Paul Scofield is the "Actor for All Seasons" who is best known for his brilliant performances in Shakespeare's plays. In addition to his roles, the actor is known for having refused the knighthood offered to him three times, stating that the usual prefix to the name "mister" is enough for him.
Biography
David Paul Scofield was born on January 21, 1922 in the small village of Hearstpeerpoint, near Brighton, South East England. His father was the director of a local elementary school.
At the age of twelve, Paul entered a boys' school in Brighton. In the second year of study, at the age of fourteen, he took part in the play "Romeo and Juliet". Scofield played the female lead. He was soon assigned the role of Rosalind in As You Like It. I had to put on a woman's wig again, this time a blond one. The first male Shakespearean role in the school theater was Prince Harry in Henry IV.
In 1935, Scofield first appeared on the professional stage - in the play "The Only Way" at the Brighton Theater Royal. But due to the war, the theater was closed. The studio was closed with him. Scofield moved to Westminster, where he managed to go to school at the London Mask Theater.
April 16, 1940 is considered a significant date by Scofield. On this day, he performed in Drinkwater's play "Abraham Lincoln" in two roles at once and, moreover, made his first remarks on the professional stage. They were the Third Clerk ("Yes sir") and the First Soldier ("Listen, sir"). In the fall of 1940, fierce bombing of London began. The school was evacuated to Bideford. Here the student repertory theater developed a vigorous activity. The next period in the creative biography of Scofield was touring. He passes from troupe to troupe, performs in the English provinces. Scofield's first real role can be considered the role of Horatio in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Birmingham Repertory Theater. Since then, Scofield has become one of the most subtle and revered actors of the classical repertoire, preferring in-depth intellectual introspection and noble restraint to the declamatory style.
In the fall of 1945, Sir Jackson Barry, appointed director of the Stratford Memorial Shakespeare Theater, invited Scofield to his place.
In 1947 Paul Scofields played Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (directed by Brook), Mephistopheles in The Tragic History of Faust by Marlowe, Sir Andrew Aiguchik in Twelfth Night and Pericles in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. The third festival brought Scofield the role of Hamlet.
The 1948 Stratford "Hamlet" generated a lot of coverage in the English press. Well-known critics spoke kindly about the work of the young Scofield, noting that the actor had unused reserves at his disposal. In October 1948, Scofield said goodbye to the Shakespeare Memorial Theater. At the initiative of Peter Brook, he was included in the Tennent Troupe.
And in 1955 Hamlet, in every action, in every gesture, in every word, the actor was absolutely consistent and logical. Hence the feeling of complete naturalness. Not all critics liked this new Scofield Hamlet.
In January 1962, when Scofield was forty years old, he plays King Lear. The play "King Lear" directed by Peter Brook can be safely attributed to the highest achievements of the English theater of the 1960s
The actor has 48 films in total. The first film. which starred Scofield in 1950 was called "BBC Sunday Night Theater". The last film of 2001 is "Kurosawa".
Selected roles in theater and cinema
- 1955 - "This Lady" - Philip II, King of Spain.
- 1958 - "And Proudly Write Her Name" - Tony Fraser.
- 1964 - "Train" - Colonel von Waldheim.
- 1966 - "Man for All Seasons" - Thomas More.
- 1970 - "Bartleby" - Defendant.
- 1970 - "Nijinsky: Unfinished Project" - Diaghilev.
- 1971 - "King Lear" - King Lear.
- 1973 - "Scorpion" - Zharkov, KGB super agent.
- 1973 - "Precarious Equilibrium" (Subtle Equilibrium).
- 1980 - "The Curse of Tutankhamun's Tomb" - Narrator.
- 1985 - Anna Karenina - Karenin.
- 1989 - "When the whales come."
- 1989 - "Henry V" - Charles VI of France.
- 1990 - "Hamlet" - The Ghost.
- 1996 - "Little Riders".
- 1996 - "Cruel Trial" - Judge Thomas Dunfordt.
Awards
The famous Paul Scofield has awards: Golden Globe (1967), BAFTA (1956, 1968, 1997). Scofield won the 1967 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons. Paul Scofield is also known for being knighted three times in a row by the Queen of England.
Personal life
The actor's wife is Joy Parker. Paul Scofield met her in 1944, at a young age, they were colleagues on the stage. Martin, their son has a good education, graduated from Oxford University, and later became a professor. And daughter Sarah is an excellent horseback rider, and they used to often ride horses together in rural England. Scofield lived his whole life in Sussex and did not want to change his fiefdom to Hollywood, although he was offered to do this more than once, apparently, he was afraid to damage his well-established personal life - he lived with actress Joy Parker for more than sixty years.
March 19, 2008 Paul Scofieldomer at Sussex Hospital, UK at the age of 85. The cause of death was leukemia, from which he suffered for many years.
