Michael Crawford

Michael Patrick Smith, (born 19 January 1942), known professionally as Michael Crawford, is an English tenor, actor and comedian.

Crawford is best known for playing both the hapless Frank Spencer in the sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'' and the title role in the musical ''The Phantom of the Opera''. His acclaimed performance in the latter earned him both the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. He has received international critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his acting career, which has included many film and television performances as well as stage work on both London's West End and on Broadway.

Crawford has also published the autobiography ''Parcel Arrived Safely: Tied With String''. Since 1987, he has served as the leader and public face for the British social cause organization the Sick Children's Trust.

Early life and education

Crawford was brought up by his mother, Doris Agnes Mary Pike, and her parents, Montague Pike and his wife, Edith (née Keefe or O'Keefe), in what Crawford described as a "close-knit Roman Catholic family". His maternal grandmother was born in County Londonderry, Ireland (now Northern Ireland), and lived to be 99 years old. His mother's first husband, Arthur Dumbell "Smudge" Smith, who was not his biological father, was killed, aged 22, on 6 September 1940 during the Battle of Britain, less than a year after they married. Sixteen months after Smith's death, Crawford was born, the result of a short-lived relationship, and given his mother's surname, which was that of her first husband.

During his early years, Crawford divided his time between the army camp in Wiltshire, where he and his mother lived during the war, and the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. The isle was where his mother had grown up and where Crawford would later live with his mother and maternal grandparents. He attended St Michael's, a Catholic school in Bexleyheath which was run by nuns whom Crawford later described as not being shy in their use of corporal punishment. At the end of the Second World War, his mother remarried, this time to a grocer, Lionel Dennis "Den" Ingram. The couple moved to London, where Crawford attended Oakfield Preparatory School, Dulwich, where he was known as Michael Ingram. His mother's second marriage was abusive, according to Crawford.

Acting career

Career beginnings

Crawford made his first stage appearance in the role of Sammy the Little Sweep in his school production of Benjamin Britten's ''Let's Make an Opera'', conducted by Donald Mitchell,Donald Mitchell, Philip Reed and Mervyn Cooke (eds) ''Letters from a Life: Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol 3, 1946–1951''. Faber and Faber, London, 2004, p. 28. ISBN 978-0571222827. which was then transferred to Brixton Town Hall in London. He auditioned, unsuccessfully, for the role of Miles in Britten's ''The Turn of the Screw'' - the role being given to another boy soprano, David Hemmings; but it appears that Crawford's audition sufficiently impressed Britten as in 1955 he hired him to play Sammy, alternating with David Hemmings, in another production of ''Let's Make an Opera'', this time at the Scala Theatre in London.Mitchell (2004): p. 27 He also participated in the recording of that opera (as Michael Ingram, singing the role of Gay Brook) made that same year, conducted by the composer.

In 1958 he was hired by the English Opera Group to create the role of Jaffet in another Britten opera, ''Noye's Fludde'', based on the story of Noah and the Great Flood. Crawford remembers that it was while working in this production that he realised he seriously wanted to become an actor. It was in between performances of ''Let's Make an Opera'' and ''Noye's Fludde'' that he was advised to change his name, "to avoid confusion with a television newsman called Michael Ingram who was registered with British Equity".

He went on to perform in a wide repertoire. Among his stage work, he performed in André Birabeau's French comedy ''Head of the Family'', Neil Simon's ''Come Blow Your Horn'', Bernard Kops's ''Change for the Angel'', Francis Swann's ''Out of the Frying Pan'', Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'', ''Coriolanus'', and ''Twelfth Night'', Oscar Wilde's ''The Importance of Being Earnest'', ''The Striplings'', ''The Move After Checkmate'' and others. At the same time, he appeared in hundreds of BBC radio broadcasts and early BBC soap-operas, such as '' Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School'', '' Emergency - Ward 10'', ''Probation Officer'', and ''Two Living, One Dead''. He appeared as the cabin boy John Drake in the television series ''Sir Francis Drake'', a 26-part adventure series made by ITC starring Terence Morgan and Jean Kent. He made his film debut in 1958 with leading roles in two children's films, ''Blow Your Own Trumpet'' and ''Soapbox Derby'', for The Children's Film Foundation in Britain.

In 1961 Michael Crawford appeared in an episode of ''One Step Beyond'' called "The Villa" in which he played a character experimenting with strobe lights. Crawford appears in the only surviving episode of the 1960 British crime series '' Police Surgeon'' alongside Ian Hendry. This series would spawn the much better-known '' The Avengers''.

Early adult career

At age nineteen, he was approached to play an American, Junior Sailen, in the film ''The War Lover'' (1962), which starred Steve McQueen. To prepare for the role, he would spend hours listening to Woody Woodbury, a famous American comedian of the time, to try to perfect an American accent. After ''The War Lover'', Crawford briefly returned to the stage and, after playing the lead role in the 1963 British film '' Two Left Feet'', was offered a role in the British television series, ''Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life'', as the Mod-style, tough-talking, motorbike-riding Byron. It was this character that attracted film director Richard Lester to hire him for the role of Colin in '' The Knack ...and How to Get It'' in 1965. The film was a huge success in the UK.

Lester also cast him in the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical '' A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'', and ''How I Won the War'', which starred Roy Kinnear and John Lennon (during the filming of which he lived in London with Lennon and his first wife Cynthia, and Gabrielle Lewis). Crawford starred in ''The Jokers'' (directed by Michael Winner) with Oliver Reed in 1967.

Broadway debut

In 1967, he made his Broadway début in Peter Shaffer's ''Black Comedy'' with Lynn Redgrave (making her début as well) in which he demonstrated his aptitude and daring for extreme physical comedy, such as walking into walls and falling down staircases. While working in the show, he was noticed by Gene Kelly and was called to Hollywood to audition for him for a part in the film adaptation of the musical '' Hello, Dolly!''. He was cast and shared top billing with Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau. Despite becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 1969, it failed to recoup its $25 million budget at the box office. It went on to win three Academy Awards, was nominated for a further four (including Best Picture), and is now considered to be one of the greatest musical films ever.

His later films fared less successfully, although ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', in which he played the White Rabbit, enjoyed moderate success in the UK. After performing in ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', and with offers of work greatly reduced and much of his salary from ''Hello, Dolly!'' lost, reportedly due to underhanded investments by his agent, Crawford faced a brief period of unemployment, in which he helped his wife stuff cushions (for their upholstery business) and took a job as an office clerk in an electric company to pass the time between. During this difficult time, his marriage fell apart and divorce followed in 1975.

''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em''

Crawford's acting career took off again after he appeared on the London stage in the farce ''No Sex Please, We're British'', in which he played the part of frantic chief cashier Brian Runnicles. His performance led to an invitation to star in a BBC
...