Who's Who on
Collectors' Post
|
Biography
Simon Callow, the British actor and director, was born in 1949. He attended Queen's College, Belfast, for a year but left to train at London's Drama Centre. After various provincial work, including small parts in Edinburgh and two months in repertory at Lincoln, he made his London debut in a Traverse Theatre production of C. P. Taylor's Schippel, or The Plumber's Progress (1975). He then did some work with Gay Sweatshop, appearing in Passing By (1975). He spent a year with the Joint Stock Company (a co-operative of actors and writers), playing, on tour in 1977, in Fanshen and Epsom Downs. In 1978, he played the title roles in both Titus Andronicus at the Bristol Old Vic, and in Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Half Moon Theatre.
In 1979, he joined the National Theatre. After playing Orlando in As You Like It, he was given his big break - creating the role of Mozart in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus. He then appeared in Sisterly Feelings (1980) and also, while still at the NT, gave a one-man performance of Shakespeare's sonnets - a show that he has subsequently toured internationally. In 1981, he played Verlaine in Christopher Hampton’s Total Eclipse and Lord Are in Edward Bond’s Restoration.
When Amadeus was filmed in 1984, he was not thought to be a big enough star to reprise his stage role of Mozart. Instead, he played the impresario Schikaneder. The cinema was, however to provide plenty of space for his ebullient, larger-than-life personality. His film roles include the Reverend Mr. Beebe in A Room with a View (1985), Mr. Ducie in Maurice (1987), Gareth in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and Mr. Tilney in Shakespeare in Love (1998). He has also appeared in a batch of TV dramas, including playing Tom Chance in the situation comedy Chance in a Million (1984).
In recent years, he has directed many productions that include his own translations of Jean Cocteau's The Infernal Machine and Milan Kundera's Jacques and his Master (1987), and Willie Russell's Shirley Valentine (1988); the musical Carmen Jones (1991) and the operas Die Fledermaus (1988-1989) and La Calisto (1996).
He is also a accomplished author whose books include biographies of Charles Laughton and Orson Welles.
In 2000, he was awarded a CBE.
| Items for Sale on Collectors' Post |
| Click for details |
| 012097 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | ON THE SPOT by Edgar Wallace |
| 014871 |
Theatre: Programs (UK) - post 1939 | SINGLE SPIES by Alan Bennett |
| 015585 |
Theatre: Photos - Signed | SIMON CALLOW - signed photo |
| 015591 |
Theatre: Photos - Signed | SIMON CALLOW - signed photo/print |
| 012946 |
Cinema & TV: Signed Material | SIMON CALLOW - signed photo |
| 012947 |
Cinema & TV: Signed Material | SIMON CALLOW - signed photo |
|
