Saturday 28 July 2012

Britain is still a country where old men say "Happy Birthday" to an old actor called David Warner and remember when he and they were young

David Warner,  English actor, known for playing both romantic leads and sinister or villainous characters, across a range of media, including film, animation, television, and video games is 71 years old today. 


He was 25 years old in 1966 and I was a 19 year old student (right) living in Brighton, when I saw him starring with the beautiful Vanessa Redgrave in 'Morgan : A Suitable Case for Treatment'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElXJxBHt-Ls

Morgan being put to bed by his Mum, played by the wonderful Irene Handl :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--yHhC2wrTY


What you possibly didn't know about David, that he :

* was born out of wedlock in Manchester where his father owned a nursing home, brought up by each of his parents and eventually settled in with his Russian Jewish father and stepmother.

* was educated in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire and then trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and made his stage debut at the Royal Court Theatre in 1962, playing 'Snout', in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', directed by Tony Richardson.








* made his film debut in 1963, as the villainous Blifil (left) in 'Tom Jones' and in an early television role, starred alongside Bob Dylan in the play 'Madhouse on Castle Street'.

* joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1963 and was cast as Henry VI the 1966 season and also Hamlet (above).

* made  'Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment' which established his reputation for playing slightly off-the-wall characters.
* in 1968, starred alongside appeared in Sam Peckinpah's, 'The Ballad of Cable Hogue as Reverend Joshua Duncan Sloane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHbbchrLj4o

* appeared in 'The Omen' in 1976 as the ill-fated, decapitated photojournalist Keith Jennings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLlSjyZupzU and the futurustic 'Tron' in 1982 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEU5Mk_pmlE&feature=related


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