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Murray Melvin | |
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 Melvin in 2014 | |
| Born | (1932-08-10)10 August 1932 London, England |
| Died | 14 April 2023(2023-04-14) (aged 90) London, England |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1957–2023 |
Murray Melvin (10 August 1932 – 14 April 2023) was an English actor. A member ofJoan Littlewood'sTheatre Workshop company, he originated the part of Geoffrey inShelagh Delaney's playA Taste of Honey, reprising the role inTony Richardson's1961 film version. He appeared in severalKen Russell film and television productions includingThe Devils (1971) and played Reverend Samuel Runt inStanley Kubrick'sBarry Lyndon (1975). Melvin's other notable screen roles include parts inAlfie (1966) andTorchwood (2007). He also worked as a theatre director and authored two books on the theatre.
Melvin was born on 10 August 1932,[1] inSt. Pancras,London, the son of Hugh Victor Melvin and Maisie Winifred, née Driscoll.[2] Melvin left hisnorth London secondary school at the age of fourteen unable to master fractions but as headprefect, a qualification he said he gained by always having clean fingernails and well-combed hair. He started work as an office boy for a firm of travel agents offOxford Street.
To help channel the energies of the young after the disturbing times of the war, his parents had helped to found a youth club inHampstead, financed by theCo-operative Society of which they were longstanding members. A drama section formed with Melvin its most enthusiastic participant.
A short-lived job followed as an import and export clerk in a shipping office,[3] during which he inadvertently exported quantities of goods to destinations that had not ordered them. This was followed by two unhappy years ofNational Service in theRoyal Air Force (his father had served in the RAF during theSecond World War).
Melvin was employed as clerk and secretary to the director of the Royal Air Force sports board at theAir Ministry, then based atAdastral House in Kingsway.[3] Knowing nothing about sport, he considered his clean fingernails, well combed hair and his father's service had done the trick.
Melvin attended evening classes at the nearbyCity Literary Institute and studied drama, mime and classical ballet.[3] During an extended lunch break from the Ministry, he applied toJoan Littlewood'sTheatre Workshop company at theTheatre Royal Stratford East and auditioned on stage singing and dancing for Littlewood and Gerry Raffles.[3] On being asked to create a character he knew from life, he impersonated a rather rotund director of the sports board. Having ascertained that he had to return that afternoon to work, Littlewood said to Gerry Raffles: "the poor little bugger, we must get him away from there" – which they did.
In October 1957, he became an assistant stage manager, theatre painter and general dogsbody toJohn Bury, the set designer, and he was cast in his first professional role as the Queen's Messenger in the then in rehearsal production ofMacbeth. From the Scottish Court to a building site, his next performance was as a bricklayer inYou Won't Always Be On Top, soon followed by a peasant inAnd the Wind Blew, Bellie inPirandello'sMan Beast and Virtue, Calisto in De Rojas'sCelestina; Young Jodi Maynard inPaul Green'sUnto Such Glory (all 1957) and then came the last play of the 1957–58 season, which was to be the start of an extraordinary year in the history of Theatre Workshop and Melvin's career. He was cast as Geoffrey inShelagh Delaney's play,A Taste of Honey.[3]
After the summer break in 1958, he played the title role in the seminal production ofBrendan Behan'sThe Hostage.[3] Both scripts had been transformed in rehearsals by Joan Littlewood's painstaking and inspired methods of getting to the truth of the text and building a lively poetic and dangerous theatrical event. Though both plays were to blow a refreshing wind through the British theatre, neither play transferred to the West End immediately, so Melvin stayed on to playEbenezer Scrooge's nephew in Joan Littlewood's adaptation ofCharles Dickens'A Christmas Carol (1958).
In February 1959,A Taste of Honey opened at theWyndham's Theatre and transferred to theCriterion some six months later. It was the hit of the season.[4] Melvin reprised the role of Geoffrey in the1961 film version directed byTony Richardson (1961). He won theCannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor in 1962 and was also nominated for theBAFTA "Most Promising Newcomer" award.[5]
In April 1960,William Saroyan, on a world tour, stopped off in London where he wrote and directed a play for Theatre Workshop in which he cast Melvin as the leading character calledSam, the Highest Jumper of Them All. Then the troupe paid their annual visit to the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre for the Paris World Theatre Season withBen Jonson'sEvery Man in his Humour in which he played Brainworm. Rehearsals then started forStephen Lewis'sSparrows Can't Sing in which Melvin played the role of Knocker Jugg. The following year he transferred to the role Georgie Brimsdown for the film adaptation of the play. The film was directed by Littlewood.
After a break of nearly two years, the company came together to create the musical,Oh, What a Lovely War! After its initial run at Stratford it went to the Paris Festival and won it. The company returned to the Wyndham's Theatre where the play won the Best Musical category in theEvening Standard Theatre Awards. Between the end of its London run and the opening at theBroadhurst Theatre inNew York, the company visited theEdinburgh Festival with Shakespeare'sHenry IV, Parts 1and 2, in which Melvin metamorphosed as Gadshill, Shallow, Vernon and the Earl of March. The production ofOh, What a Lovely War! in New York in 1964 was his last for Joan Littlewood and the Theatre Workshop Company.[3]
The production attracted the interest of filmmakers, includingKen Russell andLewis Gilbert. Melvin became a member of what has often been called the Ken Russell Repertory Company, appearing in many of Russell's films, includingThe Devils andThe Boy Friend.Lewis Gilbert cast Melvin inH.M.S. Defiant (1962), alongsideDirk Bogarde, and inAlfie (1966), where he playedMichael Caine's work friend, stealing petrol and taking photographs to sell to tourists.[3]
Melvin appeared in Russell'sBBC television version ofDiary of a Nobody, which was filmed at theEaling Studios on a specially built 'silent film' set. Alongside Melvin, who played the errant son, Lupin, were other actors from Littlewood's Theatre Workshop, includingBryan Pringle andBrian Murphy, who also became Russell regulars. Lupin's girlfriend in the film is played byVivian Pickles, whose performance at the Royal Court Theatre inJohn Osborne'sPlays for England had attracted national attention.
Melvin was seen in a cameo in the final scenes ofIsadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1966), Ken Russell's film ofIsadora Duncan, which starredVivian Pickles as the title character. Melvin's best known film role for Russell was as Father Mignon inThe Devils (1971), the character who is the catalyst to the true-life horrors documented in the film.
After the film, Melvin directed two works byThe Devils composer,Peter Maxwell Davies: the theatre pieceMiss Donnithorne's Maggot and the operaThe Martyrdom of St Magnus. Further work with Davies followed. He was the speaker in a production of Davies'sMissa super l'homme armé and he played the Virgin in the premiere production of Davies'sNotre Dame des Fleurs.
In Russell'sThe Boy Friend (1971), Melvin and another Theatre Workshopalumnus, Brian Murphy, are among the company players trying to catch the eye of a Hollywood producer who watches their provincial performance of Sandy Wilson'sThe Boy Friend. In the film, Melvin has a spectacular solo dance number in a caped French officer's outfit. He again had a cameo asHector Berlioz in Ken Russell'sLisztomania (1975), as a test-run for a film about Berlioz that Russell was preparing.
Melvin appeared in Russell's film about the poet,Samuel Coleridge,The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1978). Returning with the French theme, Melvin played an enthusiastic French lawyer inPrisoner of Honour (1991), Ken Russell's film about theFrenchDreyfus Affair.
Melvin remained a lifelong friend of Ken Russell, and was often seen with Russell at festival screenings of the director's films. At theBarbican screening of the director's cut ofThe Devils, 1 May 2011, Melvin and Ken Russell arrived together, with Melvin pushing Russell's wheelchair.[6]
Melvin had an important role as Reverend Samuel Runt inStanley Kubrick'sBarry Lyndon (1975). In the video project "Stanley and Us", he talks about Kubrick's "57 takes (plus 20)".[7]
Melvin was reunited with his co-stars from the film version ofA Taste of Honey,Rita Tushingham andPaul Danquah, in theswinging sixties comedySmashing Time (1967), in which he and Danquah had cameo roles.
Melvin co-starred with Russell-regularOliver Reed inRichard Fleischer's film ofThe Prince and the Pauper,Crossed Swords (1977), and inAlberto Lattuada's four part television filmChristopher Columbus (1985).
Peter Medak cast Melvin in five films:A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972), starringAlan Bates,Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973, starringPeter Sellers),The Krays (1990),Let Him Have It (1991), and as Dr. Chilip inDavid Copperfield (2000).
Melvin featured in two films byChristine Edzard,Little Dorrit (1988), andAs You Like It (1992). As Monsieur Reyer, the musical director and conductor of theOpera Populaire, he was cast inJoel Schumacher's film adaptation of the musicalThe Phantom of the Opera (2004).[3]
Melvin appeared in the first episode of the television seriesThe Avengers in 1960.[3]
Melvin played the Dauphin inShaw'sSt. Joan, directed in 1966 byWaris Hussein. He played Bertold in aTheatre 625 production of Pirandello'sHenry IV (1967) directed byMichael Hayes; as Don Pietro in Peter Hammond's TV series based onThe Little World of Don Camillo; and as the hermit inMai Zetterling's production ofWilliam Tell. He also appeared inThe Adventures of Don Quixote (1973) as the Barber in the BBC television film directed byAlvin Rakoff and starringRex Harrison.
Melvin starred inThe Tyrant King (1968), the six-part children's television series directed byMike Hodges. He played a crucial role in the last two episodes ofThe Flaxton Boys (1973), where he plays the upper-class twit, Gerald Meder. In 1994, Melvin supplied the voice of the villain Lucius on the British children's animated TV seriesOscar's Orchestra for the BBC andFrance 3. Melvin appeared in a Christmas Special episode of the BBC'sJonathan Creek called "The Black Canary" (1998).
In 2007 he appeared as the sinisterBilis Manger in theDoctor Who spinoffTorchwood, a role he then reprised forBig Finish Productions from 2017 on. In July 2011 Melvin played the Professor in a short comedy/drama calledThe Grey Mile, a story about two ex-master criminals who are now confined to a care home.
Melvin was a founding member of the Actors' Centre and was its chairman for four years during which time he started a centre inManchester in honour of Joan Littlewood and the Theatre Workshop.
As a theatre director, he worked across all genres including opera, recital, drama and comedy. He directed the first productions of three ofGraeme Garden's perennially popular pantomimes.[8]
In 1991, thirty four years after first making the tea and sweeping the stage at theTheatre Royal, he was invited to become a member of the board of the theatre, a position he held until 2011. It is partly in this role that he was becoming widely known as a learned and popular theatre and film historian — he can be seen and heard, for example, on the BFI DVD release of theBill Douglas Trilogy.
In 1992, he became the Theatre Royal's voluntary archivist and in 2009 he was appointed a member of the Theatre Workshop Trust. He led the successful campaign to erect a statue of Joan Littlewood in Theatre Square atStratford.[3] In 2020, he completed an archive covering the theatre's history between 1884 and 2017.[9]
On 18 July 2013, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts byDe Montfort University and in July 2015 he was awarded an honorary degree by theUniversity of Essex.[10] In September 2016 he received an Honorary Fellowship from the Rose Bruford College.
Several commercial available audio recordings have been made featuring Murray Melvin. These include four plays on LPs produced by Caedmon Records (Two Gentlemen of Verona (1965);A Midsummer Night's Dream;George Bernard Shaw'sSaint Joan (1966); andThe Poetry of Kipling). His performance inOh, What a Lovely War is available on Decca Records (1969).
In 2007, he narratedTales of the Supernatural Volume 3 byM. R. James for Fantom Films. This was followed in 2009 byM.R. James - A Ghost Story for Christmas, and in 2011 and 2012 by two recordings ofWilkie Collins: Supernatural Stories, Volumes 2 & 3 andThe Dark Shadows Legend: The Happier Dead.
In December 2022, Melvin suffered a fall from which he never fully recovered.[11] He died atSt Thomas' Hospital in London on 14 April 2023, at the age of 90.[12][13] Without any living close relatives at the time of his death, he had former Stratford East director Kerry Kyriacos Michael appointed as his next of kin.[3]
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