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 – Highgat ...
, 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) an ...
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 Senat ...
. He debuted on the stage in 1924 at
Hull Repertory Theatre 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 in New York City. He was nominated for the 1966
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for ''
Ivanov
Ivanov, Ivanoff or Ivanow (masculine, bg, Иванов, russian: ИвановSometimes the stress is on Ива́нов in Bulgarian if it is a middle name, or in Russian as a rare variant of pronunciation), or Ivanova (feminine, bg, Иванов ...
''. In 1974 he played the irascible Duke of Omnium and Gatherum in the popular BBC adaptation of,
The Pallisers.
[
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, ...
.
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.Queen's Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dynastic ...
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