Tony Haygarth

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Tony Haygarth
Born Anthony Haygarth
4 February 1945 (1945-02-04) (age 63)
Liverpool, England

Tony Haygarth is a British television, film and theatre actor born on 4 February 1945 in Liverpool. He is married with two daughters.

[edit] Career

At the age of eighteen, Haygarth worked unsuccessfully as a lifeguard in Torquay, and also tried escapology, equally unsuccessfully.[1] Other jobs included psychiatric nursing and he was an amateur actor before turning professional and appearing in repertory theatre, followed by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

Haygarth's first film role (as Anthony Haygarth) was in the comedy Percy in 1971, and since then he has played many roles in police and historical dramas, as well as situation comedies. He is normally cast as a solid, reliable character with a down-to-earth attitude. He played the title role in Kinvig (1981), a science-fiction comedy series produced by London Weekend Television and in 2005 appeared in the television adaptation of Under the Greenwood Tree. He also played leading character Vic Snow in the ITV series Where the Heart Is from 1997 to 2002.

His work in theatre includes The Tempest and Twelve Angry Men (1996), for both of which he was nominated for Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role; he is also the author of several plays. He won the Clarence Derwent Award for Simpatico (1995). His first play, "The Lie", dealt with the death of Shakespeare's rival Christopher Marlowe.[2]

His recent films include Chicken Run[3] (2000) and Fakers (2007); from May to August 2008 he will play Alfred Doolittle in the Old Vic's Production of Pygmalion.[4]

Haygarth is also a scholar of Shakespeare's Dark Lady, an unidentified character in the Sonnets.[5] He has analysed a Nicholas Hilliard portrait, Mistress Holland, concluding that it is in fact of Emilia Lanier, a candidate for the identity of The Dark Lady. His play Dark Meaning Mouse features Emilia, Shakespeare and Simon Forman.

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ Early career
  2. ^ The Lie
  3. ^ as the voice of Mr Tweedy
  4. ^ Pygmalion. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  5. ^ http://www.peterbassano.com/shakespeare The Dark Lady

Tony Haygarth at IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
Tony Haygarth at cinema.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
"Fakers" Cast. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
Full list of appearances. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
"Under the Greenwood Tree". Retrieved on 2007-12-13.