British actor
Kenneth Haigh
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Born
| Kenneth William Michael Haigh
(
1931-03-25
)
25 March 1931
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Died
| 4 February 2018
(2018-02-04)
(aged 86)
London, England
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Alma mater
| Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
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Occupation
| Actor
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Years active
| 1956?2003
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Spouse
|
Myrna Haigh
(
m.
1974;
div.
1985)
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Kenneth William Michael Haigh
(25 March 1931 ? 4 February 2018) was an English actor.
[1]
He first came to public recognition for playing the role of Jimmy Porter in the play
Look Back in Anger
in 1956 opposite
Mary Ure
in London's
West End theatre
. Haigh's performance in the role on stage was critically acclaimed as a prototype dramatic working-class
anti-hero
in post-
Second World War
English drama.
Early life
[
edit
]
Born in
Mexborough
,
West Riding of Yorkshire
, Haigh studied drama at the
Central School of Speech and Drama
, which at the time was based at the
Royal Albert Hall
in London.
[2]
Career
[
edit
]
He played the central role of Jimmy Porter in the premiere production of
John Osborne
's play
Look Back in Anger
in 1956 at the
Royal Court Theatre
. Haigh's performance in a 1958
Broadway theatre
production of that play so moved one young woman in the audience that she mounted the stage and slapped him in mid-performance.
[3]
For
the film version
released in 1959, he was passed over in favour of
Richard Burton
. Coincidentally, Haigh went on to portray the explorer and adventurer
Richard Francis Burton
in the
BBC
production of
The Search for the Nile
. He also briefly appeared in
the Beatles
' film
A Hard Day's Night
(1964), uncredited.
[4]
His other major historical roles were as
Brutus
in
Cleopatra
and starring as
Napoleon
in
Eagle in a Cage
.
Later he portrayed Joe Lampton ? a character created by
John Braine
in the novel
Room at the Top
? in the television series
Man at the Top
(1970?72) and
its eponymous spin-off film
(1973). Haigh also released an LP in 1973, titled
How to Handle a Woman
.
Haigh made occasional guest appearances on television; for some, the most recognisable is that of time-travelling Flight Lieutenant William Terrence Decker, in the
Twilight Zone
episode "
The Last Flight
" (1960).
[5]
He had already played, three years earlier, another pilot, in
High Flight
.
He also portrayed Pat Casey in
Lionel Bart
's
Maggie May
.
Personal life
[
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]
Haigh married the
West Indies
model Myrna Stephens in 1974.
[6]
They divorced in 1985, but remained good friends; she nursed him through his final years of ill-health.
Death
[
edit
]
Haigh died on 4 February 2018, aged 86. He had spent his last years in a nursing home after oxygen deprivation led to brain damage in 2003, following his accidental swallowing of a bone in a restaurant in
Soho
.
[7]
[8]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Theatre
[
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]
- Othello
(Drogheda, 1952)
- The Archers Stage Play
(Various, 1953)
- Dear Little Liz
(Open Air, Regent's Park, 1955)
- Look Back in Anger
(Royal Court, London, 1956) ? Jimmy Porter
- The Mulberry Bush
(1956) ? Peter Lord
- The Crucible
(1956) ? Rev John Hale
- Cards of Identity
(1956) ? Beaufort
- Caligula
(Broadway, 1960; Phoenix, London, 1964) ? Caligula
- Zoo Story
(Arts, London, 1961)
- Altona
(Royal Court / Saville Theatre, London, 1961) ? Franz von Gerlach
- The Collection
(Aldwych, London, 1962)
- Playing with Fire
(Aldwych, 1962)
- Julius Caesar
(Stratford, RSC 1962) ? Mark Antony
- Maggie May
(Adelphi, London, 1964) ? Patrick Casey
- Too Good To Be True
(Edinburgh Festival, 1965) ? Burglar
- Prometheus Unbound
(Yale University Theatre, 1967) ? Prometheus
- Henry IV
(Yale, 1967)
- The Hotel in Amsterdam
(Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1969) ? Laurie
- Much Ado About Nothing
(Manchester, 1969) ? Benedick
- Equus
(Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, Alberta, 1969?70) ? Dysart
- Prometheus Unbound
(Mermaid, London, 1971) ? Prometheus
- Marching Song
(Mermaid, 1974) ? Rupert Foster
- The Father
(Haymarket, Leicester, 1975) ? Father
- California Suite
(Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Broadway, 1977) ? Replacement: William, Sidney, Stu
- The Aspern Papers
(Chichester Festival, 1978)
- Twelfth Night
(Stratford, CT, 1979) ? Malvolio
- Julius Caesar
(Stratford, CT, 1979) ? Brutus
- The Tempest
(Stratford, CT, 1979) ? Prospero
- Clothes for a Summer Hotel
(Broadway, 1980) ? F Scott Fitzgerald
- Othello
(Young Vic, London, 1982) ? Othello
Television
[
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]
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents
- Season 4 Episode 29: "Banquo's Chair" (1959) ? John Bedford
- Season 5 Episode 12: "Specialty of the House" (1959) ? Mr. Costain
- Danger Man
(1960) episode: "Josetta" ? Juan
- Strange Report
(1969) episode: "HOSTAGE ? If You Won't Learn, Die!"
- Search for the Nile
(1971)
- Man at the Top
(Thames Television, 1971?73) ? Joe Lampton
- Moll Flanders
(ITV, 1975) ? Jemmy Earle
- Hazlitt in Love
(1977) ? William Hazlitt
- Maybury
(BBC, 1981)
- The Testament of John
(1984)
- The Fourth Floor
(Thames Television, 1986) ? George Payne
- The Blackheath Poisonings
(1992) ? Charles Russell
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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