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Anthony Andrews

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This article is about the actor. For the High Sheriff, see Anthony Andrews (High Sheriff of Rutland). For the academic, see Antony Andrewes.
Anthony Andrews
Anthony Andrews in 1982 by Allan Warren
Born
Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews

(1948-01-12) 12 January 1948 (age 76)
Finchley, London, England
OccupationActor
Spouse
Georgina Simpson
​
(m. 1971)​

Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews[1] (/ˈæntəni ˈændruːz/; born 12 January 1948) is an English actor best known for his role as Lord Sebastian Flyte in the 1981 ITV miniseries Brideshead Revisited.

Life and career

Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes (née Cooper), a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, an arranger and conductor for the BBC.[1] He grew up in the North Finchley district of London. At the age of eight he undertook dancing lessons, making his stage debut as the White Rabbit in a stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.[2]

After a series of short term "fill-in" jobs that included catering, farming and journalism, he secured a position at the Chichester Theatre where he worked as an assistant stage manager and later as a stand-in producer. He auditioned in 1968 for a production of Alan Bennett's new play, Forty Years On, which featured John Gielgud as the headmaster of a British public school during the First World War period. Andrews was cast as Skinner, one of twenty schoolboys; the role gave him the opportunity at an early age of working with Gielgud.

In June 1977, Andrews was cast in the role of Bodie in the TV series The Professionals, but after three days of filming, the creator and producer Brian Clemens felt that the chemistry between Andrews and Martin Shaw (Doyle) did not work and that "the pair did not have the required undercurrent of menace to carry off the concept." Andrews was replaced in the part by Lewis Collins.[3] Following this, in 1979, he was the main star of the ITV television series Danger UXB, in which Andrews played a British bomb disposal officer in World War II during the London Blitz.[4] The series first aired in the United States in 1979 on Masterpiece Theatre.

His subsequent work includes the leading role of Lord Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited.[4] In 1982, he won a Golden Globe and BAFTA TV Award for his performance and was nominated for an Emmy Award. In the United States, Andrews is best known for his portrayal of the titular character in Ivanhoe as well as that of Sir Percy Blakeney in the 1982 film, The Scarlet Pimpernel.[4]

He played Professor Higgins in a stage version of My Fair Lady (2001) and Count Fosco in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White.[5]

He was the narrator for a 21st Anniversary BBC Radio 2 special broadcast of Cameron Mackintosh's musical Les Misérables, sung by the then West End cast at the Mermaid Theatre in London on Sunday 8 October 2006. Andrews appeared as Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in the 2010 film The King's Speech, for which he won a SAG Award along with Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush and Timothy Spall.

In 2003 Andrews survived a case of water intoxication. The condition, known as hyponatraemia, is caused by the dilution of sodium in the body. It has similar symptoms to dehydration, such as headaches, nausea and cramp. Whilst performing as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady he would consume up to eight litres of water a day. He lost consciousness and spent three days in intensive care.[6]

He married Georgina Simpson of the Simpsons of Piccadilly department store family. Their daughter Amy is a god-daughter of Princess Anne, The Princess Royal.[7]

Selected filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1972 A Day Out Brother
1974 Percy's Progress Catchpole
1974 Take Me High Hugo Flaxman
1975 The Adolescents [es] Jimmy
1975 Operation Daybreak Jozef Gabcik
1981 Mistress of Paradise Buckley
1982 Ivanhoe Wilfred of Ivanhoe
1982 The Scarlet Pimpernel Sir Percy Blakeney
1983 Sparkling Cyanide Tony Browne
1984 Under the Volcano Hugh Firmin
1985 The Holcroft Covenant Johann von Tiebolt / Jonathan Tennyson
1987 The Lighthorsemen Maj. Richard Meinertzhagen
1987 The Second Victory Maj. Hanlon
1988 Bluegrass Michael Fitzgerald
1988 Hanna's War McCormack
1990 Hands of a Murderer Professor Moriarty
1991 Lost in Siberia Andrei Miller
1995 Haunted Robert Mariell
1997 Mothertime Robin
2000 David Copperfield Edward Murdstone
2010 The King's Speech Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1968 The Wednesday Play Harry
1972 Dixon of Dock Green Paul Richards
1972 Doomwatch Carlos
1972 Follyfoot Lord Beck
1972 A War of Children Reg Hogg American (CBS) TV film set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles
1972 Thirty-Minute Theatre Michael Warren / Vernon Warren Episode "The Judge's Wife"
1974 The Fortunes of Nigel Sir Nigel Olifaunt
1974 QB VII Stephen Kelno
1974 The Pallisers Lord Silverbridge
1974 David Copperfield James Steerforth
1975 Upstairs, Downstairs Lord Robert Stockbridge / The Marquis of Stockbridge
1976 The Duchess of Duke Street Marcus Carrington
1976–1977 Play of the Month Various characters In "French Without Tears", "London Assurance", and "The Country Wife"
1977 Wings Lt. Walker
1977 ITV Sunday Night Drama Harry Episode "A Superstition"
1978 Romeo and Juliet Mercutio BBC Television Shakespeare
1979 Danger UXB Brian Ash
1981 The Love Boat Tony Selkirk
1981 Brideshead Revisited Lord Sebastian Flyte British Academy Television Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie
1984 Play for Today John Loomis Episode "Z for Zachariah"
1985 A.D. Nero
1988 American Playhouse Johnnie Aysgarth Episode "Suspicion"
1988 The Woman He Loved King Edward VIII
1989 A Fine Romance Michael Trent
1989 Columbo: Columbo Goes to the Guillotine Elliot Blake
1989 Nightmare Classics Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde Episode "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
1992 Jewels William Whitfield
1992 Screen Two Christopher Edwardes
1996 The Ruth Rendell Mysteries Luke Crossland
1996 Tales from the Crypt Jonathan
2001 Love in a Cold Climate Boy
2003 Cambridge Spies King George VI
2004 Rosemary & Thyme Richard Oakley Episode "The Invisible Worm"
2006 Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs Tommy Beresford
2012 Birdsong Colonel Barclay
2015 The Syndicate Lord Hazelwood

Producer

  • Lost in Siberia (1991)
  • Haunted (1995)

Theatrical roles

References

  1. ^ a b "Anthony Colin Andrews Biography (1948-)". Filmreference.com. 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Debut : Anthony Andrews". The Independent. London, UK. 25 April 2001.
  3. ^ "Obituary :Lewis Collins". The Daily Telegraph. London, UK: TMG. 28 November 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Quinlan, David (1996) Quinlan's Film Stars, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-7751-2, p. 16
  5. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20070311120057/http://www.flyrope.com/sections/people/index.php?var=45703. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 11 October 2006. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Actor Andrews in water overdose". BBC News. London: BBC. 4 July 2003. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  7. ^ Demoskoff, Yvonne (2009). "Godchildren of HRH The Princess Royal". Yvonne's Royalty Home Page. Retrieved 25 February 2016.

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