Sam Beazley (29 March 1916 – 12 June 2017) was a British actor.

Early life

Sam Beazley was born in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the eldest of three children born to Captain (Robert) Gordon Beazley (died 1953), and his wife, Ellen (Williams) Beazley (1891-1976). Sam's parents, who were cousins, came from prominent families. Gordon Beazley was the son of Robert Clover Beazley (1850–1925), and Harriet Gertrude (née Williams); the Beazley family, from the Wirral, was in the cotton-broking business. Ellen was the daughter of Sir Osmond Williams, Liberal MP for Merioneth between 1900 and 1910, and Frances Evelyn Greaves. Relatives included Gordon's brother

Hugh Loveday Beazley Sir Hugh Loveday Beazley (16 October 1880 – 17 July 1964) was a County Court Judge (1934–1937), a Judge of the Mayor's and City of London Court (1937–1942) and the Common Serjeant of London (1942-1953).County Court Judge (1934–1937), a Judge of the

Mayor's and City of London Court The Mayor's and City of London Court is a sitting of the County Court in the City of London. It is located at Guildhall Buildings, Basinghall Street. History The current court is the successor to courts pre-dating the County Courts Act 1846, whi ...

(1937–1942) and the

Common Serjeant of London The Common Serjeant of London (full title The Serjeant-at-Law in the Common Hall) is an ancient British legal office, first recorded in 1291, and is the second most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court after the Recorder of Lon ...

(1942-1953), and Hugh's son,

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Hugh John Beazley, DFC (1916–2011).Beazley's appointment as Common Serjeant
''

The London Gazette ''The London Gazette'' is one of the official journals of record or government gazettes of the Government of the United Kingdom, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are ...

'' 23 October 1942. Gordon Beazley had returned from the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

shell-shocked and often ill. His marriage soon broke down, and the pair separated in the 1920s after the cotton crash caused the family fortune to slump. Ellen had to turn to her father for financial help.

Career

Beazley was encouraged to become a professional actor in the 1930s as a teenager by his mother. After he had appeared in a London run of ''Where the Rainbow Ends'', his mother secured him an introduction to

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Briti ...

. An invitation to join Gielgud's theatre company followed, and Beazley appeared in Gielgud's productions of ''

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 ...

'' as the "Player Queen" (1934) and ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' as "Paris" (1935).

Nicholas de Jongh Nicholas de Jongh is a British writer, theatre critic and playwright. He served as the senior drama critic of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1991 to 2009. Prior to that, he had worked for ''The Guardian'' for almost 20 years. In 2008, de Jongh ...

"Dangerous liaisons: The secret life of John Gielgud"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 15 February 2010. After ''Tatlers theatre critic negatively reviewed his performance in ''Romeo and Juliet'', Beazley decided he "simply hadn’t got the knack" for acting, and gave it up. After serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Beazley co-owned an antique shop for several decades. He returned to acting full time when he retired at 73, and subsequently appeared in a variety of stage and film productions; as well he became a painter in his nineties.

Death and legacy

A 2010 article by

in ''

'' described "the amazing" Beazley as "the last theatre survivor of his generation". Beazley died on 12 June 2017 at the age of 101.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1916 births 2017 deaths 20th-century English male actors 21st-century English male actors English centenarians English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors Men centenarians British Army personnel of World War II {{England-film-actor-stub