Paul Scofield | |
|---|---|
 Scofield in 1975 | |
| Born | David Paul Scofield (1922-01-21)21 January 1922 Birmingham,Warwickshire, England |
| Died | 19 March 2008(2008-03-19) (aged 86) Brighton,East Sussex, England |
| Resting place | St Mary's Churchyard,Balcombe,West Sussex |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1940–2006[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
David Paul ScofieldCH CBE (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was an English actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved theTriple Crown of Acting, winning anAcademy Award,Emmy, andTony for his work. Scofield established a reputation as one of the greatest Shakespearean performers. He declined the honour of aknighthood, but was appointedCBE in 1956 and became aCH in 2001.
Scofield received theTony Award for Best Actor in a Play for portraying SirThomas More in theBroadway production ofA Man for All Seasons (1962). Four years later, he won theAcademy Award for Best Actor when he reprised the role in the1966 film adaptation, making him one of eleven to receive a Tony and Academy Award for the same role. He received thePrimetime Emmy Award forMale of the Species (1969).
Scofield garnered acclaim for his roles in films such asThe Train (1964),King Lear (1971),A Delicate Balance (1973),Henry V (1989), andHamlet (1990). He portrayedMark Van Doren in the historical dramaQuiz Show (1994), for which he earned a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor. For his role asThomas Danforth in the film adaptation ofThe Crucible (1996) he received theBAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Paul Scofield was born on 21 January 1922 inEdgbaston,[2]Birmingham,Warwickshire, England, the son of Mary and Edward Harry Scofield.[3] When Scofield was a few weeks old, his family moved toHurstpierpoint,Sussex, where his father became headmaster at the Hurstpierpoint Church of England School.[4] Scofield told his biographer,Garry O'Connor, that his upbringing was divided. His father was anAnglican and his mother aRoman Catholic. Baptised into his mother's faith, Scofield said, "some days we were little Protestants and, on others, we were all devout little Catholics."[5] He added, "A lack of direction in spiritual matters is still with me."[6]
Scofield recalled: "I was a dunce at school. But at the age of twelve I went toVarndean School atBrighton where I discoveredShakespeare. They did one of his plays every year, and I lived just for that."[7][8] In 1961, Scofield wrote, "I don't have a psychological approach to acting; fundamentally, I have an intuitive approach. For me, the totally intellectual approach is never satisfactory. What matters to me is whether I like the play, for one thing, and, for another, whether I can recognize and identify myself with the character I'm to play."[9] In 1939, Scofield left school at the age of seventeen and began training at theCroydon Repertory Theatre. Shortly after the outbreak of theSecond World War, Scofield arrived for a physical examination and was ruled unfit for service in theBritish Army. He later recalled, "They found I had crossed toes. I was unable to wear boots. I was deeply ashamed."[10]
Scofield began his stage career in 1940 with a debut performance in American playwrightEugene O'Neill'sDesire Under the Elms at theWestminster Theatre, and was soon being compared toLaurence Olivier. He played at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. From there he went to theShakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, where he starred inWalter Nugent Monck's 1947 revival ofPericles, Prince of Tyre.[11]
In 1948, Scofield appeared as Hamlet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford alongside a then unknownClaire Bloom asOphelia. Scofield's performance was so highly praised that it caused him to be dubbed, "The Hamlet of his generation."[12] He was also Bassanio inThe Merchant of Venice with Bloom as an Attendee. J.C. Trewin commented, "He is simply a timeless Hamlet... None could forget Scofield's pathos, the face folded in grief, at, 'When you are desirous to be blessed, I'll blessing beg of you.' We have known many correct, almost formal Hamlets, aloof from Elsinore. Scofield was ever a prisoner within its bounds: the world had many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst."[13]
John Harrison, Director of theLeeds Playhouse, later recalled of Scofield's Hamlet, "'Get thee to a nunnery,' so often delivered with rage or scorn, he says so gently. You have visions of quiet and prayer. A future for Ophelia."[14] In her later book,Leaving a Doll's House: A Memoir, Claire Bloom recalls that during the production she had a very serious crush on Scofield. As Scofield "was happily married and the father of a son", Bloom hoped only "to be flirted with and taken some notice of." But Scofield never so much as glanced at Bloom or any of the other pretty actresses in the cast.[14] Unusually, the production had two Hamlets: Scofield andRobert Helpmann took turns playing the title role and Bloom later recalled, "I could never make up my mind which of my two Hamlets I found the more devastating: the openly homosexual, charismatic Helpmann, or the charming, shy young man from Sussex."[15]
Scofield's versatility at the height of his career is exemplified by his starring roles in theatrical productions as diverse as the musicalExpresso Bongo (1958) andPeter Brook's celebrated production ofKing Lear (1962). Brook wrote in his memoir,Threads of Time, "The door at the back of the set opened, and a small man entered. He was wearing a black suit, steel-rimmed glasses and holding a suitcase. For a moment we wondered who this stranger was and why he was wandering onto our stage. Then we realised that it was Paul, transformed. His tall body had shrunk; he had become insignificant. The new character now possessed him entirely."[16]
One of the highlights of Scofield's career in modern theatre is the role of SirThomas More inRobert Bolt'sA Man for All Seasons, which opened in July 1960. Scofield later referred to the part as the only time "my intuition for the part has failed me."[17] Theatre reviewers published very harsh criticism of Scofield's performance at first, which forced him to "start from scratch and just work on facts, making myself totally faithful to what was on the page". After realizing "I had to find the way the man would feel; then I was able to find the way he should sound", and the vital importance of conveying complete sincerity and humility when "playing a man of spiritual depth", Scofield successfully developed a means of performing as Thomas More through trial and error.[18]
Austrian-American filmmakerFred Zinnemann later recalled of seeing the play onstage, "It dealt with the sixteenth-century English statesman Thomas More, beheaded on the orders of his King,Henry VIII, for refusing to sanction his marriage toAnne Boleyn. With Paul Scofield in the lead, the play was a powerful emotional experience. It dramatized the nation's unquestioning submission to theabsolute power of the king, in stark contrast to More, whose last words before the execution were, 'I die the Kings good servant, but God's first.'"[19]
When Fred Zinnemann was first approached about directingthe 1966 film adaptation ofA Man For All Seasons byColumbia Pictures executiveMike Frankovich in 1965 and enthusiastically agreed, the studio did not wish to cast Scofield as the lead. Preferring a more internationally bankable cast, the studio desired eitherLaurence Olivier orRichard Burton as Thomas More,Alec Guinness as Cardinal Wolsey, andPeter O'Toole as King Henry VIII. Both Zinnemann and screenwriterRobert Bolt disagreed, however, but still went through the motions of meeting with Olivier and then informing him politely that he had not been chosen.[20] Scofield, who was cast after Columbia grudgingly "fell in with Zinnemann's wishes", later recalled, "I was surprised and honoured to be chosen for the film, being almost unknown in the movie world... My own task was unaltered except that I now focused on my thoughts on to a camera instead of an audience."[21]
Even though defying the studio's casting wishes forced him to filmA Man For All Seasons on a shoestring budget, Fred Zinnemann felt very differently about Scofield and later recalled of the film shoot, "For the first few days the crew did their usual work very well, the way they would have done any job, but on the third day, when Scofield made his speech about the majesty of the law, they were suddenly mesmerized by the magic of those words and they remained that way throughout the rest of the filming. So totally did Paul convey the scope of More's character that for months afterwards I couldn't help but look at him in awe, as a saint rather than an actor."[22]
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In 1964, Scofield acted in theJohn Frankenheimer war filmThe Train alongsideBurt Lancaster. The film is set in August 1944 duringWorld War II, it pitsFrench Resistance-member Paul Labiche (Lancaster) against German Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Scofield), who is attempting to move stolen art masterpieces by train to Germany. The film received positive acclaim and was ranked as one of the best films by theNational Board of Review.
Writing in 1961, Scofield explained, "Output in the theatre requires greater energy than anything else I know. Doubt of one's energy is the worst of all. One's output in the theatre requires energy of a sort that is never a factor in family life. Family energy generates itself. Social life outside the family can be exhausting. I don't care much for social life with people in the theatre. I'm rather good at being with people when I want to make the effort, but I'm bad at listening to people when I know what they're going to say. It isn't very interesting, and on the whole it's very draining. The interesting thing in the theatre is the work and working with people. I usually like the people in the work, but I can't go on with them outside the work as long as most actors can. And when I'm working on a part I'm thinking about it all the time, going over all the possibilities in my mind. I like to be alone when I'm working."[23]
In a career devoted chiefly to the classical theatre, Scofield starred in manyShakespeare plays and played the title role inBen Jonson'sVolpone inPeter Hall's production for theRoyal National Theatre (1977). In a 1994 interview, Scofield explained, "One of the great strengths of the theatre is that it is ephemeral. It does exist only in what you remember and you can't check up on it afterwards and think, 'That's not as good as I remember.' If any performance I've ever given stays in someone's mind that's so much more exciting than being able to put it on the video and play it again. It's not that I don't want to take risks - the opposite is true, in fact. But the more you know about acting, the more you're aware of the pitfalls and the more nerve-racking it becomes. When I was young, I wasn't nervous at all. Even doingHamlet, I just had a go."[24]
Scofield also appeared as Charles Dyer in Dyer's playStaircase, staged by theRoyal Shakespeare Company in 1966; Laurie inJohn Osborne'sA Hotel in Amsterdam (1968); andAntonio Salieri in the original stage production ofPeter Shaffer'sAmadeus (1979). He was subsequently the voice of the Dragon in another play byRobert Bolt, a children's dramaThe Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew.Expresso Bongo,Staircase andAmadeus were filmed with other actors, but Scofield starred in the screen version ofKing Lear (1971). Other major screen roles include the art-obsessedWehrmacht Colonel von Waldheim inThe Train (1964), Strether in a 1977 TV adaptation ofHenry James's novelThe Ambassadors, and Tobias inEdward Albee'sA Delicate Balance (1973).
Scofield was cast in the lead role of Sir Randolph Nettleby in the 1985 filmThe Shooting Party, but was forced to withdraw due to an injury he suffered on set. According to the DVD extras documentary for the film, Scofield and the other male lead actors were to come into shot on a horse-drawn shooting brake driven by the renowned film horse-master George Mossman as the first shot of the first day of filming. As they turned the first corner, the plank that Mossman was standing on broke in two and he was hurled forward and down, falling between the sets of wheels and taking the reins with him. He was struck by a horse's hoof and concussed. The horses shied and broke into a gallop. ActorRupert Frazer admitted that he was the first to jump off, landing safely, but bruised. Out of control, the horses turned to the right when confronted by a stone wall, causing the shooting brake to roll completely, catapulting the actors into a pile of scaffolding that had been stacked next to the wall.Robert Hardy stood up and realised to his amazement that he was unhurt. He looked across to seeEdward Fox stand up, "turn completely green and collapse in a heap", having broken five ribs and his shoulder blade. He noticed that Scofield was lying very still on the ground "and I saw that his shin-bone was sticking out through his trousers". As the film takes place in October during the partridge-shooting season, the filmmakers had to make a choice whether to delay filming for a year or re-cast. TheShooting Party schedule was ultimately changed to allowJames Mason to take over the part of Sir Randolph Nettleby six weeks later.[25] Scofield's broken leg also deprived him of the part ofO'Brien inNineteen Eighty-Four, in which he was replaced byRichard Burton.[26]
Helen Mirren, who appeared with Scofield in the 1989 filmWhen the Whales Came, said, "He aspires to the soul rather than the character. He has no sense of personal ambition. He's one of our great, great actors. We're lucky to have him."[27] Scofield also portrayed theGhost inFranco Zeffirelli's1990 film adaptation ofHamlet alongsideMel Gibson in the title role. Despite being anA-list actor at the time, Gibson, who had grown up idolising Scofield, compared the experience of performing Shakespeare alongside him to being, "thrown intothe ring withMike Tyson".[28] Scofield, on the other hand, never felt similarly intimidated and later recalled about working with Gibson, "Not the actor you'd think would make an ideal Hamlet, but he had enormous integrity and intelligence."[29] Scofield portrayed Professor Moroi in the film ofJános Nyíri'sIf Winter Comes (1980), for BBC Television; poetMark Van Doren inRobert Redford's filmQuiz Show (1994), and Deputy GovernorThomas Danforth inNicholas Hytner's film adaptation (1996) ofArthur Miller'sThe Crucible.
Paul Scofield married actress Joy Mary Parker on 15 May 1943.[2] They had met while he played Hamlet to her Ophelia.[30] Scofield later said "Joy and I simply decided to be married. We were both of age and were determined. Any doubts from our families were overruled, and they were the usual ones – too young, etc. We had a week out at the end ofThe Moon Is Down tour, married during that week, and went straight into theWhitehall Theatre."[31]
Paul and Joy Scofield had two children: Martin (born 1945) who became a senior lecturer in English and American literature at the University of Kent[32] and Sarah (born 1951). When asked by Garry O'Connor how he wished to be remembered, Scofield responded "If you have a family, that is how to be remembered."[33] When O'Connor asked about his seventieth birthday, Scofield replied, "Birthdays are a bore, really. It's true, I do like my fallow times... I hate missing anything that might be happening outside on a summer evening, something in the garden."[34] FilmmakerMichael Winner accordingly described Paul and Joy Scofield as "one of the few very happily married couples I've ever met."[35]
Scofield died fromleukaemia[36] on 19 March 2008 at the age of 86 at theRoyal Sussex County Hospital[2] inBrighton,East Sussex,England. His memorial service was held atWestminster Abbey on the first anniversary of his death.[2] His wife Joy died four years later on 7 November 2012, aged 90.
| Year 1977 | Title The Ambassadors | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | The State Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill | Narrator | ITV television special | |
| 1969 | Male of the Species | Sir Emlyn Bowen | Television movie | |
| 1980 | If Winter Comes | Professor Moroi | Television movie | |
| The Curse of King Tut's Tomb | Narrator | Voice; Television movie | ||
| 1981 | Celebrity Playhouse | James Callifer | Episode:The Potting Shed | |
| 1982 | A Song at Twilight | Sir Hugh Latymer | ||
| 1984 | Arena: The Life and Times of Don Luis Buñuel | Narrator | ||
| 1985 | Anna Karenina | Karenin | Television Movie | |
| 1987 | Mister Corbett's Ghost | Mr. Corbett | Television movie | |
| 1988 | The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank | Otto Frank | Television movie | |
| 1994 | Genesis: The Creation and the Flood | Narrator | Voice | |
| Martin Chuzzlewit | Old Martin Chuzzlewit Anthony Chuzzlewit | 6 episodes | ||
| 1999 | The Disabled Century | Narrator | Voice; 3 episodes |
Scofield was appointedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the1956 New Year Honours.[61] When Scofield was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actor forA Man for All Seasons, he declined to travel toLos Angeles to attend the ceremony. When Scofield won the award, hisleading ladyWendy Hiller, whom Fred Zinnemann had cast as Lady Alice More for being, "particularly marvelous at doing a 'slow burn'",[62] went up on stage to receive the Award Statue on Scofield's behalf. According to his biographer Garry O'Connor, Scofield always kept his Oscar Statue, "put... away in the corner of his workroom". Scofield explained, "Although it was nice to get, it's not decorative, really. I suppose that's why I don't display it. But if anyone wants to see it I'll get it out."[63]
Scofield was subsequently nominated asBest Supporting Actor forQuiz Show. His many theatrical accolades include a 1962Tony Award forA Man for All Seasons. In 1969, Scofield became the sixth performer to win theTriple Crown of Acting, winning anEmmy Award forOutstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role forMale of the Species. He accomplished this in only seven years (1962–1969), which is still a record. He was also one of only eleven actorsto win both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role on stage and film, forA Man for All Seasons. Scofield declined the honour of aknighthood on three occasions,[32][64] but was appointedCBE in 1956 and became aMember of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2001.[65] In 1972, theHamburg-basedAlfred Toepfer Foundation awarded Scofield its annualShakespeare Prize. In 2002 he was awarded thehonorary degree ofD. Litt by theUniversity of Oxford.[66]
When asked the reason for his decision to decline the knighthood, Scofield responded, "I have every respect for people who are offered [a knighthood] and accept it gratefully. It is just not an aspect of life that I would want."[67] Gary O'Connor described being knighted as, "The kind of honour from which [Scofield] instinctively recoiled. Never the actor before the part he plays."[68] In 2004, a poll of actors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, includingIan McKellen,Donald Sinden,Janet Suzman,Ian Richardson,Antony Sher andCorin Redgrave, acclaimed Scofield's Lear as the greatest Shakespearean performance ever.[69] Scofield appeared in many radio dramas forBBC Radio 4, including in later years plays byPeter Tinniswood:On the Train to Chemnitz (2001) andAnton in Eastbourne (2002). The latter was Tinniswood's last work and was written especially for Scofield, an admirer ofAnton Chekhov. He was awarded the 2002Sam Wanamaker Prize.
Paul Scofield led the cast in several dramas issued byCaedmon Records:
Also:
(For a more exhaustive list, see this note:[70])
