Roland Joseph Culver, (31 August 1900 – 1 March 1984) was an English stage, film, and television actor.
Life and career
After
Highgate School
Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate ...
, he joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
and served as a pilot from 1918 to 1919. After considering other careers, he turned to acting, graduating from 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 Sen ...
. He debuted on the stage in 1924 at
Hull Repertory Theatre
The Hull Repertory Theatre Company was a theatre company in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1924 by Arthur Whatmore. In the 1930s it was managed by Pepino Santangelo who developed it and it became the Hull ...
and, by 1931, was appearing in films in which he was known for his portrayals of impeccable English gentlemen not given to displays of emotion.
In the 1960s he branched out into television before finally retiring in 1983.
In 1960 he appeared in ''
Five Finger Exercise
''Five Finger Exercise'' is a 1962 American drama film made by Columbia Pictures, directed by Daniel Mann and produced by Frederick Brisson from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the play by Peter Shaffer.
The film ...
'' at the
Music Box Theatre
The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspir ...
in New York City. He was nominated for the 1966
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality leading roles in a Broadway p ...
for ''
Ivanov''. In 1974 he played the irascible Duke of Omnium and Gatherum in the popular BBC adaptation of,
The Pallisers
''The Pallisers'' is a 1974 BBC television adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels. Set in Victorian era England with a backdrop of parliamentary life, Simon Raven's dramatisation covers six of Anthony Trollope's novels and follows the ev ...
.
[
He lost half a lung to ]tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
.
Personal life
He was married twice, first to actress, director, and casting agent Daphne Rye between 1932 and 1946, then to Nan Hopkins from 1947 until his death from a heart attack in 1984. With his first wife he had two children: actor Michael Culver
Michael Culver (born 16 June 1938) is an English actor. He was born in Hampstead, London, the son of actor Roland Culver and casting director Daphne Rye. He was educated at Gresham's School.
Actor
Culver's aunt, father, mother and brother a ...
and Robin Culver.
Culver was awarded an OBE in the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...
for services to drama.
Writer
Culver wrote the play ''A River Breeze'', and his autobiography is called ''Not Quite a Gentleman''.
Complete filmography
References
External links
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BBC Desert Island Discs Archive programme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culver, Roland
1900 births
1984 deaths
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
People educated at Highgate School
People from Highgate
People from Oxfordshire
Royal Air Force personnel of World War I
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
20th-century English male actors
British expatriate male actors in the United States
British World War I pilots