Simon Callow

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Simon Callow
Born June 15, 1949 (1949-06-15) (age 59)
Streatham, London, England
Occupation Actor

Simon Phillip Hugh Callow, CBE (born 15 June 1949[1]) is an English stage, film and television actor.

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[edit] Biography

[edit] Career

Callow made his stage debut in 1973 with The Thrie Estates, Assembly Hall Theatre, Edinburgh.

He was an established stage actor before making his first film appearance in Amadeus in 1984 (having played Mozart in the original stage production at the Royal National Theatre). His first television role was in Carry On Laughing episode Orgy and Bess, in 1975, but it was apparently 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 than his many critically acclaimed stage appearances.

At the same time, Callow was successful both as a director and as a writer. 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. At a time when subsidised theatre in the UK was under severe pressure from the Thatcher government, the work's original appearance caused a minor controversy. In 1995 he directed a stage version of the classic French film Les Enfants du Paradis (known as Children of Paradise in the United States) for the RSC. Unfortunately, the production was not a success. Callow has also directed opera productions.

One of Callow's best-known books is Love Is Where It Falls, a poignant analysis of his eleven-year relationship with Peggy Ramsay (1908-91), a prominent British theatrical agent from the 1960s to the 1980s. He has also written extensively about Charles Dickens, whom he has played in a one-man show, in the film Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale, 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.

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 No4 was commissioned by Callow especially for Cantabile. 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 audio book of Robert Fagles' 2006 translation of Virgil's The Aeneid.

From 11 July 2008 to 3 August, Callow will appear at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada in his new one man show There Reigns Love, a play about the poetry of William Shakespeare.[2] In February 2008, he played the psychiatrist in Chichester Festival Theatre's production of Peter Shaffer's Equus.

He has also written biographies of Orson Welles and Charles Laughton. 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). He also was the reader of several abridged PG Wodehouse, Jeeves books including "Very Good, Jeeves" and "Aunts Aren't Gentlemen", he was particularly good at these books adopting just the perfect tone.

[edit] Personal life

Callow was born in Streatham, London, England, the son of secretary Yvonne Mary (née Guise) and businessman Neil Francis Callow.[3] He attended the London Oratory School and then went on to study at the Queen's University of Belfast before giving up his degree course to go into acting at the Drama Centre in London.

Callow is one of the most prominent gay actors in Britain, listed 28th in the Independent's 2007 listing of the most influential gay men and women in the UK.[4] In 1999 he was awarded the CBE for his services to acting.

Callow's domestic partner is director Daniel Kramer. They share a house in Camden, North London.[5]

He was one of the first actors publicly to declare his homosexuality, doing so in his 1984 book Being An Actor. (In another he revealed his platonic affair with the theatrical agent Peggy Ramsay who was 40 years his senior.) 'I'm not really an activist', he says, '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.'

Simon Callow: Laughter in the dark, interview[6]The Independent 2004

[edit] Selected credits

[edit] Films

Year Title Character Production
1984 Amadeus Emanuel Schikaneder/Papageno
1985 The Good Father Mark Varda
A Room with a View The Reverend Mr. Beebe Merchant Ivory Film
1987 Maurice Mr. Ducie Merchant Ivory Film
1988 Manifesto Police Chief Hunt
1990 Postcards from the Edge Simon Asquith
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge Dr. Alex Sauer Merchant Ivory Film
1991 The Ballad of the Sad Cafe director only Merchant Ivory Film
1991 Howards End Music and Meaning Lecturer (cameo) Merchant Ivory Film
1992 Soft Top Hard Shoulder Eddie Cherdowski
1994 Four Weddings and a Funeral Gareth
Street Fighter A.N. Official
1995 England, My England Charles II
Victory Zangiacomo
Jefferson in Paris Richard Cosway Merchant Ivory Film
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls Vincent Cadby
1996 James and the Giant Peach Grasshopper (voice)
1998 The Scarlet Tunic Captain Fairfax
Bedrooms and Hallways Keith
Shakespeare in Love Sir Edmund Tilney
1999 Around the World in 80 Days Phileas Fogg (voice)
Junk
2001 No Man's Land Soft
2002 Thunderpants Sir John Osgood
Merci Docteur Rey Bob Merchant Ivory Film
2003 Bright Young Things King of Anatolia
2004 George and the Dragon King Edgar
The Phantom of the Opera Andre
2005 Rag Tale Fat Boy
The Civilization of Maxwell Bright Mr. Wroth
Bob the Butler Mr. Butler
2006 Sabina Eugene Bleuler
2007 Chemical Wedding Professor Haddo/Aleister Crowley
Arn – The Knight Templar Father Henry

[edit] Television

Date Title Character Broadcaster
2007 The Company Elihu Turner Network Television
2007 How Gay Sex Changed the World[7] Himself Channel 4
2007 Derren Brown - Trick or Treat: Episode 4 Guest
2006 Midsomer Murders: Dead Letters Doctor BBC
2005 Rome Publius Servilius BBC
2005 Doctor Who - The Unquiet Dead Charles Dickens BBC
2004 Shoebox Zoo Wolfgang the Wolf BBC Scotland
2003 Angels in America Prior Walter Ancestor #2 Avenue Pictures Productions
2001 Don't Eat The Neighbours Fox & Bear CITV
1998 Trial & Retribution II Rupert Halliday La Plante Productions
1996 An Audience With Charles Dickens 1996, Ambassador Theatre, London Charles Dickens BBC
1994 Little Napoleons Edward Feathers Channel 4
1986 Dead Head Hugo Silver BBC
1984 Chance in a Million Tom Chance Channel 4

[edit] Bibliography of works

  • Callow, Simon (2003). Dickens' Christmas: a Victorian celebration. ISBN 0711220085. 
  • Callow, Simon (1991). Acting in Restoration Comedy. Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers. ISBN 1-55783-119-X. 

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Who's Who 2007
  2. ^ Stratford Shakespeare Festival - There Reigns Love. Stratford Festival. Retrieved on 2008-02-05.
  3. ^ Simon Callow Biography (1949-)
  4. ^ http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1153578.ece|title= Independent, 18th October 2007
  5. ^ Wolf, Matt (2006-11-21). An American's bravura on the London stage. Herald Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
  6. ^ Sholto, Byrnes (2004-04-26). Simon Callow: Laughter in the dark. The Independent. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.
  7. ^ 40 Years On. Channel 4. Retrieved on 2008-01-26.

[edit] External links