Robert Stephens

Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 1931 – 12 November 1995) was a leading English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre. He was one of the most respected actors of his generation and was at one time regarded as the natural successor to Laurence Olivier.[1]

This article is about the English actor. For other uses, see Robert Stephens (disambiguation).

Sir Robert Stephens
Born	Robert Graham Stephens (1931-07-14)14 July 1931 Bristol, England
Died	12 November 1995(1995-11-12) (aged 64) London, England
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1956–1995
Spouse(s)	Nora Ann Simmonds ​ ( m. 1951; div. 1952) Tarn Bassett ​ ( m. 1956; div. 1967) Maggie Smith ​ ( m. 1967; div. 1974) Patricia Quinn ( m. 1995)
Children	4, including Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin

Early life and career

Stephens was born in Shirehampton, Bristol, in 1931, the eldest of three children of shipyard labourer and costing surveyor Reuben Stephens (1905 – 1985) and chocolate-factory worker Gladys Millicent (née Deverill; 1906 – 1975).[2] When aged 18, he won a scholarship to Esme Church's Bradford Civic Theatre School in Yorkshire, where he met his first wife Nora, a fellow student.[3] His first professional engagement was with the Caryl Jenner Mobile Theatre, which he followed in 1951 by a year of more challenging parts in repertory at the Royalty Theatre, Morecambe, followed by seasons of touring and at the Hippodrome, Preston. The London director Tony Richardson saw a performance at the Royalty and this led to an offer of a place in the "momentous" first season of English Stage Company at the Royal Court in 1956. His success was assured.[3]

He appeared in two versions of Epitaph for George Dillon on Broadway during the 1958-59 season for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.[4]

His early films included A Taste of Honey (1961), Cleopatra (1963) and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) with his then wife Maggie Smith. There was also a minor role as Prince Escalus in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968), as well as a starring role in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) and the gothic horror film The Asphyx (1972).

Stephens played Atahuallpa in the original 1964 National Theatre production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun. He and Smith appeared together on stage and in film, notably in The Recruiting Officer at the Old Vic and the film version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969.[5] However, following his departure from the National Theatre in 1970 and the break-up of their marriage in 1973, he suffered a career slump, not helped by heavy drinking and a breakdown.[6]

Although he continued to work on stage (notably in the National Theatre's The Mysteries in 1986), film (The Fruit Machine in 1988—titled Wonderland in the US—and Kenneth Branagh's Henry V), and television (notably in the role of Abner Brown in the 1984 BBC TV dramatisation of the children's classic The Box of Delights[7] and as the Master of an Oxford college in an episode of Inspector Morse), it was not until the 1990s that he re-established himself at the forefront of his profession, when the Royal Shakespeare Company invited him to play Falstaff in Henry IV for director Adrian Noble (opening April 1991), the title roles in Julius Caesar (director Stephen Pimlott) later in the year and then King Lear, again for Noble, in May 1993.[8] He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1993 for Best Actor, for his performance as Falstaff.[1]

Stephens provided the voice of Aragorn in the 1981 BBC Radio serialisation of The Lord of the Rings. In 1985, he directed the British premiere production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley at the Gate Theatre, London.

Stephens was knighted in 1995.

Personal life

Stephens was married four times:

• 1951: to Nora Ann Simmons; they had one child, Michael Stephens, and divorced in 1952.[3][5]
• 1956: to Tarn Bassett; they had a daughter, Lucy, and divorced in 1967
• 1967: to Maggie Smith; they had two sons, the actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, and divorced in 1974.
• 1995: to Belfast-born Patricia Quinn (Lady Stephens; born 28 May 1944).

Death

Following years of ill health, he died on 12 November 1995 at the age of 64 due to complications during surgery,[9] eleven months after having been knighted.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	War and Peace	Officer Talking with Natasha	Uncredited
1960	A Circle of Deception	Captain Stein
1961	A Taste of Honey	Peter Smith
	Pirates of Tortuga	Henry Morgan
	The Queen's Guards	Henry Wynne-Walton
	Lunch Hour	The Man
1962	The Inspector	Dickens	Released as Lisa in USA
1963	The Small World of Sammy Lee	Gerry Sullivan
	Cleopatra	Germanicus
1966	Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment	Charles Napier
1968	Romeo and Juliet	The Prince of Verona
1969	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie	Teddy Lloyd
1970	The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes	Sherlock Holmes
1972	The Asphyx	Sir Hugo Cunningham
	Travels with My Aunt	Ercole Visconti
1974	Luther	Johan Von Eck
1977	The Duellists	General Treillard
	At Night All Cats Are Crazy	Charles Watson
1978	The Shout	Chief Medical Officer
1981	The Games of Countess Dolingen	The Professor
1983	Ill Fares the Land
1986	Comrades	Frampton
1987	High Season	Konstantinis
	Empire of the Sun	Mr Lockwood
1988	American Roulette	Screech
	The Fruit Machine	Vincent
	Ada in the Jungle	Lord Gordon
	Testimony	Vsevolod Meyerhold
1989	Henry V	Auncient Pistol
1990	Wings of Fame	Merrick
	The Bonfire of the Vanities	Sir Gerald Moore
	The Children	Azariah Dobree
1991	The Pope Must Die	The Camarlengo
	Ferdydurke	Prof. Pimco	Alternative title: 30 Door Key
	Afraid of the Dark	Dan Burns
1992	Chaplin	Ted the Drunk
1993	Searching for Bobby Fischer	Poe's teacher
	The Secret Rapture	Max Lopert
	Century	Mr Reisner
1995	England, My England	John Dryden	(final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Nom-de-Plume	John	Episode: The Counting House Clerk
1964	Channing	Paddy Riordan	Episode: A Bang and a Whimper
	First Night	Arnold Claybill	Episode: The Improbable Mr Claybill
1971	The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes	Max Carrados	Episode: The Missing Witness Sensation
1974	QB VII	Robert Highsmith	TV miniseries, 3 episodes
1978	Holocaust	Uncle Kurt Dorf	TV miniseries, 4 episodes
1982	Anyone for Denis?	Schubert	TV Movie
1983	Studio	Lyndsay	7 episodes
1984	The Box of Delights	Abner Brown	6 episodes, recurring role
	Fortunes of War	Bill Castlebar	3 episodes
1985	By the Sword Divided	Sir Ralph Winter
1986	Hell's Bells	Bishop Godfrey Hethercote	6 episodes
1987	Inspector Morse	Sir Wilfred Mulryne	Episode: The Settling of the Sun
1988-1989	War and Remembrance	SS Sturmbannführer Karl Rahm	TV mini series, 3 episodes
1989	South Bank Show[10]	Raymond Chandler	TV arts series, 1 episode, dramatised readings
1990	The Storyteller: Greek Myths	Hades	1 episode
1994-1995	99-1	Commander Oakwood	7 episode

References

1. Benedick, Adam (14 November 1995). "Obituary: Sir Robert Stephens". The Independent. p. 18. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
2. https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-60387
3. Stephens, Robert; Coveney, Michael (1995). Knight Errant. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 11–15. ISBN 978-0-340-64970-1.
4. "Epitaph for George Dillon – Broadway Play – Original - IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
5. Coveney, Michael (2004). "Stephens, Sir Robert Graham (1931–1995)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60387.
6. Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 269. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
7. Piers Torday (30 November 2017). "Long before Harry Potter, The Box of Delights remade children's fantasy". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
8. "RSC performance database". The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Archive Catalogue. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
9. Benedict Nightingalenov (14 November 1995). "Sir Robert Stephens, British Actor, Dies at 64". The New York Times.
10. Champlin, Charles (16 November 1989). "TV REVIEW : Clues to Chandler's Troubled Life". Los Angeles Times.

Bibliography

• Stephens, Robert; Coveney, Michael. (1995). Knight Errant. Hodder and Stoughton
• Stevens, Christopher. (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. John Murray
• McFarlane, Brian. (2005). The Encyclopaedia of British Film. Methuen, 2nd edition

External links

• Robert Stephens at Find a Grave
• Robert Stephens on IMDb
• Robert Stephens at the Internet Broadway Database
• Robert Stephens at screenonline
• Portraits of Stephens at the National Portrait Gallery