Tom Courtenay

Sir Thomas Daniel Courtenay (; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he achieved prominence in the 1960s as part of actors of the British New Wave. Courtenay has received numerous accolades including three BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Silver Bear, and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Emmy Award. He was knighted for his services to cinema and theatre in the 2001 New Year Honours.

Courtenay earned the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his role in the coming-of-age film '' The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'' (1962)⁠ and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in David Lean's epic '' Doctor Zhivago'' (1965). Other notable film roles during this period include ''Billy Liar'' (1963), '' King and Country'' (1964), '' King Rat'' (1965), and '' The Night of the Generals'' (1967).

For his performance in the 1983 film adaptation of the play ''The Dresser'', in which he reprised the role of Norman he originated both on the West End and Broadway, Courtenay won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations. His later roles include '' Last Orders'' (2001), ''Nicholas Nickleby'' (2002), ''Quartet'' (2012), '' 45 Years'' (2015), and ''The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'' (2018).

Courtenay received two British Academy Television Awards for his performances in the television film '' A Rather English Marriage'' (1998) and the first series of the crime drama '' Unforgotten'' (2015) as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for the PBS miniseries ''Little Dorrit'' (2008).

Early life and education

Courtenay was born on 25 February 1937 in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Annie Eliza (''née'' Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter in Hull fish docks. He attended Kingston High School and went on to study English at University College London, where he failed his degree. After this he studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Career

1960–1977

Courtenay made his stage debut in 1960 with the Old Vic theatre company at the Lyceum, Edinburgh, before taking over from Albert Finney in the title role of ''Billy Liar'' at the Cambridge Theatre in 1961. In 1963, he played that same title role in the film version, directed by John Schlesinger. He said of Albert Finney, "We both have the same problem, overcoming the flat harsh speech of the North."

Courtenay's film debut was in 1962 with '' Private Potter'', directed by Finnish-born director Caspar Wrede, who had first spotted Courtenay while he was still at RADA. This was followed by '' The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'', directed by Tony Richardson, and ''Billy Liar'', two highly acclaimed films and performances which helped usher in the British New Wave of the early-to-mid-1960s. For these performances Courtenay was awarded the 1962 BAFTA Award for most promising newcomer and the 1963 BAFTA Award for best actor respectively. He also was the first to record the song '' Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter'', doing so for the TV play ''The Lads''. The song was released by Decca on a 45 rpm record.

For his role as the dedicated revolutionary leader Pasha Antipov in '' Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but was bested by Martin Balsam. Among his other well-known films is '' King & Country'', directed by Joseph Losey, where he played opposite Dirk Bogarde; the all-star war film, ''Operation Crossbow'', directed by Michael Anderson (starring George Peppard and Sophia Loren); '' King Rat'', directed by Bryan Forbes and costarring James Fox and George Segal; and '' The Night of the Generals'', directed by Anatole Litvak with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif. He provided physical slapstick comedy in the ultimately chilling anti-nuke black comedy ''The Day the Fish Came Out'' in 1967. In 1968 he co-starred in the spy movie ''A Dandy in Aspic'', opposite Laurence Harvey. He then appeared in two spy-comedies, first ''Otley'' (1969), in the title role, and then '' Catch Me A Spy'' (1971), starring Kirk Douglas. Courtenay's working relationship with Wrede returned to film when he played the title role in the latter's 1970 production of ''One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich when he played in '' The Playboy of the Western World'' for the Century Theatre at Manchester University directed by Michael Elliott. In 1969, Courtenay played Hamlet ( John Nettles playing Laertes) for 69 Theatre Company at University Theatre in Manchester, this being the precursor of the Royal Exchange Theatre, which was founded in 1976 where he was to give many performances, firstly under the direction of Casper Wrede. His first roles for the Royal Exchange were as Faulkland in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals and the hero of Heinrich von Kleist's ''The Prince of Homburg''. Since then he has played a variety of roles, including in 1999 the leading role in the theatre's production of ''King Lear'', and in 2001 ''Uncle Vanya''.

1980–1999

Courtenay originated the role of Norman in Ronald Harwood's ''The Dresser'' which was first produced in the West End in 1980. The production started at Royal Exchange, Manchester before transferring to the Queen's Theatre. Courtenay acted opposite Freddie Jones as Sir. The production earned the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play. He then reprised his role on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 1981, acting opposite Paul Rogers. Courtenay received nominations for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his performance. He then was cast as Norman in the film adaptation of ''The Dresser'' (1983), acting opposite Albert Finney as Sir with performances from Eileen Atkins, Edward Fox, and Michael Gough. Famed critic from the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', Roger Ebert praised Courtenay for his performance writing, "He is perfect for playing proud, resentful, self-doubting outsiders." Both Courtenay and Finney received nominations for Best Actor in the 1983 Academy Awards for their roles, losing to Robert Duvall in '' Tender Mercies''.

He played the father of Derek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) in the 1991 film ''Let Him Have It''. And for an actor known to be cast in good or great films, he surprisingly co-starred in what's been considered one of the worst movies ever, the infamous '' Leonard Part 6'' starring Bill Cosby. Courtenay's television and radio appearances have been relatively few, but have included '' She Stoops to Conquer'' in 1971 on BBC and several Ayckbourn plays. He appeared in '' I Heard the Owl Call My Name'' on US television in 1973. In 1994, he starred as Quilp opposite Peter Ustinov in a Disney Channel 'made for television' version of ''The Old Curiosity Shop''. Rather unexpectedly, he had a cameo role as the anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski in the George Lucas 1995 US TV film '' Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye''. In 1998 he teamed with Albert Finney again for the acclaimed BBC drama '' A Rather English Marriage''. He played the role of God, opposite Sebastian Graham-Jones, in Ben Steiner's radio play "A Brief Interruption", broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2004. In the same year, he played the role of Stanley Laurel in Neil Brand's radio play 'Stan', broadcast on Radio 4. Also for Radio 4, he played the title role in Nick Leather's ''The Domino Man of Lancashire'' and ''Maurice'' in Richard Lumsden's ''Man in the Moon'', both broadcast in 2007. Courtenay also appeared in the 2008 Christmas special of the BBC show The Royle Family, playing the role of Dave's father, David Sr, alongside Helen Fraser as Dave’s mother, who had played his girlfriend in Billy Liar.

2001–present

In 2002, based on an idea by Michael Godley, Courtenay compiled a one-man show ''Pretending To Be Me'' based on the letters and writings of poet Philip Larkin, which first played at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. It later transferred to the Comedy Theatre in the West End in London. In 2007, Courtenay appeared in two films: ''Flood'', a disaster epic in which London is overwhelmed by floods, and '' The Golden Compass'', an adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel, playing the part of Farder Coram. In 2008, he appeared in the BBC adaptation of ''Little Dorrit'' by Charles Dickens, playing William Dorrit, and the Christmas edition of '' The Royle Family'', playing David (Senior). In March 2011, he joined the cast of '' Gambit'', a film starring fellow RADA alumnus Alan Rickman that began filming in May. The film was released in Great Britain in November 2012.

In 2012, he co-starred in romantic drama ''Quartet'' alongside Maggie Smith, directed by Dustin Hoffman. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. In 2015, he co-starred with Charlotte Rampling in the highly-praised Andrew Haigh film, '' 45 Years''. Courtenay won international awards including the Berlin International Film Festival's Silver Bear and Venice International Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actor. for his role as Geoff Mercer, and the film was critically-acclaimed and very well-received internationally as well as in the U.S. In 2018, he appeared in ''The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'' starring Lily James and '' King of Thieves'' alongside Michael Caine and Michael Gambon.

In 2019, he was a panellist on '' Harry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule'', Season 3 episode 1. For his introduction, after the other 3 guests had been announced Harry expressed surprise that the fourth seat (Courtenay's) was empty. Harry said he knew the guest had set off some time ago, which was followed by a cut to the 1962 film '' The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner'' in which Courtenay's character was running. Courtenay then entered the studio, apparently out of breath and in the same running kit he'd been wearing in the film. Also in 2019 he voiced the character of Prince Philip in '' The Queen's Corgi'', his first voice role, and also appeared in '' The Aeronauts'' starring Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne.

Personal life

Courtenay married actress Cheryl Kennedy in 1973. They divorced in 1982. In 1988, he married Isabel Crossley, a stage manager at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. They have homes in Manchester and Putney in London. In 2000, Courtenay's memoir ''Dear Tom: Letters From Home'' was published to critical acclaim. It comprises a selection of the letters exchanged between Courtenay and his mother, interspersed with his own recollections of life as a young student actor in London in the early 1960s.

Courtenay is the President of Hull City AFC's Official Supporters' Club. In 1999, Courtenay was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hull University. In 2018, he was bestowed the Honorary Freedom of the City of Hull.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

His roles include:

Singles

* '' Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter'' (1963), Decca F 11729. Originally sung by Courtenay in ''The Lads'', a British 1963 TV play.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtenay, Tom
1937 births
Living people
21st-century English male actors
20th-century English male actors
Actors awarded knighthoods
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
BAFTA Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles winners
Best Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
Best Drama Actor Golden Globe (film) winners
Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
English male voice actors
Knights Bachelor
Male actors from Kingston upon Hull
Silver Bear for Best Actor winners
Volpi Cup for Best Actor winners