Nicol Williamson
| Nicol Williamson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 September 1936 Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK |
| Died | 16 December 2011 (aged 75) Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Years active | 1960–1997 |
| Spouse(s) | Jill Townsend (m. 1971–1977; divorced); 1 son |
Nicol Williamson (14 September 1936 – 16 December 2011) was a British actor[1] once described by English playwright John Osborne as "the greatest actor since Marlon Brando". He was also described by playwright Samuel Beckett as "touched by genius" and viewed by many critics as "the Hamlet of his generation" during the late 1960s. Many sources incorrectly state that Williamson was born in 1938 rather than 1936.
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Early life[edit]
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]
Career[edit]
Stage and screen[edit]
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. In 1962 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 the early 1970s, Williamson left the Dick Cavett Show prior to a scheduled appearance, leaving the host and guest Nora Ephron to fill the remaining time.[5] In 1976, he slapped an actor[who?] 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, as is evident from their scenes together.[6] Williamson gained recognition from a much wider fanbase for his performance as Merlin. A review of Excalibur in the Times[which?] in 1981 said "The actors are led by Williamson's witty, perceptive Merlin, missed every time he's off the screen."
Other work[edit]
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.[7] According to his official website, Nicol himself re-edited the original script, removing many occurrences of "he said", "she said", and so on, as he felt that an over-reliance on descriptive narrative would not give the desired effect.
Personal life[edit]
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.[8] In an episode of the David Frost Show in the 1960s during a discussion about death, which also involved poet John Betjeman, Williamson revealed that he was very much afraid of dying, saying that "I think of death constantly, throughout the day" and that "I don't think there is anything after this, except complete oblivion."
Death[edit]
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.[9] The news was released late as the actor did not want any fuss to be made over his death. According to Luke, Nicol Williamson died peacefully.
Filmography[edit]
| 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 |
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| 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 Hollywood producer/director) |
| 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 | Final film |
Awards[edit]
Nicol Williamson was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, a Saturn Award, two Tony Awards,[10] 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.
BAFTA Awards[edit]
| Year | Recipient | 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 |
Drama Desk Awards[edit]
| Year | Recipient | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Hamlet | Outstanding Performance | Won |
| 1974 | Uncle Vanya | Outstanding Performance | Won |
| 1976 | Rex | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Nominated |
Saturn Awards[edit]
| Year | Recipient | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Excalibur | Best Supporting Actor | Nominated |
Tony Awards[edit]
| Year | Recipient | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Inadmissible Evidence | Best Actor in a Play | Nominated |
| 1974 | Uncle Vanya | Best Actor in a Play | Nominated |
References[edit]
- ^ "NNDB: Nicol Williamson"
- ^ 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. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ Vamping With Nora New York Times, June 29, 2012
- ^ 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
- ^ "Nicol Williamson". The Daily Telegraph (London). 25 January 2012.
- ^ Luke Williamson (25January 2012). "To the fans of Nicol". nicolwilliamson.com. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ Nicol Williamson Tony Awards Info. BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
External links[edit]
- 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
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