Michael Blakemore | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Michael Howell Blakemore (1928-06-18)18 June 1928 Sydney |
| Died | 10 December 2023(2023-12-10) (aged 95) |
| Years active | 1951–2023 |
| Awards | |
Michael Howell BlakemoreAOOBE (18 June 1928 – 10 December 2023) was an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who also made some films. A former Associate Director of theNational Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to winTony Awards for Best Director of a Play and Musical in the same year forCopenhagen andKiss Me, Kate.
Michael Howell Blakemore was born in Sydney, the son of Conrad Howell Blakemore, an eye surgeon, and his wife, Una Mary Litchfield. He married English actress Shirley Bush. Blakemore was educated atThe King's School, Sydney, and went on to study medicine at theUniversity of Sydney but failed his examinations.
Blakemore's first job in the theatre was as a press agent forRobert Morley during the Australian tour ofEdward, My Son, who advised him to try drama school. In 1950 he came to London, enrolled at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art and trained as an actor until 1952. He made his first professional stage appearance in 1952 at the Theatre Royal,Huddersfield, as the doctor inThe Barretts of Wimpole Street.
Blakemore then worked for several years in repertory includingBirmingham Repertory Company, Bristol and Coventry, and made his first London appearance at the Princes Theatre in March 1958 as Jack Poyntz in the musical playSchool. He also played small parts at Stratford in theShakespeare Memorial Theatre's 1959 season. It was at the latter that he met and worked withLaurence Olivier andPeter Hall.
Blakemore appeared in two seasons at theOpen Air Theatre, Regent's Park, playing Sir Toby Belch inTwelfth Night and Holofernes inLove's Labour's Lost in 1962; Dogberry inMuch Ado About Nothing and Theseus inA Midsummer Night's Dream in 1963. At theComedy Theatre in December 1963 he played Badger inToad of Toad Hall, then toured Australia as Palmer Anderson inA Severed Head. He joined theGlasgow Citizens 1966–67, where his parts included George inWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Maitland inInadmissible Evidence. During this period and after acting for some 15 years, Blakemore decided that his true calling was in directing. For theCitizens' Theatre in Glasgow he directedThe Investigation,Little Malcolm,Stephen D andNightmare Abbey in 1966; andThe Strange Case of Martin Richter,The Visions of Simone Machard,A Choice of Wars andRosmersholm in 1967. He became its Co-Artistic Director in 1968 and had great success withPeter Nichols'sA Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1967, accompanying the play on its moves to London that year and to Broadway in 1968, earning his first Tony nomination for directing.
Blakemore was dialogue director on the 1965 filmCatch Us If You Can.[1]
In 1969 Blakemore joined theNational Theatre at theOld Vic to directThe National Health by Peter Nichols. He later directedLaurence Olivier inEugene O'Neill'sLong Day's Journey into Night (1971). In 1970, as the National Theatre began a slow, and much delayed, transition from theOld Vic premises to the multi-stageSouth Bank site, Blakemore was invited by Laurence Olivier to become one of two Associate Directors.[2] Since Olivier had already suffered from medical crises that were a feature of the last quarter of his life, the question of eventual succession as Artistic Director was obviously in the background. Blakemore felt he was a probable candidate, and indeed, according to Olivier's biographerPhilip Ziegler, he was highly favoured.[3]
But in 1973 the Board of the National Theatre appointedPeter Hall without consulting Olivier. Blakemore wrote:
"It was a little like a putsch, and people were separated from one another by private concerns: what did the future hold and would they still keep their jobs?"[4]
Blakemore and Hall had been rivals during the 1959 season at theRoyal Shakespeare Company when Hall had directed Blakemore as an actor and both had had a great romantic interest inVanessa Redgrave.[5] Blakemore became one of ten associate directors forming what was called a planning committee.[6] Blakemore and Hall's rivalry was dramatised when Blakemore presented a formal manifesto to the committee recommending reform.[7] The committee refused to discuss the manifesto and Blakemore was eventually forced to resign when his salary was stopped without warning or explanation.[8] His other productions includedTyger byAdrian Mitchell, co-directed withJohn Dexter (1971),The Front Page byBen Hecht andCharles MacArthur (1972),Macbeth (1972),The Cherry Orchard (translated byRonald Hingley, 1973),Grand Manoeuvres (1974),Engaged byW. S. Gilbert (1975), andPlunder byBen Travers (1976).
In 1977 he joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company to direct Peter Nichols'Privates on Parade. He became resident director of theLyric Theatre, Hammersmith in 1980, where he directedMichael Frayn'sMake and Break, opening on 12 March, starringLeonard Rossiter andPrunella Scales, and which in a revised version transferred on 24 April to the Theatre Royal Haymarket. This was followed in October 1980 by Ibsen'sThe Wild Duck in a new translation by Ronald Hingley; and in February 1982 by the world premiere of Frayn'sNoises Off before its transfer to theSavoy Theatre.
His association with playwrightMichael Frayn, which began at the Lyric Hammersmith withMake and Break (1980) andNoises Off (1982), continued with Frayn'sBenefactors (Vaudeville, 1984), Frayn's translation ofUncle Vanya (Vaudeville, 1988), and his original plays,Here (Donmar Warehouse, 1993) andNow You Know (Hampstead, 1995). In 1980, Blakemore was invited to direct a series of four plays at the newly reconstructedLyric Theatre (Hammersmith) by Artistic Director Bill Thomley. The Board made it known that they were looking for a new Artistic Director, and Blakemore decided to put his name forward. However, the job went to Peter James.[9]
After an absence of many years, Blakemore returned to the National to direct Frayn's playCopenhagen in May 1998, before its transfer to theDuchess Theatre in February 1999. This was followed byAlarms and Excursions (Gielgud, September 1998),Democracy (National, Cottesloe, September 2003; Wyndham's, April 2004)[1], andAfterlife (National, Lyttelton, June 2008)[2][permanent dead link].
In addition to his work in the subsidised theatre, Blakemore has directed many productions in the West End and on Broadway, including Noël Coward'sDesign for Living withVanessa Redgrave (1973),David Hare's first play,Knuckle (1974),Peter Shaffer'sLettice and Lovage withMaggie Smith andMargaret Tyzack (1987), the musicalCity of Angels byLarry Gelbart,Cy Coleman andDavid Zippel (1989) andArthur Miller'sThe Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991).
In 1995 he directed the off-Broadway production ofDeath Defying Acts, composed of three one-act plays (Central Park West byWoody Allen,The Interview byDavid Mamet andHotline byElaine May). Also Coleman'sThe Life (1997), the revival ofKiss Me, Kate (1999),Embers by Christopher Hampton, withJeremy Irons at theDuke of York's Theatre in London (March 2006)[3] and, on Broadway,Deuce byTerrence McNally (April 2007) starringAngela Lansbury andMarian Seldes[4]. Blakemore's production ofIs He Dead?, a comic play byMark Twain, never previously produced, opened on Broadway in November 2007 with a run of 105 performances[5]. In 2014 Blakemore directed Angela Lansbury once more, in the critically acclaimed West End production of "Blithe Spirit". His most recent production was the London premiere of 'The Life', staged at the Southwark Playhouse in 2017, starring Sharon D Clarke.
Blakemore directed and scripted the documentary,A Personal History of the Australian Surf: The Confessions of a Straight Poofter (1981), in which he appeared as himself.Tom Milne, reviewing it for theTime Out Film Guide, described the film as, "basically a home movie in which theatre director Blakemore traces his graduation from Bondi Beach to National Theatre."[10] He followed with the film version ofPrivates on Parade (1982) featuringDenis Quilley andJohn Cleese. In 1994, Blakemore wrote and directedCountry Life. In this adaptation ofChekhov'sUncle Vanya, transferred to an Australian setting, he also played the role of Alexander who has left the London literary scene to return to his roots. The film received five nominations from theAustralian Film Institute and was entered into the19th Moscow International Film Festival.[11]
Michael Blakemore died on 10 December 2023 at the age of 95 following a short illness.[12]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | The Captain's Table | Steward | Uncredited |
| Operation Amsterdam | British Officer | Uncredited | |
| The Heart of a Man | Man | Uncredited | |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Tom Snout | TV film | |
| 1965 | Catch Us If You Can | Officer | |
| 1981 | A Personal History of the Australian Surf | Self | Autobiographical documentary |
| 1994 | Country Life | Alexander Voysey |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | The Adventures of Sir Lancelot | Cedric | Episode: "The Black Castle" |
| 1958 | Armchair Theatre | Bradley | Episode: "The Pillars of Midnight" |
| ITV Playhouse | Peter Gilbert | Episode: "The Browning Version" | |
| 1959 | The Larkins | Shop Manager | Episode: "Gift Horse Power" |
| ITV Play of the Week | Makepeace 'Pym' Lovell | Episode: "No Time for Comedy" | |
| 1960 | Walter Clavering | Episode: "Vitriol" | |
| Armchair Mystery Theatre | Newscaster | Episode: "Free Fall" | |
| 1961 | The Skewbald | Mr. Blair | Episode: "Surprise Encounters" |
| Our Mister Ambler | Episode: "The Old Master" | ||
| ITV Playhouse | Lewis | Episode: "The Reception" | |
| ITV Play of the Week | Public Relations Officer | Episode: "Countdown at Woomera" | |
| 1963 | Suspense | Stephen | Episode: "The Man on the Bicycle" |
| 1964 | Redcap | Captain Jameson | Episode: "Misfire" |
| Dixon of Dock Green | Matthews | Episode: "Routine" | |
| 1984 | The Last Bastion | John Curtin | Mini-series |
