Nicol Williamson
| Nicol Williamson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 September 1936 Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK |
| Died | 16 December 2011 (aged 75) Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
| Years active | 1960–1997 |
| Spouse | Jill Townsend (m. 1971–1977; divorced); 1 son |
Nicol Williamson (14 September 1936 – 16 December 2011) was a Scottish-born actor[1] once described by English playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". He rose to fame in the 1960's, when he created the role of the self-loathing and heavy drinking solicitor Bill Maitland in Osborne's Inadmissable Evidence. On film, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the wizard Merlin in John Boorman's 1981 Arthurian epic, Excalibur.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Williamson was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, the son of a factory owner. His family later moved south to England and Williamson was educated at the Central Grammar School for Boys, Birmingham. He left school at 16 to begin work in his father's factory and later attended the Birmingham School of Speech & Drama. He recalled his time there as "a disaster" and claimed "it was nothing more than a finishing school for the daughters of local businessmen".[citation needed]
[edit] Career
[edit] Stage and screen
After his National Service as a gunner in the Airborne Division, Williamson made his professional debut with the Dundee Rep in 1960 and the following year appeared with the Arts Theatre in Cambridge. The following year, he made his London debut in Tony Richardson's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Royal Court Theatre. His first major success came in 1964 with John Osborne's Inadmissible Evidence for which he was nominated for a Tony Award when it transferred to Broadway in 1965. In 1968, he starred in the film version. Williamson's Hamlet for Tony Richardson at the Roundhouse caused a sensation and was later transferred to New York and made into a film, with a cast including Anthony Hopkins and Marianne Faithfull. Faithfull later stated in her autobiography "Faithfull" that she and Williamson had had an affair while filming Hamlet.
Some of his other notable film performances are as an alcoholic attorney in I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can; a Colonel in the Cincinnati Gestapo in Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective; a suicidal Irish soldier in the 1968 film The Bofors Gun; Sherlock Holmes in the 1976 Herbert Ross film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution; and Little John in the 1976 Richard Lester film Robin and Marian. More recently he appeared as Lord Louis Mountbatten in Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy (1985); the dual roles of Dr. Worley/The Nome King in Return To Oz (1985); Father Morning in The Exorcist III (1990); Badger in the 1996 movie adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows; and Cogliostro in the 1997 movie adaptation of Todd McFarlane's comic book, Spawn.
Williamson made a major contribution to the documentary "John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship",[2] recalling episodes from his long professional relationship with Osborne. Recorded excerpts of his award-winning stage performance in Inadmissible Evidence also feature in the video.
Williamson was known for several tantrums and on-stage antics. During the Philadelphia tryout of Inadmissible Evidence, a play in which he delivered a performance that would win him a Tony Award nomination in 1965,[3] he hit the equally mercurial producer David Merrick.[4] In 1968 he apologised to the audience for his performance one night while playing Hamlet and then walked off the stage, announcing he was retiring.[4] In 1976 he slapped an actor during the curtain call for the Broadway musical, Rex. In 1991 he hit co-star Evan Handler on the backside with a sword during a Broadway performance of I Hate Hamlet.[3]
When Williamson appeared in the 1981 film Excalibur, director John Boorman cast him as Merlin opposite Helen Mirren as Morgana over the protests of both actors; the two had previously appeared together in Macbeth, with disastrous results and disliked each other intensely. It was Boorman's hope that the very real animosity that they had towards each other would generate more tension between them on screen.[5]
[edit] Other work
In 1974, Williamson recorded an abridged reading of The Hobbit for Argo Records, with authorisation for abridgement provided by Tolkien's publisher. The recording was produced by Harley Usill.[6]
[edit] Personal life
In 1971, Williamson married actress Jill Townsend, who played his daughter in the Broadway production of Inadmissible Evidence. They had a son, Luke, but divorced in 1977.
Despite concerns over his health in the 1970s, Williamson admitted drinking heavily and claimed to smoke 80 cigarettes a day.[7]
[edit] Death
On 25 January 2012, Luke Williamson announced on his father's official web site that Nicol Williamson had died on 16 December 2011, aged 75, after a two-year struggle with esophageal cancer.[8]
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Iron Petticoat | Man lighting Major Lockwood's distorted cigarette | (uncredited) |
| 1963 | The Six-Sided Triangle | The Lover | Short film |
| ITV Play of the Week | Count Pierre Besukhov | TV series, episode "War and Peace" | |
| Z-Cars | Jack Clark | TV series, episode "By the Book" | |
| Teletale | Dr. Murke | TV series, episode "Dr. Murke's Collection of Silences" | |
| 1965 | Six | TV series, episode "The Day of Ragnarok" | |
| The Wednesday Play | Robin Fletcher | TV series, episode "Horror of Darkness" | |
| 1968 | Of Mice and Men | Lennie | TV film (Video) |
| The Bofors Gun | O'Rourke | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | |
| Inadmissible Evidence | Bill Maitland | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | |
| 1969 | The Reckoning | Michael Marler | |
| Laughter in the Dark | Sir Edward More | Won — Prize San Sebastián for Best Actor | |
| Hamlet | Prince Hamlet | ||
| 1971 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | Jim Fitch | TV series, episode "Terrible Jim Fitch" |
| 1972 | The Jerusalem File | Professor Lang | |
| Le moine | The Duke of Talamur | ||
| The Gangster Show: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui | Arturo Ui | TV film Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actor |
|
| 1974 | Late Night Drama | President Nixon | TV series, episode "I Know What I Meant" |
| 1975 | The Wilby Conspiracy | Major Horn | |
| 1976 | Robin and Marian | Little John | |
| The Seven-Per-Cent Solution | Sherlock Holmes | ||
| 1977 | The Goodbye Girl | Oliver Fry | (uncredited) |
| 1978 | Columbo | Dr. Eric Mason | TV series, episode "How to Dial a Murder" |
| The Cheap Detective | Colonel Schlissel | ||
| The Word | Maertin de Vroome | TV mini-series | |
| 1979 | The Human Factor | Maurice Castle | |
| 1981 | Excalibur | Merlin | Nominated — Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| Venom | Commander William Bulloch | ||
| 1982 | I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can | Derek Bauer | |
| 1983 | Macbeth | Macbeth | BBC Television Shakespeare; videotaped TV drama |
| 1984 | Sakharov | Malyarov | TV film |
| 1985 | Christopher Columbus | King Ferdinand | TV mini-series |
| Return to Oz | Nome King | ||
| 1986 | Masterpiece Theatre | Lord Louis Mountbatten | TV mini-series, episode "Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy" |
| 1987 | Black Widow | William McCrory | |
| Passion Flower | Albert Coskin | TV film | |
| 1990 | The Exorcist III | Father Morning | |
| Chillers | TV series, episode "A Curious Suicide" | ||
| 1993 | The Hour of the Pig | Seigneur Jehan d'Auferre | |
| 1996 | The Wind in the Willows | Mr. Badger | |
| 1997 | Spawn | Cogliostro |
[edit] Awards
Nicol Williamson was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, a Saturn Award, two Tony Awards,[9] and won the Prize San Sebastián award for Best Actor from the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 1969 for his performance in Laughter in the Dark.
[edit] BAFTA Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | The Bofors Gun | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated |
| 1970 | Inadmissible Evidence | Best Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated |
| 1973 | The Gangster Show: The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui | Television Award for Best Actor | Nominated |
[edit] Saturn Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Excalibur | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
[edit] Tony Awards
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Inadmissible Evidence | Best Actor in a Play | Nominated |
| 1974 | Uncle Vanya | Best Actor in a Play | Nominated |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/047/000023975/
- ^ Tony Palmer (May 2006). John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship (video documentary). Isolde Films/fivearts.
- ^ a b Nicol Williamson biography at Yahoo!
- ^ a b Scott, A.O. (7 February 2005). "We're Sorry". The New York Times. http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=76596&mod=bio. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ Comments from the audio commentary of Excalibur on DVD
- ^ The Hobbit, read by Nicol Williamson. 4 record boxed set, Argo Records, 1974, ZPL 1196/9
- ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/9039245/Nicol-Williamson.html
- ^ Luke Williamson (25January 2012). "To the fans of Nicol". nicolwilliamson.com. http://www.nicolwilliamson.com. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ Nicol Williamson Tony Awards Info. BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Nicol Williamson at the Internet Movie Database
- Nicol Williamson at the Internet Broadway Database
- Nicol Williamson at Rotten Tomatoes
- Nicol Williamson at the Lortel Archives: The Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Obituary, The Independent, 26 January 2012
- Obituary, The Guardian, 26 January 2012
- Obituary, Financial Times, 27 January 2012
