Vivian MacKerrell
Encyclopedia
Vivian Alan James MacKerrell (23 May 1944 - 2 March 1995) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 actor of the 1960s, who shared a house in Camden, London with film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson
Bruce Robinson is an English director, screenwriter, novelist and actor. He is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic Withnail and I , a film with comic and tragic elements, set in London during the 1960s which drew on his experiences as 'a chronic alcoholic and resting...

, director of Withnail & I. He was the major basis for Withnail, a memorable character of British cinema. MacKerrell's only notable acting part came in 1971's Edna, the Inebriate Woman
Edna, the Inebriate Woman
Edna, the Inebriate Woman is a British television drama written by Jeremy Sandford which was transmitted by the BBC as part of the Play for Today series on 21 October 1971. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, Irene Shubik produced it....

, since his career was curtailed by a premature death from throat cancer
Esophageal cancer
Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes, primarily squamous cell cancer and adenocarcinoma . Squamous cell cancer arises from the cells that line the upper part of the esophagus...

. Robinson once attributed this to his imbibing of lighter fluid
Naphtha
Naphtha normally refers to a number of different flammable liquid mixtures of hydrocarbons, i.e., a component of natural gas condensate or a distillation product from petroleum, coal tar or peat boiling in a certain range and containing certain hydrocarbons. It is a broad term covering among the...

 http://www.richard-e-grant.com/Articles/FilmFourWebsite-Dec2002.html. This is portrayed in a notorious scene from Withnail & I; MacKerrell was reputedly unable to see for days after the incident.

A biography of Mackerrell, Vivian and I, by Penzance-based author Colin Bacon appeared in 2010.

External links

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