Sir Antony Sher,
KBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 14 June 1949) is a
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
n born
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
,
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
, theatre director and
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
.
Sher was born into a
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
n
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish family in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Margery and Emmanuel Sher, who worked in business. He grew up in the suburb of
Sea PointSea Point is Cape Town's most densely populated suburb, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District . Moving from Sea Point to the CBD, one passes through first the small Three Anchor Bay suburb, then Green Point...
(his cousin is
Ronald HarwoodRonald Harwood CBE, is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
), but he has worked mainly in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and is now a British citizen.
In 1968, after completing his compulsory military service, he left for
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
to audition at the
Central School of Speech and DramaThe Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. The school has been a constituent college of the University of London since 2005...
, but was unsuccessful.
Sir Antony Sher,
KBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 14 June 1949) is a
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
n born
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
,
writerA writer is anyone who creates a written work, though the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms.-Profession:...
, theatre director and
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
.
Early years
Sher was born into a
LithuaniaLithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of...
n
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
ish family in Cape Town, South Africa, the son of Margery and Emmanuel Sher, who worked in business. He grew up in the suburb of
Sea PointSea Point is Cape Town's most densely populated suburb, situated between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District . Moving from Sea Point to the CBD, one passes through first the small Three Anchor Bay suburb, then Green Point...
(his cousin is
Ronald HarwoodRonald Harwood CBE, is an author, playwright and screenwriter. He is most noted for his plays for the British stage as well as the screenplays for The Dresser and The Pianist, for which he won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay...
), but he has worked mainly in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and is now a British citizen.
In 1968, after completing his compulsory military service, he left for
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
to audition at the
Central School of Speech and DramaThe Central School of Speech and Drama was founded in 1906 by Elsie Fogerty to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. The school has been a constituent college of the University of London since 2005...
, but was unsuccessful. Instead, he studied at the
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic ArtThe Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London was one of the leading drama schools in the UK which offered comprehensive training for those intending to pursue a professional career and during its 100 year history produced many established actors of stage and screen. It was absorbed into the...
from 1969 to 1971. After training, and some early performances with the theatre group Gay Sweatshop, he joined the
Royal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Newcastle upon Tyne, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre.-The early...
in 1982.
Career
In the 1970s Sher was part of an astonishing group of young actors and writers working at the
Liverpool EverymanThe Everyman Theatre is a theatre on Hope Street in Liverpool, England. It was established in 1964 to perform works of relevance to the inhabitants of Liverpool.-History:...
. It consisted of the likes of writers
Willy RussellWilliam Russell is a British dramatist, lyricist, and composer. His best-known works are Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine, and Blood Brothers.-Biography:...
and
Alan BleasdaleAlan Bleasdale , now in Merseyside, England is an English television dramatist, best known for writing several social realist drama serials based on the lives of ordinary people.-Early life:...
and fellow actors
Bernard HillBernard Hill is a British actor of film, stage and television. In a career spanning thirty years, he is best known for playing Captain Edward John Smith in Titanic, King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and as the Warden of San Quentin Prison in the Clint Eastwood film True Crime...
,
Julie WaltersJulie Walters, CBE is an English actress and novelist.-Early life:Walters was born as Julia Mary Walters in Smethwick, Staffordshire, the daughter of Mary Bridget , a postal clerk of Irish Catholic extraction, and Thomas Walters, a builder and decorator...
,
Trevor EveTrevor John Eve is a British film and television actor. In 1979 he gained fame as the eponymous lead in the detective series Shoestring, and is currently best known for his role as Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd in BBC television drama Waking the Dead.-Early life:Eve was born in Birmingham...
and
Jonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor/singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and marrying English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
. The work performed was highly regarded (two successes being
John, Paul, George, Ringo … & Bert with Sher playing
RingoRingo may refer to:*Ringo , a sport played mainly in Poland*Ringō, Nan'yō, a town in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan** Ringō Station, located in the town* an apple, in the Japanese language*Ringo , a 1964 single by Lorne Greene...
and
Richard III with Sher as Buckingham). Sher summed up the work of the company with the phrase "Anarchy ruled." At the Royal Shakespeare company he took the title role in
TartuffeTartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is his most famous play.As the play begins, the well-off Orgon is convinced that Tartuffe is a man of great religious zeal and fervor. In fact, Tartuffe is a scheming hypocrite...
and played the Fool in
King Lear before his big breakthrough in 1984, when he played the title role in
ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's
Richard IIIRichard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified as...
. This won him the prestigious Laurence Olivier Award. Since then he has played the lead in many major productions, including
TamburlaineTamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur 'the lame'...
,
Cyrano de BergeracCyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. There was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, but the play bears very scant resemblance to the life of the actual person....
,
StanleyStanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
and
MacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth, commonly just Macbeth, is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
. He also played Johnnie in
Athol Fugard'sAthol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in , best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
Hello and Goodbye,
IagoIago is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello . The character's source is traced to Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio's tale "Un Capitano Moro" in Gli Hecatommithi . There, the character is simply "the ensign". Iago is a soldier and Othello's ancient...
in
OthelloOthello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
and
ShylockShylock is a fictional Jewish character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.-In the play:In The Merchant of Venice, Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who lends money to his Christian rival, Antonio, setting the bond at a pound of Antonio's flesh...
in
The Merchant of VeniceThe Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio, and while it shares certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps more remembered for its dramatic...
.
In the
1996 film adaptationThe Wind in the Willows, released on video in the U.S. as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, is a 1996 adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's classic novel The Wind in the Willows , although it differs substantially from the novel...
of
Kenneth GrahameKenneth Grahame was a British writer, most famous for The Wind in the Willows , one of the classics of children's literature...
's
The Wind in the WillowsThe Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...
, Sher starred as the Chief Weasel. In 1997, his portrayal of
DisraeliBenjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, KG, PC, FRS, was a British Prime Minister, parliamentarian, Conservative statesman and literary figure. He served in government for three decades, twice as Prime Minister. A teenage convert to Anglicanism, he was nonetheless the country's first and thus...
in the film
Mrs. BrownMrs. Brown is a 1997 British drama film starring Dame Judi Dench, Billy Connolly, Geoffrey Palmer, Antony Sher and Gerard Butler...
was well received, and he won his second Laurence Olivier Award for his performance as
Stanley SpencerSir Stanley Spencer was an English painter. Much of his greatest work depicts Biblical scenes, from miracles to Crucifixion, happening not in the Holy Land, but in Cookham, the small village where he was born and spent most of his life; fellow-villagers frequently stand in for their Gospel...
in
Stanley. In television, he starred in the
miniseriesA miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a production which tells a story in a pre-planned limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
The History ManThe History Man is a campus novel by the British author Malcolm Bradbury set in 1972 in the fictional seaside town of Watermouth in the South of England. Watermouth bears some resemblance to Brighton. For example, there is a frequent and fast train service to London.-Plot introduction:Howard Kirk...
(1981) and
The Jury (2002). In 2003 he played the central character in an adaptation of the J G Ballard short story
The Enormous Space, filmed as
Home and broadcast on
BBC FourBBC Four is a BBC television channel available to digital television viewers in the UK. The part successor to BBC Knowledge. BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002....
. Recent cinema credits include a cameo in the British comedy
Three and OutThree And Out is a 2008 British comedy film directed by Jonathan Gershfield. It premiered in London on the 21 April 2008 and was released in the UK and Ireland on 25 April 2008.-Plot:...
released on 25 April 2008.
Other work
Sher's books include the memoirs:
Woza Shakespeare: Titus Andronicus in South Africa, with
Gregory DoranGregory Doran is an English theatre director, currently the Chief Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company . His notable productions include a production of Macbeth starring Antony Sher, which was filmed for Channel 4 in 2001, as well as Hamlet in 2008, starring David Tennant and...
(1997);
Year of the King (1985);
Beside Myself (2002);
Characters (1990); and
Primo Time (2005). He also wrote the novels
Middlepost (1989),
Cheap Lives (1995),
The Indoor Boy (1996), and
The Feast (1999).
Sher is also the author of several plays, including
IDI.D. is a historical drama by Antony Sher. It debuted on 4 September 2003 at London's Almeida Theatre, directed by Nancy Meckler.The play follows the events surrounding the 1966 assassination of South African Prime Minister Hendrick Verwoerd by the mentally unstable Demetrios Tsafendas.-Original...
(2003) and Primo (2004). The latter was
adapted for the screen in 2005Primo is a 2005 film directed by Richard Wilson and starring Antony Sher.This film is a recording of the National Theatre production of the play Primo...
. In 2008
The Giant, the first of his plays in which Sher did not feature, was performed at the
Hampstead TheatreHampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary....
. The main characters are:
MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer...
at the time of his creation of
DavidDavid is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture sculpted by Michelangelo from 1501 to 1504. The 5.17 meter marble statue portrays the Biblical King David in the nude. Unlike previous depictions of David which portray the hero after his victory over Goliath, Michelangelo chose to represent David...
;
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
; and Vito, their mutual apprentice. Sher's research for the story drew greatly upon
VasariGiorgio Vasari was an Italian painter and architect, who is today famous for his biographies of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art-historical writing.-Biography:Vasari was born in Arezzo, Tuscany...
's
LivesThe Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, from Cimabue to Our Times, or Le Vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori, as it was originally known in Italian, is a series of artist biographies written by 16th century Italian painter and architect...
.
In 2005 Sher directed
Breakfast With Mugabe at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, which transferred to the Soho Theatre (in April 2006) and the Duchess Theatre (May 2006).
In 2007 he made a
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
crime documentary,
Murder Most Foul, about his native South Africa. The documentary examines the gruesome murders of young actor
Brett GoldinBrett Goldin was a South African actor and part of the Crazy Monkey comedy troupe.-Early life:Brett Goldin was educated at the King David School, Victory Park, in Johannesburg and at Crawford College High School before moving to the University of Cape Town.In 2004, Goldin wrote his first stage...
and fashion designer Richard Bloom. Sher also travelled to the ghettoes where the murderers came from and interviewed the family and friends of Goldin and Bloom as well as those of other murder victims.
Personal life
Despite his success, a shy and insecure Sher turned to
cocaineCocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system and an appetite suppressant...
as an antidote and by 1996 spent three weeks in rehabilitation. In 2005, he and his partner, the director
Gregory DoranGregory Doran is an English theatre director, currently the Chief Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company . His notable productions include a production of Macbeth starring Antony Sher, which was filmed for Channel 4 in 2001, as well as Hamlet in 2008, starring David Tennant and...
with whom he frequently collaborates professsionally, became one of the first gay couples to form a
civil partnershipCivil partnerships in the United Kingdom, granted under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, give same-sex couples rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage...
in Britain.
Stage productions
- 1972-74: Plays various roles at the Liverpool Everyman
- 1974: Played Ringo Starr in Willy Russell's 'John Paul George Ringo and Bert' at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre where it opened in May 1974. The production transferred to the Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London in August 1974.
- 1982: Mike Leigh's Goosepimples in the West End
- 1982: King Lear (as the Fool) at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre (transferring to the Barbican in 1983)
- 1984: Richard III with the RSC (transferred to the Barbican in 1985)
- 1987: Shylock in The Merchant of Venice for the RSC
- 1990: Singer for the RSC
- 1991: The Trial and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui for the National Theatre
- 1994/5: Titus Andronicus at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg, then transferring to the National and a UK tour.
- 1997: Stanley at the National Theatre
- 1998/1999: The Winter's Tale, at the Barbican Theatre with the Royal Shakespeare Company
- 1999: Macbeth with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
- 2000/1: Macbeth and The Winter's Tale for the RSC
- 2002: RSC's Jacobean season transfers to the West End
- 2004: Primo at the Cottesloe - National Theatre in October
- 2007: Kean in Kean at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford (then transferring to the Apollo Theatre, London in May) in March
- 2008: Prospero in The Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–11, although some researchers have argued for an earlier dating. The play's protagonist is the banished sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, who initially uses his magical powers to punish his enemies when he raises a...
at the Baxter Theatre, Cape TownCape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa, and the largest in land area, forming part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. It is the provincial capital of the Western Cape, as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many...
; Courtyard TheatreThe Courtyard Theatre is a temporary 1,048 seat thrust stage theatre building in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. It has been built to host performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company whilst the company's main building is closed for redevelopment, and is used as a 'test bed' for the new design of...
, Stratford-upon-AvonStratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of the county town, Warwick. It is the main town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers a...
; and tour of Richmond, Leeds, Bath, Nottingham, Sheffield
Honours and awards
- 1985: Laurence Olivier Award for best actor, for Richard III
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified as...
- 1985: Evening Standard Award
The Evening Standard Theatre Awards, established in 1955, are presented annually for outstanding achievements in London Theatre. Sponsored by the Evening Standard newspaper, they are announced in late November or early December.-Trophies:...
for best actor, for Richard IIIRichard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified as...
- 1997: Laurence Olivier Award for best actor in a play, for Stanley
Stanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
- 1998: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Liverpool University.
- 2000: Knight Commander of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions...
(KBE) for services to theatre
- 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee comprised of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
for Primo
- 2007: Honorary Doctorate of Letters from University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a British campus university located on the outskirts of Coventry, West Midlands, England. It was established in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand access to higher education, and in 2000 Warwick Medical School was opened as part of an initiative to train...
External links
- http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/31351/i-enjoy-being-an-ousider.thtml