldier/Devil/Third Shepherd in ''Mysteries and Miracles'' (1965); Cox in ''

Redcap The redcap (or powrie) is a type of malevolent, murderous goblin found in Border folklore. He is said to inhabit ruined castles along the Anglo-Scottish border, especially those that were the scenes of tyranny or wicked deeds and is known for soa ...

'' (1965); Apprentice in ''Let's Go Out'' (1966); Private Boakes in '' A Family at War'' (1971); Jimmy Dunn in '' The Expert'' (1971); Mark in ''

ITV Sunday Night Theatre ''ITV Sunday Night Theatre'', originally titled ''ITV Saturday Night Theatre'' and often shortened to simply ''Sunday Night Theatre'' or ''Saturday Night Theatre'', is a British television anthology series screened on ITV, and produced by London ...

'' (1971); Clive Savage in '' Beryl's Lot'' (1974); Captain Bidet in ''

T-Bag ''T-Bag'' is a British television series about the eponymous witch-like character and her assistant, T-Shirt. The series ran from 1985 to 1992 on ''Children's ITV''. Written by Grant Cathro and Lee Pressman, each series adopted a different tit ...

'' (1992); Barry from the Shop in ''

Sean's Show ''Sean's Show'' is a British television situation comedy, first broadcast on Channel 4 between 15 April 1992 and 29 December 1993. Stand-up comedian Sean Hughes co-wrote and starred as a fictionalised version of himself, aware that he is livi ...

'' (1992–1993); Gerry Summers in ''

Love Hurts "Love Hurts" is a song written and composed by the American songwriter Boudleaux Bryant. First recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960, the song is most well known from the 1974 international hit version by Scottish hard rock band Nazare ...

'' (1994); Jeff Brodie in ''

Peak Practice ''Peak Practice'' is a British drama television series, series about a General Practice, GP surgery in Cardale—a small List of fictional towns in television, fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District—and the Physician, doctors who wor ...

'' (1995); Chief Superintendent Spencer/Dan Paley in ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983. The programme focused o ...

'' (1994–1998), Des in ''

Playing the Field ''Playing the Field'' is a BBC television drama series following the lives of the Castlefield Blues, a fictitious female football team from South Yorkshire. Outline Inspired by Pete Davies's book ''I Lost My Heart to the Belles'' – which w ...

'' (2000); Boss in ''

My Family ''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...

'' (2000), and Uriah Rhodes/Harry Irwin in '' Holby City'' (2009).

Theatre roles

A baritone, his theatre credits include Pilate in '' Jesus Christ Superstar'' at the Palace Theatre in London (1972); Eric Birling in ''

An Inspector Calls ''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is c ...

'' at the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham and the Grand Theatre, Swansea (1974); Frank-N-Furter in a German production of ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the ...

'' in 1980, and Necheave in ''The Revolutionary'' at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...

. Puck in '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Don John in ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

'' and Laertes in ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' at The New Shakespeare Company. For the Birmingham Repertory Company in 1969 he appeared in '' Waiting for Godot'', ''

Toad of Toad Hall ''Toad of Toad Hall'' is a play written by A. A. Milne – the first of several dramatisations of Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel '' The Wind in the Willows'' – with incidental music by Harold Fraser-Simson. It was originally produced by Willi ...

'' and ''Quick, Quick, Slow'' and was Prince Hal in '' Henry IV, Part 1'' and Fred in '' Saved''. In 1980 he returned to the company to play Victor Prynne in ''

Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetu ...

''. His West End credits include Frank Schultz in ''

Show Boat ''Show Boat'' is a musical with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based on Edna Ferber's best-selling 1926 novel of the same name. The musical follows the lives of the performers, stagehands and dock worke ...

'', Jed in '' West of Suez'',

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

in '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', Al in ''

A Chorus Line ''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...

'' and Endicott in '' Windy City''. He originated the roles of

in '' Cats'' at the

in London (1981), Greaseball in ''

'' at the

(1984), Lord Melchisedic The Time Lord in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' at the

Dominion Theatre The Dominion Theatre is a West End theatre and former cinema on Tottenham Court Road, close to St Giles Circus and Centre Point, in the London Borough of Camden. Planned as primarily a musical theatre, it opened in 1929, but the following year ...

(1986), and Lorry Driver/Bruce Tick/Motorcyclist in Alan Ayckbourn's ''

The Revengers' Comedies ''The Revengers' Comedies'' is a play by Alan Ayckbourn. Its title references that of ''The Revenger's Tragedy''. The play is an epic piece running more than five hours and was designed to be presented in two parts. It was inspired by the playwr ...

'' at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

(1989) and at the Strand Theatre in London in 1991. Alan Ayckbourn
''Alan Ayckbourn Plays 4''
Faber and Faber (2011) – Google Books He was Gary Strong in ''Radio Times'' at the Queen's Theatre in London with

Tony Slattery Tony Declan James Slattery (born 9 November 1959) is an English actor and comedian. He appeared on British television regularly from the mid-1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' His ...

(1992), and was the

Ghost of Christmas Present The Ghost of Christmas Present is a fictional character in Charles Dickens' 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol''. The Ghost is one of three spirits which appear to miser Ebenezer Scrooge to offer him a chance of redemption. Following a visit fr ...

for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the

Barbican Theatre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhib ...

in London in 1995.''A Christmas Carol'' – Performances
by the Royal Shakespeare Company RSC website Shankley played George in '' Spend Spend Spend'' at the

Piccadilly Theatre The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, London, England. Early years Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone ...

(1999); Gus/Growltiger in '' Cats'' in Germany in 2002; Sir Henry Baskerville in ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...

'' at the Nottingham Playhouse (2004), while in 2005–2006 and 2016 he played Pop in ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at num ...

'' at the

. 2008 saw him playing John Wilkes/Dr Meade in the musical ''

Gone With the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind may also refer to: Music * ''Gone with the Wind'' ...

'' at the

.Shankley's Profile
on

Spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shankley, Jeff 1947 births People from Stepney Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art English male musical theatre actors English male stage actors English male television actors English male film actors Royal Shakespeare Company members Living people