Michael Tarn
Tarn inA Clockwork Orange
Born	(1953-12-18)18 December 1953 (age 71) London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1970–present
Notable work	A Clockwork Orange

Michael Tarn (born 18 December 1953) is a British actor. He is best known for playing Pete inStanley Kubrick's filmA Clockwork Orange (1971).

Michael Tarn was born in London in 1953 to a father who worked as a stuntman in the film industry.^[1] He is married with one son, Chris, who works in lighting.^[1] In the mid 2000s, he and his wife moved toSpain but returned to the United Kingdom a few years later for family reasons.^[1]

He had attendedItalia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts part time since he was around ten or eleven years old and found work as a teenager as a background extra in television productions.^[1] While he was in grammar school, he landed a role asFleance in a production ofMacbeth at theRoyal Shakespeare Company, featuringPaul Scofield andVivien Merchant.^[1] On one night, around sixty of his classmates came to see Tarn in the show; during that show, the actor who played the third apparition fell ill, so Tarn stepped in, and had what he described at "ffiteen seconds of glory" of him and Paul Scofield on stage.^[1]

In summer 1969, the Italia Conti academy was one of many schools that were given a phone call fromStanley Kubrick's casting directors looking for fourteen to fifteen year old boys for an upcoming film,A Clockwork Orange;^[1] Tarn was sent over to audition at fifteen years old, and was given the final slot of the day for a five minute audition.^[1]

When Tarn found out he got the job, he was working a saturday job selling electric shavers inKingston upon Thames when he received a phone call from his agent that he got the part, however because so much time had passed since the audition, he forgot it ever happened and at first was confused when his agent told him he "got the part as Pete" until he discovered it was for the production ofA Clockwork Orange.^[1]

Tarn's character, Pete, was a part ofAlex DeLarge's "droog" gang, and was the only of the droog actors (Tarn,Warren Clarke,James Marcus) who was actually a teenager at the time, as Clarke and Marcus were in their mid to late 20s (Malcolm McDowell was also in his late 20s at the time).

Tarn played the title character in the three-part series Zigger Zagger in September/October 1975, which eventually became a stage show that did not feature Michael.^[2][3] In 1976, his father was asked to be a stuntman on the filmAt the Earth's Core, and managed to get Michael a role as a dinosaur on the film, which he notes as his "biggest part in film".^[1]

By the late 1970s, Tarn was still acting but noticed that directors kept casting him to play teenagers, despite pushing thirty, and when playing these typecast roles, mentioned that he felt like "Warren (Clarke) and Jimmy (James Marcus) must have felt when I'd come in (A Clockwork Orange audition) as a teenager and they were playing teenagers".^[1]

Tarn's career began slowing down when he received an audition for an upcoming sitcom, only for the role to be turned down by his agent on his behalf (even though Michael had no say in the agreement) as he thought Michael was "worth more money (than what) they were offering" and according to Tarn, "when he declined that (audition), the industry doors closed on me".^[1]

Tarn, who had just got married and had a child on the way, decided to stop acting and start teaching drama with his wife, eventually forming their own drama group.^[1] He played small roles occasional roles, his last being in the 2002 filmShooters as Vic.

• Michael Tarn atIMDb

• English male film actors
• English male television actors
• Living people
• 1953 births

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