Sir Donald Wolfe is an English actor-manager, famous for his touring of Shakespeare's war productions. Fans remembered most of all in the role of King Lear.
Biography and personal life
Donald Wolfe (Wolfe) was born on April 20, 1902 in New Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. Educated at the High School of the English Church of Magnus.
During his life, Donald Woolfit was married three times. The first wife is the actress Chris Castor, the daughter from the marriage with whom Margaret Wolfe (1929-2008) later also became an actress. From his second marriage, Donald also received two children: his daughter Harriet Graham, who later became an actress and children's writer, and the son of Adam Wolfe, who later became a photographer.
In 1950, Wolfe was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to the Theater and knighted in 1957.
Donald Wolfith was an active Freemason throughout his life. In 1965 he became the Master of the Green Room Lodge.
Died Sir Wolfeet February 17, 1968
Career
Wolfe's debut on stage as an actor took place in 1920. But he found a permanent job as an actor only in 1924 on the stage of the West End Theater in the production of The Wandering Jew.
In 1930, he transferred to the Old Vic Theater, in which he began to play leading roles. Donald played his first major role in the production of Richard Bordeaux with John Gielgud. But Wolfe received widespread fame only in 1936 after playing the role of Hamlet on the stage of the Shakespeare Memorial Theater.
By this time, he had long persuaded the theater management to fund his tour of the provinces, but they constantly refused to do so. As a result, in 1937, Donald Wolfith removes all his savings and starts his own touring company, which he subsequently spent many more years.
Shakespeare Theater
Donald Wolfith specialized exclusively in the works of the English playwright William Shakespeare. The greatest fame was brought to him by performances in the roles of King Lear and Richard III. In addition, Donald played the roles of Oedipus, starring Ben Johnson in Volpone and Christopher Marlowe in Tamerlane.
Wolfith's touring group performed in London during the Battle of Britain in 1940. And during World War II, Donald produced and directed a highly successful series of abridged versions of Shakespeare's plays. These plays were staged throughout the Second World War in London during the afternoon during lunchtime for audiences in military production and for the British military on vacation.
In January 1942, in agreement with Lionel L. Falk, Donald Wolfe presented the play Richard the Third at the Strand Theater (now the Novelo Theater) in London. Wolfe played King Richard. The productions also featured Eric Maxson as King Edward the Fourth and Frank Thornton as Sir William Catesby.
In 1947, Woolfith began to focus on Broadway theaters, but was unexpectedly unpopular with American critics.
In the 1950s, he played the role of King Lear on the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, was subsequently invited to play Falstaff for the RSC in 1962, but turned down this offer after he learned that Paul Scofield would play King Lear there with him … “The role of King Lear is still the brightest jewel in my crown! I can’t allow anyone else to play this role,”Donald said at the time.
One of the most famous theater critics at the time, Edith Sitwell, wrote about Wolfeet: "The cosmic greatness of King Lear performed by Wolfe makes us unable to speak … all conceivable lights and all light is concentrated in this role."
Wolfeet's last stage performance was in the musical Robert and Elizabeth (1966-1967) as the overbearing Mr. Barrett.
Creativity in cinema and radio
Despite the fact that Wolfeet's vocation was theater, he managed to star in more than thirty films. The most famous films with his participation are:
- Svengali (1954 film);
- Vampire Blood (1958);
- The Room Upstairs (1959);
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962);
- Beckett (1964).
The last two films with Donald's "Fall and Fall … Bird Watcher" (1968) and "Brigade of the Light Brigade" (1968) were released after the death of Wolfe.
Sir Wolfeet has also worked extensively for the BBC, acting as King John and Volpont on television, and as Lear, Falstaff and Richerd III for radio broadcasts. Has played roles in contemporary productions, such as the role of Archie Rice in The Entertainer.
Death
Sir Donald Wolfeet died on February 17, 1968 at the age of 65. The cause of death is cardiovascular disease. It happened in Hammersmith, London.
Heritage
Ronald Harwood, who was once a student and first assistant to Wolfe, later wrote his own play, Dresser, which later became film and television films. The plot of this play was about his relationship with Wolfe.
Harwood also wrote and published a biography of Sir Donald Wolfe.
Peter O'Toole, who has worked with Wolfeet in several films and has devoted his entire life to cinema, considers Wolfeet to be his most important mentor in the profession.
Wolfitt also strongly influenced the early acting career of Harold Pinter, who worked with Donald Wolfith at the Theater Royal in Hammersmith from 1953-1954 and played eight roles with him.
For a long time, Wolfeith harbored hatred and hostility towards John Gielgud due to the fact that the latter graduated only from high school and did not have an acting education, as well as due to the fact that Gielgud was not shy about using family ties in the theater.
Actor Leslie French recalled these two men, contrasting them to each other: “John Gielgud was a very gentle man, very caring and with a great sense of humor. Donald Wolfith was a complex man, a terrible actor with no sense of humor, who believed he was the greatest in the world. One day John and I were called for an encore in front of the curtain. Donald fell to the floor in tears, because the audience did not call him for an encore.
The documents of Donald Wolfe and his first wife Chris Castor have been preserved forever at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin as part of the vast UK performing arts foundation. These documents include: Donald's operating books, management records, travel schedules, working papers, scene and costume designs, extensive correspondence, and more.
The Harry Ransome Center also houses a small collection of costumes and personal belongings from Wolfe and his company actors, Sir Donald Woolfith's certificate of appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and the Rosalind Eden dress worn by Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing.
