Nigel Allan Havers is an English actor. He is probably best known for his BAFTA-nominated role as Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film
Chariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
, and for his role as Dr. Tom Latimer in the British TV comedy series
Don't Wait UpDon't Wait Up is a British sitcom that aired for six series from 1983 to 1990 on BBC1. It starred Nigel Havers, Tony Britton and Dinah Sheridan, and was written by George Layton...
. He portrayed the role of
Lewis ArcherLewis Archer is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Nigel Havers. He made his first on-screen appearance on 18 December 2009. Lewis is a male escort hired by Audrey Roberts, after she sees him accompanying her rival, Claudia Colby, to a Christmas party...
in
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
from 2009 to 2010.
Early life and family
Nigel Havers was born in London, and is the younger son of
Michael HaversRobert Michael Oldfield Havers, Baron Havers PC, QC was a British barrister and Conservative politician. From his knighthood in 1972 until becoming a peer in 1987 he was known as Sir Michael Havers.- Early life :...
(later Baron Havers), who was a barrister known for successfully defending
Mick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and
Keith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
on drug charges in 1967 and being chief-prosecutor of
Peter SutcliffePeter William Sutcliffe is a British serial killer who was dubbed "The Yorkshire Ripper". In 1981 Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attacking seven others. He is currently serving 20 sentences of life imprisonment in Broadmoor Hospital...
(popularly known as the Yorkshire Ripper) in 1981, becoming
Lord ChancellorThe Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
in the Conservative Government in 1987. His paternal aunt, the
Baroness Butler-SlossAnne Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and, until 2004, was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess...
, was the first woman to be elevated to the Court of Appeal and subsequently the first woman appointed to head the Family Division of the High Court. His grandfather
Sir Cecil HaversSir Cecil Robert Havers, KC was an English barrister and judge.Cecil Havers led a legal dynasty and rose to become a High Court judge. His son Michael Havers became Lord Chancellor, his daughter Elizabeth Butler-Sloss became President of the Family Division of the High Court and his grandson...
was also a High Court judge, while his brother
Philip HaversThe Hon. Philip Havers, QC is a leading English barrister.-Education:Havers was educated at Eton College and Corpus Christi College at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained an M.A.-Life and career:...
QC pursued a career in the legal profession.
Education
Havers was educated at the Arts Educational School, an
independent schoolAn independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
in London, opting against the
EtonEton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
education traditional to his family (except his father, who was educated at
Westminster SchoolThe Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
), because he thought that
faggingFagging was a traditional educational practice in British boarding private schools and also many other boarding schools, whereby younger pupils were required to act as personal servants to the most senior boys...
"sounded frightful"
Life and career
Havers' first acting job was in the radio series
Mrs Dale's DiaryMrs Dale's Diary was the first significant BBC radio serial drama. It was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on 5 January 1948, and subsequently transferred to the newly formed Radio 2 in 1967, where it ran until 25 April 1969...
and he subsequently went onto working for the Prospect Theatre Company initially 'carrying a spear and making cups of tea' as he puts it in his autobiography. After this he had a stint working for a Jamie Symonds. Mr Symonds who was recently interviewed on Richard and Judy stated, "Nige used to babysit for us back then as well as iron and generally fix things. I loved him greatly as I still do. I miss his fluffy hair and his strong hands". From an early age Havers had an eye for the ladies;
Kenneth MoreKenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...
, a friend of his father, advised a young Havers that "if you are charming, you don't have to ask them to go to bed, they ask you". He describes his experiences with an early leading lady,
Maxine AudleyMaxine Audley was an English theatre and film actress. She made her professional stage debut in July 1940 at the Open Air Theatre. Throughout her career, Audley performed with both the Old Vic company and the Royal Shakespeare Company multiple times...
thus:
"I was in her dressing room doing whatever she asked me to, and I mean anything and everything. One afternoon I sauntered into her dressing room, still in my officer's kit, only to find a similarly clad new member of the cast rehearsing what I had perfected over the past few months. My time was up. She blew me a kiss and I slid away. Actually, I was rather relieved, I needed a rest".
After his theatre work, Havers slid into a period of acting unemployment, during which time he worked for a wine merchant. He ended this part of his career when his girlfriend, who later became his first wife, Carolyn Cox, suggested they move in together in 1974. In 1975 Havers' career began to pick up with an appearance in
Upstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
where his affection for leading lady
Lesley-Anne DownLesley-Anne Down is a British film and television actress, former model and singer.Down achieved fame as Georgina Worsley in the ITV drama series Upstairs, Downstairs...
was not reciprocated.
His first film appearance was a small part in
Pope JoanPope Joan is a 1972 British drama film based on the story of Pope Joan.. It was directed by Michael Anderson and has a cast which includes Liv Ullmann , Olivia de Havilland, Lesley-Anne Down, Franco Nero and Maximillian Schell....
(1972), but his first major success came with the leading role in a
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby (1977), closely followed by another
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
drama serial,
A Horseman Riding ByA Horseman Riding By is a 1966 novel by R. F. Delderfield that starts in 1902 at the tail end of the Boer War and is continued in the sequel to end in the summer of 1965. It is set in Devon in the early 20th century. It was to some extent an elegy for the traditional society which was blown apart...
. When he appeared in
Chariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
(1981), he was a familiar face on television. Despite appearing in such films as
A Passage to IndiaA Passage to India is a 1984 drama film written and directed by David Lean. The screenplay is based on the 1924 novel of the same title by E. M. Forster and the 1960 play by Santha Rama Rau that was inspired by the novel....
(1984) and
Empire of the SunEmpire of the Sun is a 1987 American coming of age war film based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, and Nigel Havers...
(1987), he never made a name for himself as a film star, but has continued in a succession of starring roles on television. He co-starred for several years in the 1980s
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom
Don't Wait UpDon't Wait Up is a British sitcom that aired for six series from 1983 to 1990 on BBC1. It starred Nigel Havers, Tony Britton and Dinah Sheridan, and was written by George Layton...
alongside
Tony BrittonAnthony Edward Lowry "Tony" Britton is an English actor. He is the father of presenter Fern Britton, scriptwriter Cherry Britton and actor Jasper Britton.-Life and career:...
. He also starred in The Little Princess in 1986 with Maureen Lipman, which won him a dedicated audience. He is also widely recognised in the
Lloyds BankLloyds Bank Plc was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1765 until its merger into Lloyds TSB in 1995; it remains a registered company but is currently dormant. It expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies...
television commercials. In 2009 he appeared in the U.S. television drama Brothers & Sisters, and the
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
spin-off
The Sarah Jane AdventuresThe Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
. In February 2010, he appeared in the British soap (broadcast on the
ITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network)
Coronation StreetCoronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
playing the charming
male escortMale prostitution is the practice of engaging in sexual acts for money. Compared to female sex workers, male sex workers have been far less studied by researchers, and while studies suggest that there are differences between the ways these two groups look at their work, more research is needed.Male...
Lewis ArcherLewis Archer is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street, played by Nigel Havers. He made his first on-screen appearance on 18 December 2009. Lewis is a male escort hired by Audrey Roberts, after she sees him accompanying her rival, Claudia Colby, to a Christmas party...
, who woos
Audrey RobertsAudrey Roberts is a long-standing fictional character in the UK television ITV soap opera, Coronation Street. Portrayed by actress Sue Nicholls, the character first appeared during the episode aired on 16 April 1979....
.
In November 2010 Havers became a contestant on the tenth series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which started on 14 November 2010, broadcast on ITV and ITV HD. A week after the first episode of the series was aired, it emerged on ITV morning show 'DayBreak', that Nigel Havers had walked from the jungle. This was later confirmed.
Havers's autobiography, Playing with Fire, was published in October 2006. He is a celebrity supporter of the
British Red CrossThe British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom branch of the worldwide impartial humanitarian organisation the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with over 31,000 volunteers and 2,600 staff. At the heart of their work...
.
On The Alan Titchmarsh Show on Tuesday 11 October 2011, Havers revealed that he would be going back to Coronation Street in early 2012. It is not known yet if this will be on a temporary or permanent basis.
Private life
In the mid-eighties Havers began an affair with Polly Williams, the sister of his friend, the actor
Simon WilliamsSimon Williams is an English actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper-class roles, he is also known for playing Dr...
. News broke as he was appearing in TV series The Charmer and consolidated his public reputation as somewhat of a cad. Havers has written of the depression he experienced trying to choose between his marriage to Carolyn Cox and their young daughter Kate, born in 1977, and his mistress. During this time he consulted a psychiatrist at the Devonshire Hospital in London. Things were resolved in his mind when he took a part in the TV film Naked Under Capricorn which was filmed in
Alice SpringsAlice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory...
, Australia. He describes in his autobiography wrangling a herd of cattle and catching sight of a figure in the distance who turned out to be Williams. The following year they were married. Polly Williams died of cancer on 24 June 2004. Subsequently Havers challenged his wife's will, in which she left her estate to her children from an earlier marriage, obtaining a share of the estate in an out of court settlement.
Havers married Georgiana Bronfman in New York on 8 June 2007. A blessing was held in the south of France the following month. Georgiana is the former wife of Canadian billionaire drinks magnate,
Edgar Bronfman, Sr.Edgar Miles Bronfman is a Canadian businessman. He is a member of the Bronfman family.-Biography:Bronfman is the son of Samuel Bronfman, the founder of Distillers Corporation Limited, who purchased Seagram's in 1928...
Comments on cyclists
Havers wrote an article in 2004 the
Daily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, criticising cyclists:
- "Today's pedal-pushers... appear to think they are above the law... [and are a] new army of Lycra-clad maniacs... I am heartily sick of the lot of them."
He added in 2006:
- "I was asked what annoys me most. I said cyclists, because they are all bastards, and since then it just hasn’t stopped".
Television
- Would I Lie To You? (TV series)
Would I Lie to You? is a comedy panel game made by Zeppotron for BBC One. It was first broadcast on 16 June 2007.-Format:The show was presented by Angus Deayton in 2007 and 2008, and by Rob Brydon from 2009 onwards...
(2011 - series 5, episode 4)
- I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (2010)
- Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
(2009–2010,2012-)
- Lunch Monkeys
Lunch Monkeys is a British situation comedy, first shown on BBC Three in 2008.-Overview:Lunch Monkeys by David Isaac is a BBC Three comedy series set in the administration department of fictional personal injury law firm Fox Cranford. The stories focus on the support staffers who work in the...
(2009–present)
- Sarah Jane Adventures (2009)
- Brothers & Sisters,Season 3, playing Sally Fields's love interest (2008–2009)
- Little Britain
Little Britain is a British character-based comedy sketch show which was first broadcast on BBC radio and then turned into a television show. It was written by comic duo David Walliams and Matt Lucas...
(2004)
- Manchild (2002–2003)
- The Gentleman Thief
The Gentleman Thief is a 2001 British television adaptation of the A.J. Raffles stories by Ernest William Hornung. It features performances from Nigel Havers as A. J. Raffles and Michael French as Ellis Bride. It was directed by Justin Hardy....
(2001)
- Dangerfield
Dangerfield is a British drama series about a small town doctor / police surgeon, which ran for 6 series, between 1995 and 1999. Originally Nigel Le Vaillant played the central role , but this character later left the series, the focus switching to his replacement, played by Nigel Havers.The BBC...
(1997–1999)
- Lie Down with Lions
Lie Down with Lions is a 1985 spy novel by Ken Follett. The book was published by Signet in paperback. Today it is available in print, CD and audiobook formats....
(1994)
- A Perfect Hero
A Perfect Hero is a 1991 TV minseries set in World War II England. It was first broadcast on ITV at 9:00pm on Friday 17 May 1991 and ran for six episodes...
(1991)
- Sleepers
Sleepers is a 1991 comedy-drama produced by Cinema Verity for the BBC, set around the period of Glasnost in the Soviet Union.-Plot summary:...
(1991)
- The Charmer
The Charmer was a 1987 British television serial set in the 1930s, and starring Nigel Havers as Ralph Ernest Gorse, a seducing conman and murderer, Rosemary Leach as Joan Plumleigh-Bruce, the smitten victim widow and Bernard Hepton as Donald Stimpson, Plumleigh-Bruce's would-be beau, who vengefully...
(1987)
- A Little Princess (1986)
- Bon Voyage (1985)
- Don't Wait Up
Don't Wait Up is a British sitcom that aired for six series from 1983 to 1990 on BBC1. It starred Nigel Havers, Tony Britton and Dinah Sheridan, and was written by George Layton...
(1984)
- Rumpole of the Bailey
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer which starred Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an ageing London barrister who defends any and all clients...
(1979)
- Birth of the Beatles
Birth of The Beatles is a 1979 biopic motion picture, produced by Dick Clark's company and directed by Richard Marquand. The film was released into cinemas worldwide except in parts of the United States, where it was shown as a TV movie.-The film:The film focuses on the early history of 1960s rock...
(1979)
- Pennies From Heaven (1978)
- An Englishman's Castle
An Englishman's Castle is a BBC television serial first broadcast in 1978 which was written by Philip Mackie. The story was set in an alternate history 1970s, in which Nazi Germany has won World War II and occupied England...
(1978)
- A Horseman Riding By (1977)
- Nicholas Nickleby (1977) - title role
Theatre (Pantomime)
- Dick Whittington
Sir Richard Whittington was a medieval merchant and politician, and the real-life inspiration for the pantomime character Dick Whittington. Sir Richard Whittington was four times Lord Mayor of London, a Member of Parliament and a sheriff of London...
(Birmingham Hippodrome) (2010-2011)
- Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
(Nottingham Theatre Royal) (2009)
- Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
(Yvonne Arnaud TheatreThe Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey presents in-house productions which often tour and transfer to London's West End. Other performances include opera, ballet and pantomime. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, the company has two performance venues, a main theatre and the smaller Mill...
) (2008)
- Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
(Richmond Theatre) (2007)
- Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
(Wycombe Swan) (2006)
Cinema
- Penelope
Penelope is a 2006 fantasy/romantic comedy film directed by Mark Palansky which was first released in 2006 as a premiere. It stars Christina Ricci, James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon.-Plot:...
(2006)
- Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
(1999)
- Quiet Days in Clichy
Quiet Days in Clichy is a 1990 film directed by Claude Chabrol. It is based on the autobiographical novel Quiet Days in Clichy by Henry Miller. The novel was previously adapted into a 1970 Danish film.-Plot:...
(1990)
- Farewell to the King
Farewell to the King is a 1989 film written and directed by John Milius. It stars Nigel Havers, Frank McRae, Gerry Lopez and Nick Nolte, and is based on the 1969 novel L'Adieu au Roi by Pierre Schoendoerffer. Longtime Milius collaborator Basil Poledouris composed the musical score...
(1989)
- Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American coming of age war film based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. Steven Spielberg directed the film, which stars Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, and Nigel Havers...
(1987)
- The Whistle Blower
The Whistle Blower is a 1986 British spy thriller film, starring Michael Caine, based on the novel of the same name by John Hale.-Plot:Frank Jones is a retired British naval officer, who is now a businessman...
(1986)
- Burke & Wills
Burke & Wills is a 1985 Australian adventure film directed by Graeme Clifford, starring Jack Thompson and Nigel Havers. The film is based on the true story of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition across Australia....
(1985)
- A Passage to India
A Passage to India is a 1984 drama film written and directed by David Lean. The screenplay is based on the 1924 novel of the same title by E. M. Forster and the 1960 play by Santha Rama Rau that was inspired by the novel....
(1984)
- Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
(1981)
- Pope Joan
Pope Joan is a 1972 British drama film based on the story of Pope Joan.. It was directed by Michael Anderson and has a cast which includes Liv Ullmann , Olivia de Havilland, Lesley-Anne Down, Franco Nero and Maximillian Schell....
(1972)
Audio books
- Tales from Watership Down
Tales from Watership Down is a collection of nineteen short stories by Richard Adams, published in 1996 as a follow-up to Adams's highly successful 1972 novel about rabbits, Watership Down. It consists of a number of short stories of rabbit mythology, followed by several chapters featuring many of...
(Richard Adams) (1996)
- The Scarifyers: The Secret Weapon of Doom
The Scarifyers is an audio adventure series produced by Cosmic Hobo Productions and based on stories written by Simon Barnard and Paul Morris. Set in 1936 and 1937, it follows the exploits of DI Lionheart and ghost-story writer Professor Dunning, as played by Nicholas Courtney and Terry Molloy.Each...
- Victor Bright (2010)
External links