94-501: Loved Ones , Loved One , The Loved Ones , or The Loved One may refer to: Films [ edit ] The Loved One (film) , a 1965 American satire based on the Evelyn Waugh novel The Loved Ones (film) , a 2009 Australian horror film by Sean Byrne Literature [ edit ] The Loved One (book) , a 1948 short satirical novel by Evelyn Waugh Loved Ones (book) ,
188-463: A failed uprising against Russian rule in 1830–31. Jan Gielgud took refuge in England with his family; one of his grandchildren was Frank Gielgud, whose maternal grandmother was a famous Polish actress, Aniela Aszpergerowa . Frank married into a family with wide theatrical connections . His wife, who was on the stage until she married, was the daughter of the actress Kate Terry , and a member of
282-731: A "Chekhov boom" in British theatres, and Gielgud was among its leading players. As Konstantin in The Seagull in October 1925 he impressed the Russian director Theodore Komisarjevsky , who cast him as Tusenbach in the British premiere of Three Sisters . The production received enthusiastic reviews, and Gielgud's highly praised performance enhanced his reputation as a potential star. There followed three years of mixed fortunes for him, with successes in fringe productions, but West End stardom
376-464: A 1982 song by Elvis Costello and the Attractions from Imperial Bedroom "Loved Ones", a 2003 song by Starflyer 59 from Old "Loved Ones", an unreleased song by SZA and Kendrick Lamar, 2015 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Loved Ones . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
470-554: A 1985 selection of pen portraits by Diana Mitford Music [ edit ] The Loved Ones (Australian band) , a 1960s Melbourne rock band "The Loved One" (song) , a 1966 song by the Australian band The Loved Ones (American band) , a Philadelphia rock band The Loved Ones (EP) , a 2005 EP by the American band Loved Ones (album) , a 1996 album by Ellis Marsalis and Branford Marsalis "The Loved Ones",
564-575: A Blu-ray release in May 2017. John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( / ˈ ɡ iː l ɡ ʊ d / GHEEL -guud ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier , he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as
658-481: A Lamp (1929) with Edith Evans and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. In 1928 he made his second film, The Clue of the New Pin . This, billed as "the first British full-length talkie ", was an adaptation of an Edgar Wallace mystery story; Gielgud played a young scoundrel who commits two murders and very nearly a third before he himself is killed. In 1929 Harcourt Williams , newly appointed as director of productions at
752-474: A better performance of this play than this before I die, it will be a miracle." Morley writes that junior members of the cast such as Alec Guinness and Frith Banbury would gather in the wings every night "to watch what they seemed intuitively already to know was to be the Hamlet of their time". Mr Olivier was about twenty times as much in love with Peggy Ashcroft as Mr Gielgud is. But Mr Gielgud spoke most of
846-543: A boy genius with an interest in rocketry, and let him set up shop at the pet cemetery. Joyboy brings in his mother's pet myna bird to be buried, but agrees to have the bird shot into orbit on one of Gunther's rockets, instead. Having discovered that Dennis is his rival for Aimee's affections, Joyboy brings Aimee to the ceremony, and she is outraged when she sees Dennis performing the service. Reverend Glenworthy, seeing little profit in Whispering Glades once all of
940-619: A cat with rickets . It dealt a severe blow to my conceit, which was a good thing." Before and after joining the school he played in several amateur productions, and in November 1921 made his debut with a professional company, though he himself was not paid. He played the Herald in Henry V at the Old Vic ; he had one line to speak and, he recalled, spoke it badly. He was kept on for the rest of
1034-475: A conventional juvenile lead had challenges of its own and helped him improve his technique. During the run of the play he made another film, Insult (1932), a melodrama about the French Foreign Legion , and he starred in a cinema version of The Good Companions in 1933, with Jessie Matthews . A letter to a friend reveals Gielgud's view of film acting: "There is talk of my doing Inigo in
SECTION 10
#17327982903461128-575: A drunken newspaper staff writer, she accepts a dinner invitation from Joyboy, but any thoughts of a relationship with him end when she observes his codependent relationship with his morbidly obese mother. Again taking advice from the Guru, Aimee becomes engaged to Dennis. She invites him to her house, which was condemned before being completed due to the risk of landslides, but he cuts his visit short, alarmed by some ominous tremblings and Aimee's lack of concern for her safety. Dennis and Harry meet Gunther Fry,
1222-648: A junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry 's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31. During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway , appearing in new works and classics. He began
1316-493: A kind of brilliant butterfly, while I was a very gloomy sort of boy", and "I found his clothes extravagant, I found his conversation flippant. He was the New Young Man of his time and I didn't like him." The first production of the season was Henry IV, Part 1 , in which Gielgud as Hotspur had the best of the reviews. Richardson's notices, and the relationship of the two leading men, improved markedly when Gielgud, who
1410-586: A major step up in his career. For the first weeks of the run Gielgud played Mercutio and Olivier played Romeo, after which they exchanged roles. As at Oxford, Ashcroft and Evans were Juliet and the nurse. The production broke all box-office records for the play, running at the New Theatre for 189 performances. Olivier was enraged at the notices after the first night, which praised the virility of his performance but fiercely criticised his speaking of Shakespeare's verse, comparing it with his co-star's mastery of
1504-629: A parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queen's Theatre , London. He was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, and was also known for high comedy roles such as John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest . In the 1950s Gielgud feared that his career was threatened when he was convicted and fined for a homosexual offence, but his colleagues and the public supported him loyally. When avant-garde plays began to supersede traditional West End productions in
1598-503: A prominent English expatriate, convinces Dennis to spend most of the money from his uncle's estate on an extravagant burial at Whispering Glades cemetery and mortuary. There, Dennis becomes infatuated with Aimee Thanatogenos, a hopelessly naïve and idealistic cosmetician who says she was named after Aimee Semple McPherson . Mr. Joyboy, Whispering Glade's chief embalmer, is also attracted to her, but, although she respects him professionally, Aimee has no romantic feelings for Joyboy. Aimee's idol
1692-567: A regular film career until his sixties. He appeared in more than sixty films between Becket (1964), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination for playing Louis VII of France , and Elizabeth (1998). As the acid-tongued Hobson in Arthur (1981) he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor . His film work further earned him a Golden Globe Award and two BAFTAs . Although largely indifferent to awards, Gielgud had
1786-473: A scholarship. He was sent as a day boy to Westminster School where, as he later said, he had access to the West End "in time to touch the fringe of the great century of the theatre". He saw Sarah Bernhardt act, Adeline Genée dance and Albert Chevalier , Vesta Tilley and Marie Lloyd perform in the music halls . The school choir sang in services at Westminster Abbey , which appealed to his fondness for ritual. He showed talent at sketching, and for
1880-512: A sell-out hit and played in London and on tour over the next three years. Between seasons of Richard , in 1934 Gielgud returned to Hamlet in London and on tour, directing and playing the title role. The production was a box-office success, and the critics were lavish in their praise. In The New York Times , Charles Morgan wrote, "I have never before heard the rhythm and verse and the naturalness of speech so gently combined. ... If I see
1974-531: A triple bill of short plays, including two from Coward's Tonight at 8.30 , but he found at first that less highbrow performers like Beatrice Lillie were better than he at entertaining the troops. He returned to filming in 1940, as Disraeli in Thorold Dickinson 's The Prime Minister . In this morale-boosting film he portrayed the politician from ages thirty to seventy; this was, in Morley's view,
SECTION 20
#17327982903462068-504: A while thought of scenic design as a possible career. The young Gielgud's father took him to concerts, which he liked, and galleries and museums, "which bored me rigid". Both parents were keen theatregoers, but did not encourage their children to follow an acting career. Val Gielgud recalled, "Our parents looked distinctly sideways at the Stage as a means of livelihood, and when John showed some talent for drawing his father spoke crisply of
2162-613: Is a mountain of a part, and at the end of the evening the peak remains unscaled"; in The Manchester Guardian , however, Brown wrote that Gielgud "is a match for the thunder, and at length takes the Dover road with a broken tranquillity that allowed every word of the King's agony to be clear as well as poignant". Returning to the West End, Gielgud starred in J. B. Priestley 's The Good Companions , adapted for
2256-439: Is now completely and authoritatively master of this tremendous part. ... I hold that this is, and is likely to remain, the best Hamlet of our time." Also in the season were A Midsummer Night's Dream , The Duchess of Malfi and the first major revival of Lady Windermere's Fan (1945). These productions attracted much praise, but at this point in his career Gielgud was somewhat overshadowed by his old colleagues. Olivier
2350-476: Is the high water-mark of English Shakespearean acting of our time." Hamlet was a role with which Gielgud was associated over the next decade and more. After the run at the Queen's finished he turned to another part for which he became well known, John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest . Gielgud's biographer Jonathan Croall comments that the two roles illustrated two sides of the actor's personality: on
2444-481: Is the seemingly solemn and pious owner of Whispering Glades, Reverend Wilbur Glenworthy, unaware that, in private, he is a calculating businessman who regards the cemetery as just a business venture. Dennis begins working at Happier Hunting Grounds, a pet cemetery run by the Reverend's twin brother, Harry. He discovers Aimee is fascinated by—but unfamiliar with—poetry, and courts her by reciting famous verses, changing
2538-506: Is to be shut down. She flees, but is afraid that what Dennis told her might be true. Aimee seeks out Joyboy for comfort, but he has been called to touch-up the first disinterred body—an ex-astronaut nicknamed "The Condor"—before it is launched into orbit. She tracks down the Guru at a bar, but he drunkenly advises her to jump out a window. Fleeing to the cemetery, Aimee finds Reverend Glenworthy, who confirms Dennis' story and tries to seduce her by promising continued employment with higher pay at
2632-743: The Emperor in Androcles and the Lion and the title role in Pirandello 's The Man with the Flower in His Mouth . In April 1930 Gielgud finished the season playing Hamlet . Williams's production used the complete text of the play. This was regarded as a radical innovation; extensive cuts had been customary for earlier productions. A running time of nearly five hours did not dampen the enthusiasm of
2726-547: The Grand Duke Alexander in Alfred Neumann 's The Patriot . The play was a failure, closing after a week, but Gielgud liked New York and received favourable reviews from critics including Alexander Woollcott and Brooks Atkinson . After returning to London he starred in a succession of short runs, including Ibsen 's Ghosts with Mrs Patrick Campbell (1928), and Reginald Berkeley 's The Lady with
2820-639: The Red Cross and UNESCO , and Val , later head of BBC radio drama; his younger sister Eleanor became John's secretary for many years. On his father's side, Gielgud was of Lithuanian and Polish descent. The surname derives from Gelgaudiškis , a village in Lithuania. The Counts Gielgud had owned the Gelgaudiškis Manor on the Nemunas river, but their estates were confiscated after they took part in
2914-633: The New York press was over almost as soon as it had begun. Howard's version closed within a month; the run of Gielgud's production beat Broadway records for the play. After his return from America in February 1937 Gielgud starred in He Was Born Gay by Emlyn Williams . This romantic tragedy about French royalty after the Revolution was quite well received during its pre-London tour, but
Loved Ones - Misplaced Pages Continue
3008-488: The Nurse. The rest of the cast were students, led by Christopher Hassall as Romeo, and included Devine, William Devlin and Terence Rattigan . The experience was satisfactory to Gielgud: he enjoyed the attentions of the undergraduates, had a brief affair with one of them, James Lees-Milne , and was widely praised for his inspiring direction and his protégés' success with the play. Already notorious for his innocent slips of
3102-510: The Old Vic, invited Gielgud to join the company for the forthcoming season. The Old Vic, in an unfashionable area of London south of the Thames , was run by Lilian Baylis to offer plays and operas to a mostly working-class audience at low ticket prices. She paid her performers very modest wages, but the theatre was known for its unrivalled repertory of classics, mostly Shakespeare , and Gielgud
3196-477: The Old Vic, with Malcolm Keen as Shylock and Ashcroft as Portia. In 1932 he starred in Richard of Bordeaux by Elizabeth MacKintosh . This, a retelling in modern language of the events of Richard II , was greeted as the most successful historical play since Shaw's Saint Joan nine years earlier, more faithful to the events than Shakespeare had been. After an uncertain start in the West End it rapidly became
3290-556: The President of the Magicians' Union ... a clear, arresting picture of a virile Renaissance notable", according to Brown. The critics singled out, among the other players, Jack Hawkins as Caliban, Marius Goring as Ariel, Jessica Tandy as Miranda and Alec Guinness as Ferdinand. Following the example of several of his stage colleagues, Gielgud joined tours of military camps. He gave recitals of prose and poetry, and acted in
3384-740: The Spanish surrealist filmmaker Luis Buñuel and the comic writer/director Elaine May . The film was shot in and around Los Angeles, with Hollywood , the Hollywood Hills , Beverly Hills , Burbank , and Los Angeles International Airport among the locations. "Whispering Glades" was inspired by Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale , with the exterior and interior scenes set at the facility shot mostly at Greystone Mansion . A house under construction at 3847 Oakfield Dr. in Sherman Oaks
3478-464: The West End, and Macbeth on tour. Returning, with more assurance than before, to entertaining the troops, he so far departed from his classical style as to join Lillie and Michael Wilding singing a comic trio. His 1943 revival of William Congreve 's Love for Love on tour and then in London received high praise from reviewers. In 1944 he was approached by Ralph Richardson, who had been asked by
3572-707: The academy at the end of 1923 Gielgud played a Christmas season as Charley in Charley's Aunt in the West End, and then joined Fagan's repertory company at the Oxford Playhouse . Gielgud was in the Oxford company in January and February 1924, from October 1924 to the end of January 1925, and in August 1925. He played a wide range of parts in classics and modern plays, greatly increasing his technical abilities in
3666-489: The advantages of an architect's office." On leaving Westminster in 1921, Gielgud persuaded his reluctant parents to let him take drama lessons on the understanding that if he was not self-supporting by the age of twenty-five he would seek an office post. Gielgud, aged seventeen, joined a private drama school run by Constance Benson, wife of the actor-manager Sir Frank Benson . On the new boy's first day Lady Benson remarked on his physical awkwardness: "she said I walked like
3760-484: The armed forces. Gielgud directed Michael Redgrave in a 1940 London production of The Beggar's Opera for the Glyndebourne Festival . This was a chaotic affair: Gielgud's direction confused his star, and when Redgrave lost his voice Gielgud had to step in and sing the role as best he could. Gielgud felt that something serious or even solemn was necessary for wartime London , where most entertainment
3854-587: The best piece of Shakespearean acting on the English stage today". Olivier said that Gielgud's Joseph Surface was "the best light comedy performance I've ever seen, or ever shall see". The venture did not make much money, and in July 1938 Gielgud turned to more conventional West End enterprises, in unconventional circumstances. He directed Spring Meeting , a farce by Perry and Molly Keane , presented by Binkie Beaumont , for whom Perry had just left Gielgud. Somehow
Loved Ones - Misplaced Pages Continue
3948-484: The casket that is to be placed in the rocket and cremate the Condor. After watching the launch on television, Dennis boards his plane. In 1947, Evelyn Waugh visited Hollywood when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer offered him a six-figure sum for the film rights to his novel Brideshead Revisited , despite the fact that none of the studio bosses had read the book. The project was scrapped after Waugh demanded complete veto rights over
4042-400: The company. Donald Wolfit , who loathed him and was himself disliked by his colleagues, was dropped, as was Adele Dixon. Gielgud was uncertain of the suitability of the most prominent new recruit, Ralph Richardson , but Williams was sure that after this season Gielgud would move on; he saw Richardson as a potential replacement. The two actors had little in common. Richardson recalled, "He was
4136-460: The debut acting performance of songwriter Paul Williams . Young Englishman—and aspiring poet—Dennis Barlow wins an airline ticket and decides to visit his uncle, Sir Francis Hinsley, in Los Angeles. Shortly after Dennis's arrival, Sir Francis, who has worked at a major Hollywood studio for more than thirty years, is fired by his employer, D.J. Jr., and hangs himself. Sir Ambrose Abercrombie,
4230-769: The end of Richardson's life. Gielgud's other roles in this season were Lord Trinket in The Jealous Wife , Richard II again, Antony in Antony and Cleopatra , Malvolio in Twelfth Night , Sergius in Arms and the Man , Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing – another role for which he became celebrated – and he concluded the season as King Lear . His performance divided opinion. The Times commented, "It
4324-509: The film of The Good Companions , which appals my soul but appeals to my pocket." In his first volume of memoirs, published in 1939, Gielgud devoted two pages to describing the things about filming that he detested. Unlike his contemporaries Richardson and Laurence Olivier , he made few films until after the Second World War, and did not establish himself as a prominent film actor until many years after that. As he put it in 1994, "I
4418-407: The finished film, but, during his stay in Los Angeles, he became fascinated by the American obsession with the funeral industry and was inspired to write a lengthy journal article on Forest Lawn cemetery and its founder, Dr. Hubert Eaton , and then the 1948 novel The Loved One . In the following years, numerous people attempted unsuccessfully to produce a filmed version of Waugh's novel, including
4512-632: The first time he seemed at home before the camera. Gielgud made no more films for the next ten years; he turned down the role of Julius Caesar in the 1945 film of Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra with Vivien Leigh . He and Leigh were close friends, and Shaw tried hard to persuade him to play the part, but Gielgud had taken a strong dislike to the director, Gabriel Pascal . Caesar was eventually played by Gielgud's former teacher, Claude Rains. Throughout 1941 and 1942 Gielgud worked continually, in Barrie's Dear Brutus , another Importance of Being Earnest in
4606-742: The funeral business in Los Angeles , it is based on Evelyn Waugh 's 1948 short novel The Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy , though the screenplay by noted American satirical novelist Terry Southern and British author Christopher Isherwood also incorporates elements from Jessica Mitford 's 1963 nonfiction book The American Way of Death . The film stars Robert Morse , Jonathan Winters , Anjanette Comer , and Rod Steiger , with Dana Andrews , Milton Berle , James Coburn , John Gielgud , Tab Hunter , Margaret Leighton , Liberace , Roddy McDowall , Robert Morley , Barbara Nichols , and Lionel Stander credited as "cameo guest stars", and features
4700-459: The governors of the Old Vic to form a new company. Unwilling to take sole charge, Richardson proposed a managing triumvirate of Gielgud, Olivier and himself. Gielgud declined: "It would be a disaster, you would have to spend your whole time as referee between Larry and me." A 1944–45 season at the Haymarket for Beaumont included a Hamlet that many considered his finest. Agate wrote, "Mr Gielgud
4794-510: The last time. He was Raskolnikoff in a stage version of Crime and Punishment , in the West End in 1946 and on Broadway the following year. Agate thought it the best thing Gielgud had done so far, other than Hamlet. Between these two engagements Gielgud toured North America in The Importance of Being Earnest and Love for Love . Edith Evans was tired of the role of Lady Bracknell, and refused to join him; Margaret Rutherford played
SECTION 50
#17327982903464888-512: The later 1950s he found no new suitable stage roles, and for several years he was best known in the theatre for his one-man Shakespeare show The Ages of Man . From the late 1960s he found new plays that suited him, by authors including Alan Bennett , David Storey and Harold Pinter . During the first half of his career Gielgud did not take the cinema seriously. Though he made his first film in 1924, and had successes with The Good Companions (1933) and Julius Caesar (1953), he did not begin
4982-507: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Loved_Ones&oldid=1247582053 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages The Loved One (film) The Loved One is a 1965 black-and-white black comedy film directed by British filmmaker Tony Richardson . A satirical look at
5076-505: The new facility. Her faith in everything she once held sacred now shattered, Aimee calmly hooks herself up to an embalming machine. Joyboy finds Aimee's body. Fearing a scandal, he calls Dennis to arrange for her disposal in the pet cemetery's crematorium. In exchange for a first-class ticket back to England and all the money in Joyboy's bank account, Dennis agrees. As he is about to leave Whispering Glades, Dennis decides to put Aimee's body in
5170-518: The new production "caught the gaiety and exactly the right atmosphere. It's all delightful!" At the start of the Second World War Gielgud volunteered for active service, but was told that men of his age, thirty-five, would not be wanted for at least six months. The government quickly came to the view that most actors would do more good performing to entertain the troops and the general public than serving, whether suitable or not, in
5264-427: The one hand the romantic and soulful Hamlet, and on the other the witty and superficial Worthing. The formidable Lady Bracknell was played by his aunt, Mabel Terry-Lewis. The Times observed, "Mr Gielgud and Miss Terry-Lewis together are brilliant ... they have the supreme grace of always allowing Wilde to speak in his own voice." Returning to the Old Vic for the 1930–31 season, Gielgud found several changes to
5358-472: The part to great acclaim. Gielgud was in demand as a director, with six productions in 1948–49. They included The Heiress in 1949, when he was brought in at the last moment to direct Richardson and Ashcroft, saving what seemed a doomed production; it ran for 644 performances. His last big hit of the 1940s was as Thomas Mendip in The Lady's Not for Burning , which he also directed. The London cast included
5452-423: The plots are filled, decides to convert it into a retirement community, but cannot proceed without a plan for dealing with the interred bodies. When he learns of Harry's idea of launching bodies into space, he proceeds to obtain surplus rockets by hosting an orgy at Whispering Glades with top Air Force brass as the guests of honor. Dennis, in a desperate attempt to reconcile with Aimee, tells her that Whispering Glades
5546-414: The poetry far better than Mr Olivier ... Yet – I must out with it – the fire of Mr Olivier's passion carried the play along as Mr Gielgud's doesn't quite. Herbert Farjeon on the rival Romeos. The following year Gielgud staged perhaps his most famous Shakespeare production, a Romeo and Juliet in which he co-starred with Ashcroft and Olivier. Gielgud had spotted Olivier's potential and gave him
5640-851: The poetry. The friendship between the two men was prickly, on Olivier's side, for the rest of his life. In May 1936 Gielgud played Trigorin in The Seagull , with Evans as Arkadina and Ashcroft as Nina. Komisarjevsky directed, which made rehearsals difficult as Ashcroft, with whom he had been living, had just left him. Nonetheless, Morley writes, the critical reception was ecstatic. In the same year Gielgud made his last pre-war film, co-starring with Madeleine Carroll in Alfred Hitchcock 's Secret Agent . The director's insensitivity to actors made Gielgud nervous and further increased his dislike of filming. The two stars were praised for their performances, but Hitchcock's "preoccupation with incident"
5734-401: The position of understudy, with a guarantee that he would take over the lead from Coward when the latter, who disliked playing in long runs, left. In the event Coward, who had been overworking, suffered a nervous collapse three weeks after the opening night, and Gielgud played the lead for the rest of the run. The play ran for nearly a year in London and then went on tour. By this time Gielgud
SECTION 60
#17327982903465828-595: The process. The role he most enjoyed was Trofimov in The Cherry Orchard , his first experience of Chekhov : "It was the first time I ever went out on stage feeling that perhaps, after all, I could really be an actor." Between Gielgud's first two Oxford seasons, the producer Barry Jackson cast him as Romeo to the Juliet of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies at the Regent's Theatre, London, in May 1924. The production
5922-403: The public, the critics or the acting profession. Sybil Thorndike said, "I never hoped to see Hamlet played as in one's dreams ... I've had an evening of being swept right off my feet into another life – far more real than the life I live in, and moved, moved beyond words." The production gained such a reputation that the Old Vic began to attract large numbers of West End theatregoers. Demand
6016-403: The rare distinction of winning an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony . He was famous from the start of his career for his voice and his mastery of Shakespearean verse. He broadcast more than a hundred radio and television dramas between 1929 and 1994, and made commercial recordings of many plays, including ten of Shakespeare's and three recordings from his own "Ages of Man". Among his honours, he
6110-508: The relaxed attitude there to homosexuality. Returning to London later in 1953 Gielgud took over management of the Lyric, Hammersmith, for a classical season of Richard II , Congreve's The Way of the World , and Thomas Otway 's Venice Preserv'd , directing the first, acting in the last, and doing both in the second. Feeling he was too old for Richard, he cast the young Paul Scofield ; both
6204-629: The same year Noël Coward chose Gielgud as his understudy in his play The Vortex . For the last month of the West End run Gielgud took over Coward's role of Nicky Lancaster, the drug-addicted son of a nymphomaniac mother. It was in Gielgud's words "a highly-strung, nervous, hysterical part which depended a lot upon emotion". He found it tiring to play because he had not yet learned how to pace himself, but he thought it "a thrilling engagement because it led to so many great things afterwards". The success of The Cherry Orchard led to what one critic called
6298-575: The school. In class, he hated mathematics, was fair at classics , and excelled at English and divinity . Hillside encouraged his interest in drama, and he played several leading roles in school productions, including Mark Antony in Julius Caesar and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice . After Hillside, Lewis and Val had won scholarships to Eton and Rugby , respectively; lacking their academic achievement, John failed to secure such
6392-679: The season in walk-on parts in King Lear , Wat Tyler and Peer Gynt , with no lines. If your great-aunt happens to be Ellen Terry, your great-uncle Fred Terry, your cousins Gordon Craig and Phyllis Neilson-Terry, and your grandmother the greatest Shakespearean actress in all Lithuania, you are hardly likely to drift into the fish trade. Gielgud on his theatrical background. Gielgud's first substantial engagement came through his family. In 1922 his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry invited him to tour in J. B. Fagan 's The Wheel as understudy , bit-part player and assistant stage manager, an invitation he accepted. A colleague, recognising that
6486-432: The stage by the author and Edward Knoblock . The production ran from May 1931 for 331 performances, and Gielgud described it as his first real taste of commercial success. He played Inigo Jollifant, a young schoolmaster who abandons teaching to join a travelling theatre troupe. This crowd-pleaser drew disapproval from the more austere reviewers, who felt Gielgud should be doing something more demanding, but he found playing
6580-443: The stage dynasty that included Ellen , Fred and Marion Terry , Mabel Terry-Lewis and Edith and Edward Gordon Craig . Frank had no theatrical ambitions and worked all his life as a stockbroker in the City of London . In 1912, aged eight, Gielgud went to Hillside preparatory school in Surrey as his elder brothers had done. For a child with no interest in sport he acquitted himself reasonably well in cricket and rugby for
6674-406: The subject when she asks whether he wrote them. As he knows Aimee considers the pet cemetery sacrilegious, he also does not tell her where he works. Aimee is frustrated by Dennis' cynical and disrespectful attitude toward Whispering Glades, and, when she gets a promotion, she is shocked by his suggestion that they marry and live on her income. Acting on advice from the "Guru Brahmin", who is actually
6768-509: The three men remained on excellent terms. In September of the same year Gielgud appeared in Dodie Smith 's sentimental comedy Dear Octopus . The following year he directed and appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Globe , with Evans playing Lady Bracknell for the first time. They were gratified when Allan Aynesworth , who had played Algernon in the 1895 premiere, said that
6862-417: The tongue (he called them "Gielgoofs"), in a speech after the final performance he referred to Ashcroft and Evans as "Two leading ladies, the like of whom I hope I shall never meet again". During the rest of 1932 Gielgud played in a new piece, Musical Chairs by Ronald Mackenzie, and directed one new and one classic play, Strange Orchestra by Rodney Ackland in the West End, and The Merchant of Venice at
6956-834: The young Claire Bloom and Richard Burton , who went with Gielgud when he took the piece to the US the following year. At the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre , Stratford-upon-Avon , Gielgud did much to reclaim his position as a leading Shakespearean. His cold, unsympathetic Angelo in Peter Brook 's production of Measure for Measure (1950) showed the public a new, naturalistic manner in his playing. He followed this with three other Shakespeare productions with Brook, which were well received. His own attempt at direction in Stratford, for Richardson's Macbeth in 1952,
7050-414: The young man had talent but lacked technique, recommended him to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Gielgud was awarded a scholarship to the academy and trained there throughout 1923 under Kenneth Barnes , Helen Haye and Claude Rains . The actor-manager Nigel Playfair , a friend of Gielgud's family, saw him in a student presentation of J. M. Barrie 's The Admirable Crichton . Playfair
7144-596: Was knighted in 1953 and the Gielgud Theatre was named after him in 1994. From 1977 to 1989, he was president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Gielgud was born on 14 April 1904 in South Kensington , London, the third of the four children of Frank Henry Gielgud and his second wife, Kate Terry-Gielgud, née Terry-Lewis. Gielgud's elder brothers were Lewis , who became a senior official of
7238-568: Was celebrated for his recent film of Henry V , and with Richardson (and John Burrell in Gielgud's stead) was making the Old Vic "the most famous theatre in the Anglo-Saxon world" according to the critic Harold Hobson . In late 1945 and early 1946 Gielgud toured for ENSA in the Middle and Far East with Hamlet and Coward's Blithe Spirit . During this tour he played Hamlet on stage for
7332-502: Was comfortable but unexciting, he saw no future in a film career, and the Old Vic could not afford to stage the classics on the large scale to which he aspired. He decided that he must form his own company to play Shakespeare and other classic plays in the West End. Gielgud invested £5,000, most of his earnings from the American Hamlet ; Perry, who had family money, put in the same sum. From September 1937 to April 1938 Gielgud
7426-539: Was earning enough to leave the family home and take a small flat in the West End. He had his first serious romantic relationship, living with John Perry, an unsuccessful actor, later a writer, who remained a lifelong friend after their affair ended. Morley makes the point that, like Coward, Gielgud's principal passion was the stage; both men had casual dalliances, but were more comfortable with "low-maintenance" long-term partners who did not impede their theatrical work and ambitions. In 1928 Gielgud made his Broadway debut as
7520-462: Was elusive. In 1926 the producer Basil Dean offered Gielgud the lead role, Lewis Dodd, in a dramatisation of Margaret Kennedy 's best-selling novel, The Constant Nymph . Before rehearsals began Dean found that a bigger star than Gielgud was available, namely Coward, to whom he gave the part. Gielgud had an enforceable contractual claim to the role, but Dean, a notorious bully, was a powerful force in British theatre. Intimidated, Gielgud accepted
7614-520: Was felt by critics to make the leading roles one-dimensional, and the laurels went to Peter Lorre as Gielgud's deranged assistant. From September 1936 to February 1937 Gielgud played Hamlet in North America, opening in Toronto before moving to New York and Boston. He was nervous about starring on Broadway for the first time, particularly as it became known that the popular actor Leslie Howard
7708-558: Was impressed and cast him as Felix, the poet-butterfly, in the British premiere of the Čapek brothers' The Insect Play . Gielgud later said that he made a poor impression in the part: "I am surprised that the audience did not throw things at me." The critics were cautious but not hostile to the play; it did not attract the public and closed after a month. While still continuing his studies at RADA, Gielgud appeared again for Playfair in Robert E Lee by John Drinkwater . After leaving
7802-412: Was light-hearted. Together with Harley Granville-Barker and Guthrie he reopened the Old Vic with Shakespeare. His King Lear once again divided the critics, but his Prospero was a considerable success. He played the role quite differently from his attempt on the same stage in 1930: in place of the "manic conjurer" his Prospero was "very far from the usual mixture of Father Christmas, a Colonial Bishop, and
7896-641: Was much less successful, with poor notices for the star and worse ones for the director. In 1953 Gielgud made his first Hollywood film, the sole classical actor in Joseph L. Mankiewicz 's Julius Caesar , playing Cassius . Marlon Brando (Mark Antony) was in awe of him, and James Mason (Brutus) was disheartened at Gielgud's seemingly effortless skill. Gielgud, for his part, felt he learned much about film technique from Mason. Gielgud enjoyed his four-month stay in California, not least, as Morley comments, for
7990-694: Was not a great success, but the two performers became close friends and frequently worked together throughout their careers. Gielgud made his screen debut during 1924 as Daniel Arnault in Walter Summers 's silent film Who Is the Man? (1924). In May 1925 the Oxford production of The Cherry Orchard was brought to the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith . Gielgud again played Trofimov. His distinctive speaking voice attracted attention and led to work for BBC Radio , which his biographer Sheridan Morley calls "a medium he made his own for seventy years". In
8084-667: Was not the first West End star to take a large pay cut to work there. It was, in Morley's words, the place to learn Shakespearean technique and try new ideas. During his first season at the Old Vic, Gielgud played Romeo to the Juliet of Adele Dixon , Antonio in The Merchant of Venice , Cleante in The Imaginary Invalid , the title role in Richard II , and Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream . His Romeo
8178-615: Was not well reviewed, but as Richard II Gielgud was recognised by critics as a Shakespearean actor of undoubted authority. The reviewer in The Times commented on his sensitiveness, strength and firmness, and called his performance "work of genuine distinction, not only in its grasp of character, but in its control of language". Later in the season he was cast as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar , Orlando in As You Like It ,
8272-529: Was playing Prospero in The Tempest , helped Richardson with his performance as Caliban : He gave me about two hundred ideas, as he usually does, twenty-five of which I eagerly seized on, and when I went away I thought, "This chap, you know, I don't like him very much but by God he knows something about this here play." ... And then out of that we formed a friendship. The friendship and professional association lasted for more than fifty years, until
8366-556: Was savaged by the critics in the West End. The Times said, "This is one of those occasions on which criticism does not stand about talking, but rubs its eyes and withdraws hastily with an embarrassed, incredulous, and uncomprehending blush. What made Mr Emlyn Williams write this play or Mr Gielgud and Miss Ffrangcon-Davies appear in it is not to be understood." The play closed after twelve performances. Its failure, so soon after his Shakespearean triumphs, prompted Gielgud to examine his career and his life. His domestic relationship with Perry
8460-512: Was so great that the cast moved to the Queen's Theatre , in Shaftesbury Avenue , where Williams staged the piece with the text discreetly shortened. The effect of the cuts was to give the title role even more prominence. Gielgud's Hamlet was richly praised by the critics. Ivor Brown called it "a tremendous performance ... the best Hamlet of [my] experience". James Agate wrote, "I have no hesitation whatsoever in saying that it
8554-496: Was stupid enough to toss my head and stick to the stage while watching Larry and Ralph sign lucrative Korda contracts." In 1932 Gielgud turned to directing. At the invitation of George Devine , the president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society , Gielgud took charge of a production of Romeo and Juliet by the society, featuring two guest stars: Peggy Ashcroft as Juliet and Edith Evans as
8648-547: Was the tenant of the Queen's Theatre, where he presented a season consisting of Richard II , The School for Scandal , Three Sisters , and The Merchant of Venice . His company included Harry Andrews , Peggy Ashcroft, Glen Byam Shaw , George Devine, Michael Redgrave and Harcourt Williams, with Angela Baddeley and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as guests. His own roles were King Richard, Joseph Surface, Vershinin and Shylock. Gielgud's performances drew superlatives from reviewers and colleagues. Agate considered his Richard II, "probably
8742-538: Was to appear there in a rival production of the play. When Gielgud opened at the Empire Theatre in October the reviews were mixed, but, as the actor wrote to his mother, the audience response was extraordinary. "They stay at the end and shout every night and the stage door is beset by fans." Howard's production opened in November; it was, in Gielgud's words, a débâcle, and the "battle of the Hamlets" heralded in
8836-573: Was used for Aimee's condemned house at the edge of a cliff. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 47% of 19 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average score of 6.3/10. For his work in the film, Rod Steiger won the Spanish Sant Jordi Award for Best Actor in a Foreign Film. The Loved One was released on DVD on June 20, 2006. It was re-released by Warner Home Video on August 20, 2013, via their Warner Archive DVD-on-demand service. The film received
#345654