Michael Hordern

Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor born on 3 October 1911 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, the third son of Edward Joseph Calveley Hordern and Margaret Emily Murray. He died on 2 May 1995 at the age of 83 from kidney disease. Over the course of his career he appeared in nearly 140 films, performed extensively in theatre, and became particularly celebrated for his Shakespearean work, most notably his portrayal of King Lear.

Hordern grew up in a family with no theatrical background. He attended Windlesham House School in Sussex from the age of five, where he co-founded a small theatrical committee called the "A Acting Association," through which students wrote, directed, and performed their own productions. He later enrolled at Brighton College, where his interest in acting deepened. There he participated in amateur productions of several Gilbert and Sullivan works, including The Gondoliers, Iolanthe, The Mikado, and The Pirates of Penzance, in which he played the Major-General. He published an autobiography, A World Elsewhere, in 1993.

After leaving Brighton College in the early 1930s, Hordern worked as a teaching assistant in Beaconsfield while participating in amateur dramatics. During the Second World War he served aboard HMS Illustrious, attaining the rank of lieutenant-commander. Following demobilisation he resumed acting, making his television debut and taking bit parts in numerous films, particularly in the war genre.

His profile rose considerably in the early 1950s after he competed in a theatrical event at the Arts Theatre in London, which led to a season-long engagement at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. There he played Caliban in The Tempest, Jaques in As You Like It, and Sir Politick Would-Be in Ben Jonson's Volpone. The following season he joined Michael Benthall's company at the Old Vic, where his roles included Polonius in Hamlet and the title role in King John. In 1957 he received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance as the barrister in John Mortimer's courtroom drama The Dock Brief.

Hordern appeared on Broadway in 1959 in the comedy Moonbirds. His film work during the 1960s included supporting roles in Cleopatra in 1963 and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1966. In the late 1960s he collaborated with director Jonathan Miller on Whistle and I'll Come to You, a television production that earned wide critical praise. In 1972 he originated the lead role in Tom Stoppard's Jumpers at the Royal National Theatre, a performance that drew strong critical notice, and he reprised the role four years later.

That same year, 1972, Hordern was appointed a CBE. He was knighted eleven years later. His later television work included Paradise Postponed, the BAFTA award-winning Memento Mori, and the BBC adaptation of Middlemarch. He suffered from kidney disease throughout the 1990s and died from the condition in 1995.