Paul Scofield

Published Friday 28 March 2008 at 17:35 by Patrick Newley

The greatest classical actor of his generation, Paul Scofield was widely regarded as one of the world’s finest interpreters of Shakespeare.

An actor’s actor, his presence was described as “monumental but reassuring” and his voice compared variously to a Rolls Royce being started up and a sound rumbling from an antique crypt.

He first set foot on stage as a boy working as an extra at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, and from them went on to electrify audiences worldwide with performances such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Uncle Vanya and Prospero. In addition, his remorselessly intelligent interpretations of Henry V and King Lear also earned him a place in theatrical history.

In 1966 he gained international film stardom - and won an Academy Award - for his Tony-award winning Broadway portrayal of Sir Thomas More in A Man for all Seasons.

Born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, on January 21, 1922, the son of the village schoolmaster Scofield first made his mark in the theatre in 1944 at the Birmingham Rep where he first began his endlessly fruitful partnership with Peter Brook, playing Bastard in King John.

The pair went on to work together on several occasions. “As an actor I found Peter Brook to have an extraordinarily concentrated and penetrating understanding of the emotional and practical requirements demanded by the needs of authors and actors,” said Scofield.

Scofield went on to play leading roles with Barry Jackson’s Stratford upon Avon company and in 1955 he toured the USSR playing the title role in Peter Brook’s legendary production of Hamlet. This was the first English company to play in Moscow since the 1917 revolution, and the production became known thereafter as the Moscow Hamlet.

Later success with Brook included the acclaimed production of King Lear (1962). It toured the world and was eventually recorded on film and audiobook.

In a recent opinion poll of members of the RSC, Scofield’s performance as King Lear was voted the greatest performance ever given in a Shakespeare play. Voters included Ian McKellen, Donald Sinden, Janet Suzman, Judi Dench, Corin Redgrave and Ian Richardson.

More recently he had been highly praised in parts such as Chekov’s Uncle Vanya (1970), Prospero (1974) and Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the National Theatre (1979). In 1986 he gave a witty performance in Herb Gardner’s I’m Not Rappaport at the Apollo Theatre. After a lengthy absence from the stage he made a triumphant return in the title role of Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman (1996) at the National Theatre.

The working actor, as he described himself, often began preparing for a role by finding a voice for it. His own was glittering, sombre and unique, but he preferred accuracy to beauty of tone. He chose his roles carefully and although he was known for his commanding presence both on stage and in the rehearsal room he was, noted Sir John Gielgud, “a very individual actor in that he seldom feels really confident in his performance until just before the first night.”

Over the course of his career he served as the co-director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1966-68) and as a director of the National Theatre (1971). His years of service to the theatre culminated in several offers of a knighthood, an honour that the actor gracefully declined each time. He did, however, accept a CBE in 1956.

His preference for the stage sometimes limited his film work, but even there he was much honoured. As well as winning an Oscar for A Man for all Seasons he was Oscar and BAFTA nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role as the literary mandarin, Mark Van Doren, in Quiz Show, and a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor in The Crucible. Asked how he would celebrate after winning his 1966 Oscar for his role as Sir Thomas More, he modestly remarked, “Oh, I suppose my wife and I will open a bottle of champagne with another couple.”

His other notable films included Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance (1973), in which he co-starred with Katherine Hepburn, Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989), as the careworn King of France, and Zeffirelli’s Hamlet (1990), as the Ghost.

For many years Scofield lived quietly with his wife, the actress Joy Parker, in the sleepy village of Balcombe, Sussex, where he enjoyed walking on the downs, reading and baking bread. A private man, he rarely discussed his acting career saying, “I have found that an actor’s work has life and interest only in its execution. It seems to wither away in discussion, and becomes emptily theoretical and insubstantial.”

He died on March 19, 2008, aged 86. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter.

Paying tribute, Simon Callow, who played alongside Scofield in the 1979 premiere of Amadeus, said Scofield had been “one of the greatest actors in the world. He had a kind of extraordinary physical warmth, almost literally like being near a fire, in a way that I would almost never experienced with another actor. He had a charisma, a hypnotism, a kind of spell that he cast on an audience.”

Tributes to Paul Scofield:

“The acting profession has lost a colossus. In every medium he graced, he was a master. He made goodness and intellect sexy. He was always his own man. His lifetime of work was that rare thing amongst actors, a career of honour. He was an inspiration both personally and professionally. Adored and revered by his colleagues, this greatest of actors was also the kindest and humblest of men.” (Kenneth Branagh)

“He was the only great actor I have worked with who was not in any sense a star - there was no great publicity about him, no scandal about him, none of the attitude to stardom.” (Corin Redgrave)

“He was a great friend and a great man” (Judi Dench)

“He was a genius who inspired me to become an actress. The first time I saw him perform, this extraordinary giant came on to the stage. He was beautiful, sexy and mesmerising. I thought, ‘This is the world I want to be in’. I went back two or three times. He was my hero and became my friend and teacher” (Felicity Kendal).

“Scofield was simply one of the greats, creating landmark performances of all the great Shakespeare roles at Stratford, from Hamlet to Macbeth to Lear.” (Greg Doran)

“I was manager at the Apollo Theatre where Paul played for over 300 performances of I’m not Rappaport. During the run there, Susan Fleetwood fell and severely hurt her back. Against doctor’s advice she went on stage in a wheelchair. Further, the amazingly young Howard Rollins often arrived minutes before a performance and became an 80 year old in no time. These artists, the whole cast and everyone at the Apollo Theatre were all devoted to Paul and worked hard to support him throughout the run. It was, in fact, one of the most sustained runs Paul ever undertook and I feel privileged to have been part of it.” (John C. Causebrook)