Sir Peter Lauderdale Daubeny, (16 April 1921, Wiesbaden, Germany – 6 August 1975, London) was a British theatre impresario. Daubeny trained with

Michel Saint-Denis Michel Jacques Saint-Denis (13 September 1897 – 31 July 1971), ''dit'' Jacques Duchesne, was a French actor, theatre director, and drama theorist whose ideas on actor training have had a profound influence on the development of European the ...

Dan Rebellato "Daubeny, Peter" in Colin Chambers (ed) ''The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre'', London: Continuum, 2002 005 p.194 and began his career under the director William Armstrong at the

Liverpool Playhouse The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actress ...

. Losing his left-arm at

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

in 1943 led to him abandoning an acting career and staging his own productions including

Franz Werfel Franz Viktor Werfel (; 10 September 1890 – 26 August 1945) was an Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and Poetry, poet whose career spanned World War I, the Interwar period, and World War II. He is primarily known as the author of ''Th ...

's ''Jacobowsky and the Colonel'' in 1945. The London visits of the

Berliner Ensemble The Berliner Ensemble () is a German theatre company established by actress Helene Weigel and her husband, playwright Bertolt Brecht, in January 1949 in East Berlin. In the time after Brecht's exile, the company first worked at Wolfgang Langhoff ...

in 1956 and the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...

were organised by Daubeny.

Henry Kendall (actor) Henry Kendall AFC, (28 May 1897 – 9 June 1962) was an English stage and film actor, theatre director and revue artiste. His early theatrical career was curtailed by the First World War, in which he served with distinction. Resuming his sta ...

, in Chapter 23 of his autobiography, 'I Remember Romano's', 'An Alligator and Mr. Chaplin', (Macdonald, London, 1960), wrote that Daubney asked him in 1955 to " ...keep an eye on his (Daubney's) revival at the Palace", (

Palace Theatre, London The Palace Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster in London. Its red-brick facade dominates the west side of Cambridge Circus behind a small plaza near the intersection of Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road. The Palace ...

), of

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...

, starring

Jan Kiepura Jan Wiktor Kiepura (May 16, 1902 – August 15, 1966) was a Polish singer (tenor) and actor. Life and career Jan Kiepura was born in Sosnowiec, Poland, the son of Miriam (née Neuman), a former professional singer, and Franciszek Kiepura, a b ...

and

Marta Eggerth Marta Eggerth (17 April 1912 – 26 December 2013) was a Hungarian actress and singer from "The Silver Age of Operetta". Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz, Oscar Str ...

, while he was on business in Paris. He is best remembered for his organisation of the World Theatre Season, which brought foreign theatre companies to London between 1964 and 1975. Amongst other honours, including an OBE in the

1961 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1961 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate ...

and a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1967 New Year Honours Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, he was knighted in the

1973 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1973 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 2 June 1973 for ...

References

*Michael Denison, ‘Daubeny, Sir Peter Lauderdale (1921–1975)’, rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 1921 births 1975 deaths German emigrants to the United Kingdom British theatre managers and producers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Gold crosses of the Order of George I Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Commanders of the Order of Vasa Recipients of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres {{theat-bio-stub