Leigh Lawson

Allan Leigh Lawson, born on 21 July 1945 in Atherstone, Warwickshire, is an English actor, director, and writer whose career has spanned stage, film, and television across more than five decades. He received his theatrical training first at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and subsequently at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Lawson's screen work began in the early 1970s, encompassing roles in film and television. His film credits include the role of Bernardo in Franco Zeffirelli's Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) and Alec d'Urberville in Roman Polanski's Tess (1979). On television, he took the leading role of Alan Lomax in the drama series Travelling Man, which ran from 1984 to 1985, and made guest appearances in The Duchess of Duke Street (1976), Disraeli (1978), Feuer und Schwert - Die Legende von Tristan und Isolde (1982), and The Ray Bradbury Theatre (1988). He later appeared in Silent Witness between 2005 and 2007, and in 2001 he and his wife Twiggy guest starred as themselves in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous.

On stage, Lawson has worked with both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His National Theatre credits include Aubrey Tanqueray in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1981) and Amnon in Yonadab, directed by Peter Hall, in 1985. With the RSC, he played Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, produced by Adrian Noble in 1990, and Loveless in The Relapse in 1996. Earlier stage work included Ivan Kaliayev in The Price of Justice at the Mermaid Theatre, London, in 1972, and A Touch of Spring at the Comedy Theatre in London's West End, which ran from 1975 to 1978.

Lawson's Broadway career extended from 1989 to 2001 and included two notable productions. He played Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, a production that also ran in London's West End, beginning in 1989. He later appeared as Lloyd in Noises Off, which transferred to Broadway following a West End run, in 2003. Additional stage work includes Art in London's West End and on UK tour in 2002, Death and the Maiden at the King's Head Theatre in 2004, Nicholas Nickleby at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2006, Shoreditch Madonna with Francesca Annis at the Soho Theatre in 2006, and Messerschmann in Ring Round the Moon at the Playhouse Theatre, London, in 2008.

In addition to performing, Lawson has directed for both stage and screen. In 1999, he co-wrote and directed the musical If Love Were All, which chronicles the friendship between Gertrude Lawrence and Noël Coward. The production, written with Sheridan Morley, opened off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre with Twiggy in the role of Gertrude Lawrence and Harry Groener as Noël Coward. His other directing credits include The Restaurant and The Cherry Orchard in the United States, Death and the Maiden at the King's Head Theatre in Islington in 2004, and a pantomime production of Jack and the Beanstalk at the Brighton Theatre Royal in 2005, starring Twiggy.

Lawson has also pursued writing beyond the stage. His theatrical memoir, The Dream: An Actor's Story, documenting the day-to-day life of a working actor, was published in September 2009. His first poetry collection, Now and Then, was published in 2025.

Regarding his personal life, Lawson and his first wife, Mondy, divorced in 1976. He met actress Hayley Mills in 1975 while both were performing in A Touch of Spring in London's West End, and the two had a son together the following year. Lawson also served as stepfather to Crispian Mills, Mills's son with director Roy Boulting. During that period, he appeared alongside Mills's father, John Mills, in the film The Devil's Advocate (1977). His relationship with Hayley Mills ended in the mid-1980s. Lawson met the model Twiggy in 1984, and the two worked together on the film Madame Sousatzka in 1988. They married on 23 September 1988 in Tony Walton's back yard in Sag Harbor, Long Island. Lawson adopted Twiggy's daughter, Carly, who took his surname. The couple maintain residences in West London and Southwold, Suffolk.