Simon Callow

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow CBE[1] (born 15 June 1949) is an English actor, writer, theatre and opera director.

Simon Callow CBE
Callow in London, October 2009
Born	Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (1949-06-15) 15 June 1949 Streatham, London, England
Occupation	Actor, director, writer
Years active	1973–present
Spouse(s)	Sebastian Fox ( m. 2016)

Callow in 1989

Early years

Callow was born in Streatham, London, the son of Yvonne Mary (née Guise), a secretary, and Neil Francis Callow, a businessman.[2] His father was of English and French descent and his mother was of Danish and German ancestry.[3] He was raised as a Roman Catholic.[3] Callow was educated at the London Oratory School and then went on to study at Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland where he was active in the Northern Ireland civil rights movement, before giving up his degree course to train at the Drama Centre London.[4]

Career

Callow's immersion in the theatre began after he wrote a fan letter to Sir Laurence Olivier, the Artistic Director of the National Theatre, and received a response suggesting he join their box office staff. It was while watching actors rehearse that he realised he wanted to act.[5]

Callow made his stage debut in 1973, appearing in The Thrie Estates at the Assembly Rooms Theatre, Edinburgh. In the early 1970s, he joined the Gay Sweatshop theatre company and performed in Martin Sherman's critically acclaimed Passing By.[6][7] In 1977, he took various parts in the Joint Stock Theatre Company's production of Epsom Downs and in 1979, he starred in Snoo Wilson's The Soul of the White Ant at the Soho Poly.[8]

Callow appeared as Verlaine in Total Eclipse (1982), Lord Foppington in The Relapse (1983) and the title role in Faust (1988) at the Lyric Hammersmith, where he also directed The Infernal Machine (with Maggie Smith) in 1986.[9] In 1985, he played Molina in The Kiss of the Spiderwoman at the Bush Theatre, London.[9] He played Mozart in the premiere of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus at the National Theatre (1979), also appearing in the 1983 BBC original cast radio production.[9] He later wrote of having "discovered Mozart quite early: the operas, the symphonies, the concertos, the wind serenades were all very much part of my musical landscape when I was asked to play the part of the composer in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus; possibly this was one of the reasons I got the job."[10] He also appeared at the National Theatre as Orlando in As You Like It (1979) and Fulganzio in Galileo (1980).[9]

He made his first film appearance, as Schikaneder, in Amadeus in 1984, the following year, he appeared as the Reverend Mr. Beebe in A Room with a View. His first television role was in Carry On Laughing episode "Orgy and Bess", in 1975, but it was cut from the final print. He starred in several series of the Channel 4 situation comedy Chance in a Million, as Tom Chance, an eccentric individual to whom coincidences happened regularly. Roles like this and his part in Four Weddings and a Funeral brought him a wider audience.

Callow also directed plays and wrote, his Being An Actor (1984) was a critique of 'director dominated' theatre, in addition to containing autobiographical sections relating to his early career as an actor. In 1992, he directed the play Shades by Sharman MacDonald and the musical My Fair Lady featuring costumes designed by Jasper Conran.[11] In 1995, he directed a stage version of the classic French film Les Enfants du Paradis for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

Among opera productions directed by Callow are a Così fan tutte in Lucerne, Die Fledermaus for Scottish Opera in 1988,[12] Il tritico for the Broomhill Trust, Kent in August 1995,[13] Menotti's The Consul at Holland Park Opera, London in 1999 and Le roi malgré lui by Chabrier at Grange Park Opera in 2003.[14] He also directed Carmen Jones at the Old Vic, London in 1991, with Wilhelmenia Fernandez in the title role.[15]

One of Callow's best-known books is Love Is Where It Falls, an analysis of his eleven-year relationship with Peggy Ramsay (1980–91), a prominent British theatrical agent from the 1960s to the 1980s. He has also written extensively about Charles Dickens, whom he has played several times: in a one-man show, The Mystery of Charles Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; in the films Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale and Christmas Carol: The Movie; and on television several times including An Audience with Charles Dickens (BBC, 1996) and in "The Unquiet Dead", a 2005 episode of the BBC science-fiction series Doctor Who. He returned to Doctor Who for the 2011 season finale, again taking the role of Dickens.[16]

Callow appeared with Saeed Jaffrey in 1994 British television series Little Napoleons. In 1996, Callow directed Cantabile in three musical pieces (Commuting, The Waiter's Revenge, Ricercare No. 4) composed by his friend Stephen Oliver. Ricercare No. 4 was commissioned by Callow especially for Cantabile. He voice-acted the sly and traitorous Wolfgang in Shoebox Zoo. In 2004, he appeared on a Comic Relief episode of Little Britain for charity causes. In 2006, he wrote a piece for the BBC1 programme This Week bemoaning the lack of characters in modern politics. He has starred as Count Fosco, the villain of Wilkie Collins's novel The Woman in White, in film (1997) and on stage (2005, in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in the West End).

In December 2004, he hosted the London Gay Men's Chorus Christmas Show, Make the Yuletide Gay at the Barbican Centre in London. He is currently one of the patrons of the Michael Chekhov Studio London. Callow narrated the audiobook of Robert Fagles' 2006 translation of Virgil's The Aeneid.

In July 2006, the London Oratory School Schola announced Callow as one of their new patrons. In November 2007, he threatened to resign the post over controversy surrounding the Terrence Higgins Trust (an AIDS charity of which Callow is also a patron). Other patrons of the Catholic choir are Princess Michael of Kent and the leading Scottish composer James MacMillan. He reprised his role as Wolfgang in Shoebox Zoo and voice-acted the wild and action-seeking Hunter as well.

In 2007, he portrayed the role of Pliny the Elder in CBBC's children's drama series, Roman Mysteries in the episodes The Secrets of Vesuvius.

From 11 July to 3 August 2008, Callow appeared at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada in There Reigns Love, a performance of the sonnets of William Shakespeare[17] and also in 2008, he appeared at the Edinburgh Festival performing "Dr Marigold" and "Mr Chops" by Charles Dickens, adapted and directed by Patrick Garland; repeating them from December 2009 to January 2010 at the Riverside Studios and on tour in 2011.

In February 2008, he played the psychiatrist in Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Peter Shaffer's Equus.

Between March and August 2009, he played Pozzo in Sean Mathias's production of Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett with Ian McKellen as Estragon, and Patrick Stewart as Vladimir and Ronald Pickup as Lucky. The production toured Britain before a run at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London

In November 2009, "Mini Stories", a recording by the Caput Ensemble of Haflidi Hallgrimsson's settings of the surreal poetry of Daniil Kharms, featuring Callow as the narrator was released by Hyperion records.[18]

From June to November 2010, he appeared in a national tour of a new one-man play, Shakespeare: the Man from Stratford, written by Jonathan Bate, directed by Tom Cairns and produced by the Ambassador Theatre Group. The play was renamed Being Shakespeare for its West End debut at the Trafalgar Studios where it opened on 15 June 2011. It was revived at the same theatre in March 2012, prior to a run in New York City and Chicago. In March 2014, it returned to the West End, this time at the Harold Pinter Theatre.[19]

In October 2014, Callow appeared in a comedy sketch made for Channel 4's The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night to raise awareness of testicular cancer. The same year he played the recurring role of the fictional Duke of Sandringham in the Starz period TV series, Outlander.[20]

Callow has also written biographies of Oscar Wilde, Charles Laughton and Orson Welles. He is currently at work on the fourth volume of the life of Welles. He has also written an anthology of Shakespeare passages, Shakespeare on Love, and contributed to Cambridge's Actors on Shakespeare series. Callow was also the reader of The Twits and The Witches in the Puffin Roald Dahl Audio Books Collection (ISBN 978-0-140-92255-4) and has done audio versions of several abridged P.G. Wodehouse books that feature, among others, the fictional character Jeeves. They include Very Good, Jeeves and Aunts Aren't Gentlemen. Callow is the reader of the audio book edition of William E. Wallace’s Michelangelo, God’s Architect, published by Princeton University Press.[21]

A devotee of classical music, he has contributed articles to Gramophone magazine.

Callow starred in 3-part original Gold comedy The Rebel in 2016.[22]

Personal life

Callow was listed 28th in The Independent's 2007 listing of the most influential gay men and women in the UK.[23] In 1999, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to acting.[24] He was one of the first actors to declare his homosexuality publicly, doing so in his 1984 book Being An Actor.

He married Sebastian Fox in June 2016.[25][26]

In an interview, Callow stated:

I'm not really an activist, although I am aware that there are some political acts one can do that actually make a difference and I think my coming out as a gay man was probably one of the most valuable things I've done in my life. I don't think any actor had done so voluntarily and I think it helped to change the culture.[27]

In August 2014, Callow was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.[28]

Filmography

Film

See also: List of actors who have appeared in multiple Best Picture Academy Award winners

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1984	Amadeus	Emanuel Schikaneder / Papageno
1985	The Good Father	Mark Varda
1985	A Room with a View	The Reverend Mr. Beebe	Nominated – BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1987	Maurice	Mr. Ducie
1981	Manifesto	Police Chief
1990	Postcards from the Edge	Simon Asquith
1990	Mr. & Mrs. Bridge	Dr. Alex Sauer
1991	The Ballad of the Sad Cafe		Director Nominated – Golden Berlin Bear
1991	Howards End	Music and Meaning Lecturer	Cameo
1992	Soft Top Hard Shoulder	Eddie Cherdowski
1994	Four Weddings and a Funeral	Gareth	Nominated – BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1994	Street Fighter	A.N. Official
1995	England, My England	Charles II
1995	Victory	Zangiacomo
1995	Jefferson in Paris	Richard Cosway
1995	Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls	Vincent Cadby
1996	James and the Giant Peach	Mr. Grasshopper	Voice
1998	The Scarlet Tunic	Captain Fairfax
1998	Bedrooms and Hallways	Keith
1998	Shakespeare in Love	Sir Edmund Tilney	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1999	Around the World in 80 Days	Phileas Fogg	Voice
1999	Junk
2001	No Man's Land	Colonel Soft
2001	Christmas Carol: The Movie	Ebenezer Scrooge
2002	Thunderpants	Sir John Osgood
2002	Merci Docteur Rey	Bob
2003	Bright Young Things	King of Anatolia
2004	George and the Dragon	King Edgar
2004	The Phantom of the Opera	Andre
2005	Rag Tale	Fat Boy Rourke
2005	The Civilization of Maxwell Bright	Mr. Wroth
2005	Bob the Butler	Mr. Butler
2006	Sabina	Eugene Bleuler
2007	Chemical Wedding	Professor Haddo / Aleister Crowley
2007	Arn - The Knight Templar	Father Henry
2011	No Ordinary Trifle	Guy Witherspoon
2012	Acts of Godfrey	Godfrey
2014	Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles	Himself
2016	Golden Years	Royston
2016	Viceroy's House	Cyril Radcliffe
2016	Mindhorn	Himself	Cameo
2017	Hampstead	The Judge
2017	Victoria & Abdul	Giacomo Puccini
2017	The Man Who Invented Christmas	John Leech
2018	Blue Iguana	Uncle Martin

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Get Some In!	Wally
1976	The Sweeney	Detective Sergeant
1981 1981	The Man of Destiny W.H.Auden Monologue	Napoleon W.H.Auden
1984	Chance in a Million	Tom Chance
1986	Dead Head	Hugo Silver
1986	David Copperfield	Mr Micawber
1987	Inspector Morse	Theodore Kemp	Episode: "The Wolvercote Tongue"
1990	Old Flames	Nathaniel Quass
1993	Femme Fatale	Vicar Ronnie
1994	Little Napoleons	Edward Feathers
1996	An Audience With Charles Dickens	Charles Dickens
1995	El pasajero clandestino	Major Owens
1997	The Woman in White	Count Fosco
1998	Trial & Retribution II	Rupert Halliday
2000	The Mystery of Charles Dickens	Charles Dickens	Television film
2001	Don't Eat the Neighbours	Fox & Bear
2002	NOVA: Galileo's Battle for the Heavens	Galileo	Documentary
2003	Angels in America	Prior Walter ancestor 2	Miniseries
2004	Shoebox Zoo	Wolfgang the Wolf Hunter the Horse
2004	Agatha Christie's Marple	Colonel Terence Melchett	Episode: "The Body in the Library"
2005	Rome	Publius Servilius
2005, 2011	Doctor Who	Charles Dickens	Episodes: "The Unquiet Dead", "The Wedding of River Song"
2006	Midsomer Murders	Dr. Richard Wellow	Episode: "Dead Letters"
2006	Classical Destinations	Narrator[29]
2007	Roman Mysteries	Pliny the Elder	Episodes: "The Secrets of Vesuvius"
2007	The Company	Elihu
2007	How Gay Sex Changed the World	Himself[30]
2007	Trick or Treat	Himself	1 episode
2008	The Mr. Men Show	Narrator
2009	Lewis	Vernon Oxe	Episode: "Counter Culture Blues"
2009	The Sarah Jane Adventures	Tree Blathereen	Voice Episode: "The Gift"
2011	This is Jinsy	Threcker	Episode: "Nameworm"
2011	Popstar to Operastar	Himself
2011	Jamie's Dream School	Himself
2013	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Dr. Heinrich Lutz	Episode: "The Labours of Hercules"
2014–2016	Outlander	The Duke of Sandringham	5 episodes in seasons 1 and 2
2014	Plebs	Victor	Episode: "The Candidate"
2014	The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night	Himself
2015	Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway	Guest in The End of The Show Show	Season 12, episode 2
2016	Galavant	Edwin the Fortuneteller	Episode "World's Best Kiss"
2016	The Rebel	Henry Palmer	Lead character
2016	The Life of Rock with Brian Pern	Bennett St John	Series 3, episode 3
2017	Midsomer Murders	Vernon De Harthog	Episode: "The Curse of the Ninth"
2018	Death in Paradise	Larry South	Series 7, episode 3
2018	A Christmas Carol	Narrator/Actor	BBC4
2018	The Dead Room	Aubrey Judd	BBC4

Bibliography

• Callow, Simon (1986) [1984], Being an Actor, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-312-07276-6, OCLC 13092196
• Callow, Simon (1991), Acting in Restoration Comedy, The Applause acting series, Applause Theatre Books, ISBN 978-1-55783-119-4, OCLC 24218256
• Callow, Simon (1995), Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-03852-2, OCLC 32454874
• Callow, Simon (1997), Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor, Fromm International Pub, ISBN 978-0-88064-180-7, OCLC 36315809
• Callow, Simon (2000), The Night of the Hunter, BFI film classics., BFI Publishing, ISBN 978-0-85170-822-5, OCLC 59582358
• Callow, Simon (2003), Dickens' Christmas: A Victorian Celebration, Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 978-0-8109-4534-0, OCLC 51942509
• Callow, Simon (2003), Shooting the Actor, Picador, ISBN 978-0-312-42244-8, OCLC 52178208
• Callow, Simon (2006), Orson Welles: Volume 2: Hello Americans, Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0-224-03853-9, OCLC 63185891
• Callow, Simon (2007), Love Is Where It Falls, Nick Hern, ISBN 978-1-85459-976-6, OCLC 77258353
• Callow, Simon (2012), Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World, Vintage Books, ISBN 9780345803238
• Callow, Simon (2015), Orson Welles: Volume 3: One-Man Band, Jonathan Cape
• Callow, Simon (2017), Being Wagner, William Collins, ISBN 9780008105693

References

1. "Queen's Birthday Honours: The Full List". The Independent. 12 June 1999.
2. "Simon Callow Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
3. Lee, Luaine (30 October 2002). "Spending time in Africa shaped who Simon Callow is today". Star News. Wilmington, North Carolina: Google Newspapers. p. 9.
4. Jonathan Jones (30 September 2011). Saint Martins emerges blinking in bright new home. But is it art?: King's Cross premises a far cry from Soho 'hell', but some students fear college will have lost its charm. The Guardian. Accessed August 2013.
5. Fryer, Jonathan (24 March 2010). "Simon Callow Laid Bare". Jonathan Fryer. WordPress.
6. Church, Michael (20 June 1975). "Passing By". The Times. p. 13.
7. Callow, Simon (31 October 2008). "Sexual healing: From The Boys in the Band to Brokeback Mountain, gay roles in cinema have come a long way from their tortured beginnings". The Observer.
8. Snoo Wilson, Plays 1, Methuen 1999
9. Biographical note for Simon Callow in programme book for Faust at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 2 July 1988.
10. My Mozart : Simon Callow. Opera, January 2006, Vol.57, No.1, p35.
11. "My Fair Lady – Performing Arts". Jasper Conran. Archived from the original on 20 March 2013.
12. Monelle, Raymond. Review of Die Fledermaus at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Opera, December 1988, Vol.39 No.12, p1491-92.
13. Allison, John. II trittico and The Reluctant Highwayman, The Broomhill Trust. Opera, October 1995, Vol.46 No.10, p1233-35.
14. Maddocks, Fiona. "Le roi malgré lui: Grange Park Opera". Opera, September 2003, pp. 1130-31. For this production the dialogue was prepared by Callow from the original Ancelot play.
15. Milnes, Rodney. Review of Carmen Jones at the Old Vic. Opera, June 1991, Vol.42, No.6, p727-728.
16. "Doctor Who: Series 6 – 13. The Wedding of River Song". Radio Times. BBC Magazines.
17. "Stratford Shakespeare Festival – There Reigns Love". Stratford Festival. Archived from the original on 25 January 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2008.
18. ."Hallgrímsson: Mini Stories". Retrieved 18 September 2018.
19. "Being Shakespeare Official Website". Retrieved 27 May 2011.
20. "Scots-based Outlander TV show casts Simon Callow". The Scotsman. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
21. Michelangelo, God's Architect.
22. Guide, British Comedy. "The Rebel - Gold Sitcom - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
23. "Gay Power: The pink list". The Independent. 2 July 2006.
24. "Queen's Birthday Honours: The Full List". The Independent. 12 June 1999. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
25. "Simon Callow: 'Marriage is a remarkable thing to happen to someone at the age of 67'". The Times (Interview). Interviewed by Nick Curtis. 31 December 2016.
26. "Simon Callow on love and loss". RadioTimes (Interview). Interviewed by Michael Hodges. 20 July 2016.
27. Byrnes, Sholto (26 April 2004). "Simon Callow: Laughter in the dark". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 February 2010.
28. "Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories | Politics". The Guardian. theguardian.com. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2014.
29. "Simon Callow's Classical Destinations: Part 1 – Salzburg". Sky Arts. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011.
30. "40 Years On". Channel 4. Retrieved 26 January 2008.

External links

• Simon Callow at the Internet Broadway Database
• Selected performances in Bristol University Theatre Archive
• Simon Callow on IMDb
• Simon Callow's – MusicalTalk discussing his role as Captain Hook in Peter Pan at the Richmond Theatre, Christmas 2008.
• Simon Callow – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org, September 2006
• Simon Callow on BBC1's This Week
• theartsdesk Q&A: Simon Callow (2 October 2010)