Tom Courtenay | |
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 Courtenay in 2015 | |
| Born | Thomas Daniel Courtenay (1937-02-25)25 February 1937 (age 88) Hull,East Yorkshire, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1960–present |
| Spouses | |
Sir Thomas Daniel Courtenay (/ˈkɔːrtni/; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor. A notable figure of theBritish New Wave, he has received numerous accolades including threeBAFTAs, aGolden Globe, aSilver Bear, and aVolpi Cup, in addition to nominations for twoAcademy Awards, twoTony Awards, and aPrimetime Emmy Award. He wasknighted for his services to cinema and theatre in the2001 New Year Honours.[1]
After studying at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art, Courtenay earned theBAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for hisbreakthrough role in the coming-of-age filmThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) and a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role inDavid Lean's epicDoctor Zhivago (1965). Other notable film roles during this period includeBilly Liar (1963),King and Country (1964),King Rat (1965), andThe Night of the Generals (1967).
For his performance in the1983 film adaptation of the playThe Dresser, in which he reprised the role of Norman he originated both on the West End and Broadway, Courtenay won theGolden Globe Award forBest Actor and received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations. His later roles includeLast Orders (2001),Nicholas Nickleby (2002),Quartet (2012),45 Years (2015), andThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018).
Courtenay received twoBritish Academy Television Awards for his performances in the television filmA Rather English Marriage (1998) and the first series of the crime dramaUnforgotten (2015) as well as a nomination for thePrimetime Emmy Award for thePBS miniseriesLittle Dorrit (2008).
Courtenay was born on 25 February 1937 inKingston upon Hull,East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Annie Eliza (née Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter in Hull fish docks. He attendedKingston High School and went on to study English atUniversity College London, where he failed his degree.[2] After this he studied drama at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
Courtenay made his stage debut in 1960 with theOld Vic theatre company at the Lyceum, Edinburgh, before taking over fromAlbert Finney in the title role ofBilly Liar at theCambridge Theatre in 1961. In 1963, he played that same title role in the film version, directed byJohn Schlesinger.[3] He said of Albert Finney, "We both have the same problem, overcoming the flat harsh speech ofthe North."[4]
Courtenay's film debut was in 1962 withPrivate Potter, directed by Finnish-born directorCaspar Wrede, who had first spotted Courtenay while he was still at RADA. This was followed byThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, directed byTony Richardson, andBilly Liar, two highly acclaimed films and performances which helped usher in theBritish New Wave of the early-to-mid-1960s. For these performances Courtenay was awarded the 1962BAFTA Award for most promising newcomer and the 1963BAFTA Award for best actor respectively. He also was the first to record the songMrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter, doing so for the TV playThe Lads. The song was released byDecca on a 45 rpm record.
For his role as the dedicated revolutionary leader Pasha Antipov inDoctor Zhivago (1965), he was nominated for anAcademy Award forBest Supporting Actor, but was bested byMartin Balsam. Among his other well-known films isKing & Country, directed byJoseph Losey, where he played oppositeDirk Bogarde; the all-star war film,Operation Crossbow, directed byMichael Anderson (starringGeorge Peppard andSophia Loren);King Rat, directed byBryan Forbes and costarringJames Fox andGeorge Segal; andThe Night of the Generals, directed byAnatole Litvak withPeter O'Toole andOmar Sharif. He provided physical slapstick comedy in the ultimately chilling anti-nuke black comedyThe Day the Fish Came Out in 1967. In 1968 he co-starred in the spy movieA Dandy in Aspic, oppositeLaurence Harvey. He then appeared in two spy-comedies, firstOtley (1969), in the title role, and thenCatch Me A Spy (1971), starringKirk Douglas. Courtenay's working relationship with Wrede returned to film when he played the title role in the latter's 1970 production ofOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Despite being catapulted to fame by the aforementioned films, Courtenay has said that he has not particularly enjoyed film acting;[5] from the mid-1960s he concentrated more on stage work, although in a later Telegraph interview on 4/20/2005, he admitted "I slightly overdid the anti-film thing". In 1968, Courtenay began a long association withManchester when he played inThe Playboy of the Western World for the Century Theatre atManchester University directed byMichael Elliott. In 1969, Courtenay played Hamlet (John Nettles playing Laertes) for 69 Theatre Company at University Theatre in Manchester, this being the precursor of theRoyal Exchange Theatre, which was founded in 1976 where he was to give many performances, firstly under the direction of Casper Wrede.[6] His first roles for the Royal Exchange were as Faulkland inRichard Brinsley Sheridan'sThe Rivals and the hero ofHeinrich von Kleist'sThe Prince of Homburg. Since then he has played a variety of roles, including in 1999 the leading role in the theatre's production ofKing Lear, and in 2001Uncle Vanya.
Courtenay originated the role of Norman inRonald Harwood'sThe Dresser which was first produced in theWest End in 1980. The production started atRoyal Exchange, Manchester before transferring to theQueen's Theatre. Courtenay acted opposite Freddie Jones as Sir. The production earned theLaurence Olivier Award for Best Play. He then reprised his role onBroadway at theBrooks Atkinson Theatre in 1981, acting oppositePaul Rogers. Courtenay received nominations for theTony Award for Best Actor in a Play and theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his performance. He then was cast as Norman in the film adaptation ofThe Dresser (1983), acting oppositeAlbert Finney as Sir with performances fromEileen Atkins,Edward Fox, andMichael Gough. Famed critic from theChicago Sun-Times,Roger Ebert praised Courtenay for his performance writing, "He is perfect for playing proud, resentful, self-doubting outsiders."[7] Both Courtenay and Finney received nominations forBest Actor in the 1983Academy Awards for their roles, losing toRobert Duvall inTender Mercies.
He played the father ofDerek Bentley (Christopher Eccleston) in the 1991 filmLet Him Have It. And for an actor known to be cast in good or great films, he surprisingly co-starred in what's been considered one of the worst movies ever, the infamousLeonard Part 6 starringBill Cosby. Courtenay's television and radio appearances have been relatively few, but have includedShe Stoops to Conquer in 1971 onBBC and severalAyckbourn plays. He appeared inI Heard the Owl Call My Name on US television in 1973. In 1994, he starred asQuilp oppositePeter Ustinov in aDisney Channel 'made for television' version ofThe Old Curiosity Shop. Rather unexpectedly, he had a cameo role as the anthropologistBronisław Malinowski in theGeorge Lucas 1995 US TV filmYoung Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye. In 1998 he teamed withAlbert Finney again for the acclaimed BBC dramaA Rather English Marriage. He played the role of God, opposite Sebastian Graham-Jones, in Ben Steiner's radio play "A Brief Interruption", broadcast onBBC Radio 4 in 2004. In the same year, he played the role of Stanley Laurel inNeil Brand's radio play 'Stan', broadcast on Radio 4. Also for Radio 4, he played the title role in Nick Leather'sThe Domino Man of Lancashire andMaurice in Richard Lumsden'sMan in the Moon, both broadcast in 2007. Courtenay also appeared in the 2008 Christmas special of the BBC showThe Royle Family, playing the role of Dave's father, David Sr, alongside Helen Fraser as Dave’s mother, who had played his girlfriend in Billy Liar.
In 2002, based on an idea by Michael Godley, Courtenay compiled a one-man showPretending To Be Me based on the letters and writings of poetPhilip Larkin, which first played at theWest Yorkshire Playhouse inLeeds. It later transferred to theComedy Theatre in theWest End in London.[8] In 2007, Courtenay appeared in two films:Flood, a disaster epic in which London is overwhelmed by floods, andThe Golden Compass, an adaptation ofPhilip Pullman's novel, playing the part of Farder Coram. In 2008, he appeared in the BBC adaptation ofLittle Dorrit byCharles Dickens, playing William Dorrit, and the Christmas edition ofThe Royle Family, playing David (Senior). In March 2011, he joined the cast ofGambit, a film starring fellow RADA alumnusAlan Rickman that began filming in May. The film was released in Great Britain in November 2012.
In 2012, he co-starred in romantic dramaQuartet alongsideMaggie Smith, directed byDustin Hoffman. It premiered at theToronto International Film Festival to positive reviews. In 2015, he co-starred withCharlotte Rampling in the highly-praised Andrew Haigh film,45 Years. Courtenay won international awards including theBerlin International Film Festival'sSilver Bear andVenice International Film Festival'sVolpi Cup for Best Actor. for his role as Geoff Mercer, and the film was critically-acclaimed and very well-received internationally as well as in the U.S. In 2018, he appeared inThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society starringLily James andKing of Thieves alongsideMichael Caine andMichael Gambon.[9]
In 2019, he was a panellist onHarry Hill's Alien Fun Capsule, Season 3 episode 1. For his introduction, after the other 3 guests had been announced Harry expressed surprise that the fourth seat (Courtenay's) was empty. Harry said he knew the guest had set off some time ago, which was followed by a cut to the 1962 filmThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner in which Courtenay's character was running. Courtenay then entered the studio, apparently out of breath and in the same running kit he'd been wearing in the film.[citation needed] Also in 2019 he voiced the character of Prince Philip inThe Queen's Corgi, his first voice role, and also appeared inThe Aeronauts starringFelicity Jones andEddie Redmayne.[10]
Courtenay married actressCheryl Kennedy in 1973. They divorced in 1982. In 1988, he married Isabel Crossley, a stage manager at the Royal Exchange Theatre inManchester.[5] They have homes in Manchester andPutney in London. In 2000, Courtenay's memoirDear Tom: Letters From Home was published to critical acclaim. It comprises a selection of the letters exchanged between Courtenay and his mother, interspersed with his own recollections of life as a young student actor in London in the early 1960s.
Courtenay is the President ofHull City AFC's Official Supporters' Club. In 1999, Courtenay was awarded an honorary doctorate byHull University. In 2018, he was bestowed the Honorary Freedom of the City of Hull.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Inside Story | Bert | Episode: "A Present for Penny" |
| 1970 | Solo | D. H. Lawrence | Episode: "Tom Courtenay as D. H. Lawrence" |
| 1973 | I Heard the Owl Call My Name | Mark Brian | Television film |
| 1998 | Kavanagh QC | Felix Crawley | Episode: "Memento Mori" |
| 2007 | Little Dorrit | Mr. Dorrit | 14 episodes |
| 2008 | The Royle Family | David Best, Sr. | Episode: "The New Sofa" |
| 2015 | Unforgotten | Eric Slater | 6 episodes |
| 2017 | Grandpa's Great Escape | Grandpa | Television film |
| 2021 | The North Water | Baxter | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | Mandy | Engineer Woodcock | Episode: ‘’Fatberg’’ |
| 2026 | Maya | George |
He is credited in the programme with its authorship, which makes him cross. "I didn't write it – it ought to say 'devised' or 'compiled by'." A few years ago, the actor Michael Godley sent him a show of his own devising, hoping that he would appear in it; while Courtenay liked the idea, he thought that version too close to a poetry reading.
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