Simon Callow

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Simon Callow
Born	Simon Phillip Hugh Callow 15 June 1949 (1949-06-15) (age 60) Streatham, London, UK
Occupation	Theatre director, actor

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor, writer and theatre director.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early years 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 2.1 Film 2.2 Television 3 Bibliography 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early years

Callow was born in Streatham, London, UK, to Yvonne Mary Guise, a secretary, and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman.^[1] He attended the London Oratory School and then went on to study at the Queen's University of Belfast before giving up his degree course to go into acting at Drama Centre London.

[edit] Career

Callow made his stage debut in 1973 with The Thrie Estates, Assembly Hall Theatre, Edinburgh. In the early 1970's he joined the Gay Sweatshop theatre company and performed in Martin Sherman's critically acclaimed Passing By.^[2][3]

He made his first film appearance in Amadeus in 1984 (having played Mozart in the original stage production at the Royal National Theatre). His first television role was in Carry On Laughing episode Orgy and Bess, in 1975, but it was apparently cut from the final print. He starred in several series of the Channel 4 situation comedy, Chance in a Million, as Tom Chance, an eccentric individual to whom coincidences happened regularly. Roles like this and his part in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought him a wider audience than his many critically acclaimed stage appearances.

At the same time, Callow was successful both as a director and as a writer. His Being An Actor (1984) was a critique of 'director dominated' theatre, in addition to containing autobiographical sections relating to his early career as an actor. At a time when subsidised theatre in the UK was under severe pressure from the Thatcher government, the work's original appearance caused a minor controversy. In 1995 he directed a stage version of the classic French film Les Enfants du Paradis for the RSC. Unfortunately, the production was not a success. Callow has also directed opera productions.

One of Callow's best-known books is Love Is Where It Falls, a poignant analysis of his eleven-year relationship with Peggy Ramsay (1908-91), a prominent British theatrical agent from the 1960s to the 1980s. He has also written extensively about Charles Dickens, whom he has played in a one-man show, The Mystery of Charles Dickens by Peter Ackroyd, in the film Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale, and on television several times including An Audience with Charles Dickens (BBC, 1996) and in The Unquiet Dead, a 2005 episode of the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who.

Callow appeared with Saeed Jaffrey in 1994 British television series Little Napoleons. In 1996 Callow directed Cantabile in three musical pieces (Commuting, The Waiter's Revenge, Ricercare No. 4) composed by his friend Stephen Oliver. Ricercare No. 4 was commissioned by Callow especially for Cantabile. In 2004, he appeared on a Comic Relief episode of Little Britain for charity causes. In 2006, he wrote a piece for the BBC1 programme This Week bemoaning the lack of characters in modern politics. He has starred as Count Fosco, the villain of Wilkie Collins's novel The Woman in White, in film (1997) and on stage (2005, in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in the West End).

In December 2004, he hosted the London Gay Men's Chorus' Christmas Show, Make the Yuletide Gay at the Barbican Centre in London. He is currently one of the Patrons of the Michael Chekhov Studio London. Callow narrated the audio book of Robert Fagles' 2006 translation of Virgil's The Aeneid.

In July 2006 the World renowned London Oratory School Schola announced Callow as one of their new patrons. In November 2007 he threatened to resign the post over controversy surrounding the Terrence Higgins Trust (an AIDS charity of which Callow is also a patron). Other patrons of the Catholic choir are HRH Princess Michael of Kent and the leading Scottish composer James MacMillan.

From 11 July 2008 to 3 August, Callow appeared at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada in his new one man show There Reigns Love, a play about the poetry of William Shakespeare ^[4] and also in 2008, he appeared at the Edinburgh Festival giving a recital, directed by Patrick Garland, of two stories by Charles Dickens.

In February 2008, he played the psychiatrist in Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Peter Shaffer's Equus.

In March 2009, he will be starring as Pozzo in Sean Mathias' long awaited production of Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett opposite Sir Ian McKellen (Estragon), Patrick Stewart (Vladimir) and also Ronald Pickup (Lucky). 'A Boy' is being auditioned for each venue through the Theatre Royal, Haymarket and main Waiting For Godot website. The tour opens in Malvern before travelling to Milton Keynes, Brighton, Bath, Norwich, Edinburgh and Newcastle before visiting the Theatre Royal, Haymarket for a strictly limited season.

He has also written biographies of Orson Welles and Charles Laughton. Callow was also the reader of The Twits and The Witches in the Puffin Roald Dahl Audio Books Collection (ISBN 978-0-140-92255-4). He also was the reader of several abridged PG Wodehouse, Jeeves books including Very Good, Jeeves and Aunts Aren't Gentlemen.

[edit] Personal life

Callow is one of the most prominent gay actors in Britain, listed 28th in the Independent's 2007 listing of the most influential gay men and women in the UK.^[5] In 1999 he was awarded the CBE for his services to acting.

Callow's last partner was director Daniel Kramer. They shared a house in Camden, North London^[6], but have now ended their relationship.^[7]

He was one of the first actors publicly to declare his homosexuality, doing so in his 1984 book Being An Actor. (In another he revealed his platonic affair with the theatrical agent Peggy Ramsay who was 40 years his senior.) 'I'm not really an activist', he says, 'although I am aware that there are some political acts one can do that actually make a difference and I think my coming out as a gay man was probably one of the most valuable things I've done in my life. I don't think any actor had done so voluntarily and I think it helped to change the culture.'

– Simon Callow: Laughter in the dark, interview^[8]The Independent 2004

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Film

Year	Title	Character	Production
1984	Amadeus	Emanuel Schikaneder/Papageno
1985	The Good Father	Mark Varda
	A Room with a View	The Reverend Mr. Beebe	Merchant Ivory
1987	Maurice	Mr. Ducie	Merchant Ivory
1988	Manifesto	Police Chief Hunt
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Simon Asquith
	Mr. & Mrs. Bridge	Dr. Alex Sauer	Merchant Ivory
1991	The Ballad of the Sad Cafe	director only	Merchant Ivory
1991	Howards End	Music and Meaning Lecturer (cameo)	Merchant Ivory
1992	Soft Top Hard Shoulder	Eddie Cherdowski
1994	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Gareth
	Street Fighter	A.N. Official
1995	England, My England	Charles II
	Victory	Zangiacomo
	Jefferson in Paris	Richard Cosway	Merchant Ivory
	Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls	Vincent Cadby
1996	James and the Giant Peach	Grasshopper (voice)
1998	The Scarlet Tunic	Captain Fairfax
	Bedrooms and Hallways	Keith
	Shakespeare in Love	Sir Edmund Tilney
1999	Around the World in 80 Days	Phileas Fogg (voice)
	Junk
2001	No Man's Land	Soft
2002	Thunderpants	Sir John Osgood
	Merci Docteur Rey	Bob
2003	Bright Young Things	King of Anatolia
2004	George and the Dragon	King Edgar
	The Phantom of the Opera	Andre
2005	Rag Tale	Fat Boy
	The Civilization of Maxwell Bright	Mr. Wroth
	Bob the Butler	Mr. Butler
2006	Sabina	Eugene Bleuler
2007	Chemical Wedding	Professor Haddo/Aleister Crowley
	Arn – The Knight Templar	Father Henry

[edit] Television

Date	Title	Character	Broadcaster
2008	The Mr. Men Show	narrator	Five
2007	The Company	Elihu
2007	How Gay Sex Changed the World[9]	himself	Channel 4
2007	Derren Brown - "Trick or Treat: Episode 4"	guest	Channel 4
2006	Midsomer Murders: "Dead Letters"	Doctor Richard Wellow	ITV
2006	Classical Destinations[10][11]	Narrator	Sky Arts
2005	Rome	Publius Servilius	BBC
2005	Doctor Who - "The Unquiet Dead"	Charles Dickens	BBC
2004	Shoebox Zoo	Wolfgang the Wolf	BBC Scotland
2003	Angels in America	Prior Walter Ancestor #2	Avenue Pictures Productions
2001	Don't Eat The Neighbours	Fox & Bear	CITV
1998	Trial & Retribution II	Rupert Halliday	La Plante Productions
1996	An Audience With Charles Dickens 1996, Ambassador Theatre, London	Charles Dickens	BBC
1994	Little Napoleons	Edward Feathers	Channel 4
1987	Inspector Morse: The Wolvercote Tongue	Theodore Kemp	ITV
1986	Dead Head	Hugo Silver	BBC
1984	Chance in a Million	Tom Chance	Channel 4
1981	The Man of Destiny	Napoleon	BBC

[edit] Bibliography

• Callow, Simon (1985). Being an Actor. Penguin Books. ISBN 0140076824. 
• Callow, Simon (1988). Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor. London: Methuen Drama. ISBN 0413189309. 
• Dusan Makavejev; Callow, Simon (1990). Shooting the Actor. London: Nick Hern Books. ISBN 1854590359. 
• Callow, Simon (1991). Acting in Restoration Comedy. Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers. ISBN 155783119X. 
• Callow, Simon (1995). Orson Welles: the Road to Xanadu. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0224038524. 
• Callow, Simon (1999). Love is Where it Falls. Nick Hern Books. ISBN 0140290052. 
• Callow, Simon (2000). The Night of the Hunter. BFI Film Classics. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 0851708226. 
• Callow, Simon (2003). Dickens' Christmas: A Victorian celebration. ISBN 0711220085. 
• Callow, Simon (2007). Orson Welles: Hello Americans. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0099462613. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Simon Callow at the Internet Broadway Database
• Simon Callow at the Internet Movie Database
• Simon Callow's - MusicalTalk discussing his role as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Richmond Theatre, Christmas 2008.
• Simon Callow - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, September 2006
• Simon Callow on BBC1's This Week
• Simon Callow in Master/Mistress of my

v • d • e Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical Richard Jones (1991) · Simon Callow (1992) · Nicholas Hytner (1993) · Declan Donnellan (1994) · Scott Ellis (1995) Best Director · Director of a Play