Nigel Patrick

Nigel Patrick
Born Nigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman
(1912-05-02)2 May 1912
Clapham, London, England
Died 21 September 1981(1981-09-21) (aged 69)
London, England
Occupation Actor/director/stage manager/writer
Years active 1932–81
Spouse(s) Beatrice Campbell (1951–79) (her death) 2 children
Awards Zulueta Award – Best Actor
1960 The League of Gentlemen

Nigel Patrick (born Nigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman; 2 May 1912 – 21 September 1981) was an English actor and stage director born into a theatrical family.

Biography

Patrick was born in London, England, the son of actress Dorothy Turner[1] (d. 1969). He made his professional stage debut in The Life Machine at the Regent Theatre, King's Cross in 1932 following a period in repertory. Thereafter he appeared in many successful plays including the long-running George and Margaret at the Wyndham's Theatre which ran for 799 performances.

His film career was put on hold until after service in World War II during which, as a Lieutenant Colonel in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, he fought in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy.

During the late 1940s and 1950s he became a popular, debonair leading man in British film with notable success in The Sound Barrier (1952), under the direction of David Lean. Exhibitors voted him the seventh most popular British film star with the public in 1952.[2] Patrick later appeared in The League of Gentlemen (1960) and Sapphire (1959), winner of Best British Film at the 1960 BAFTA Film Awards.

In the 1960s he made a strong return to the theatre, occupying the dual role of actor/director in numerous West End productions including a revival of the Noël Coward work Present Laughter at the Queen's Theatre (1965) and Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking (1967) at the Duke of York's Theatre.

He married the actress Beatrice Campbell at St James's Roman Catholic Church, Spanish Place, Marylebone, London on 12 January 1951. She predeceased him in 1979 and he died two years later from lung cancer on 21 September 1981.

Filmography

As an actor

As a director

As a writer

As a narrator

Theatre credits

As an actor

  • The Life Machine (1932)
  • Half a Crown (1934)
  • Ringmaster (1935)
  • Roulette (1935)
  • The Lady of La Paz (1936)
  • Madmoiselle (1936)
  • George & Margaret (1937)
  • Tony Draws a Horse (1939)
  • Children to Bless You (1939)
  • Fools Rush In (1946)
  • To-morrow's Child (1946)
  • Noose (1947)
  • Who Goes There! (1951)
  • Escapade (1953)

  • Birthday Honours (1953)
  • Green Room Rags (1954)
  • The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1955)
  • The Egg (1957)
  • Pleasure of His Company (1959)
  • Settled Out of Court (1960)
  • The Schoolmistress (1964)
  • Present Laughter (1965)
  • Best of Friends (1970)
  • Reunion in Vienna (1971)
  • Habeas Corpus (1974)
  • The Pay Off (1974)
  • Dear Daddy (1976)
  • Peter Pan (1978)

As a director/stage manager

  • No Way to Kill (1958)
  • Not in the Book (1958)
  • Pleasure of His Company (1959)
  • Settled Out of Court (1960)
  • Past Imperfect (1964)
  • Present Laughter (1965)
  • Relatively Speaking (1967)
  • The Others (1967)
  • Avanti! (1968)
  • Out of the Question (1968)
  • Trio (1969)
  • Three (1970)
  • The Pay Off (1974)
  • Suite in Two Keys (1978)
  • The Last of Mrs Cheyney (1980)

Television

  • Morning Departure (1946) as Lt-Cmdr. Stanford
  • Zero One (1962–65) as Alan Garnett
  • Looks Familiar
  • It Takes a Thief – "Flowers from Alexander" (1969)
  • Sunday Night Thriller – "Blunt Instrument" (1981) as Hugh Logan (Last appearance)

References

  1. "Dorothy Turner with Laurence Olivier at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, 1927". Birmingham City Council Information Services
  2. "COMEDIAN TOPS FILM POLL.". The Sunday Herald (Sydney, NSW : 1949 – 1953). Sydney, NSW: National Library of Australia. 28 December 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
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