Courtenay, Tom 1937–

PERSONAL

Full name, Thomas Daniel Courtenay; born February 25, 1937, in Hull, Yorkshire, England; son of Thomas Henry (a boat painter) and Anne Eliza (maiden name, Quest) Courtenay; married Cheryl Kennedy (an actress), November 12, 1973 (divorced); married Isabel Crossley (a stage manager), 1988. Education: Attended University College, London; trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, 1960-61. Avocational Interests: Listening to music, playing golf.

Career:

Actor. Old Vic Company, member; Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, associate member.

Awards, Honors:

Film Award, most promising newcomer to leading film roles, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Jury Prize, best actor, Mar del Plata Film Festival, 1963, both for The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner; Volpi Cup, best actor, Venice Film Festival, 1964, and Film Award nomination, best British actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1965, both for King and Country; Film Award nomination, best British Actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1964, for Billy Liar; Academy Award nomination, best supporting actor, 1965, for Doctor Zhivago; French Academie du Cinema, best actor, 1967; Variety Club of Great Britain, best stage actor, Actor of the Year Award, 1972, both for Time and Time Again; Antoinette Perry Award nomination, best actor, 1977, for Otherwise Engaged; Drama League Award, distinguished performance, 1977; New York Drama Critics Circle Award, New Standard Award, best actor, 1981, Evening Standard Award, Drama Critics Award, and Antoinette Perry Award nomination, 1982, all for The Dresser; Academy Award nomination, best actor, Golden Globe Award, best performance by an actor in a motion picture—drama, 1984, Film Award nomination, best actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1985, all for The Dresser; London Critics Circle Theatre Award, best actor, Evening Standard Theatre Award, best actor, 1994, both for Moscow Stations; Television Award, best actor, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1999, for A Rather English Marriage; National Board of Review Award (with others), best acting by an ensemble, European Film Award nomination (with others), best actor, 2001, both for Last Orders; Jury Award, Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, best supporting actor, 2001, for Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?; Awarded Knighthood, 2001; National Board of Review Award (with others), best acting by an ensemble, 2002, for Nicholas Nickleby; Dilys Powell Award, London Critics Circle Film Award, 2004.

CREDITS

Stage Appearances:

(Stage debut) Konstantin Treplyef, The Seagull, Old Vic Theatre Company, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1960.

(London debut) Konstantin Treplyef, The Seagull, Old Vic Theatre, 1960.

Poins, Henry V, Part I, Old Vic Theatre, 1961.

Feste, Twelfth Night, Old Vic Theatre, 1961.

Billy Fisher, Billy Liar, Cambridge Theatre, London, 1961.

Andri, Andorra, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1964.

Trofimov, The Cherry Orchard, Chichester Festival, Chichester, England, 1966.

Malcolm, Macbeth, Chichester Festival, 1966.

Lord Fancourt Babberly, Charley's Aunt, 69 Theatre Company, Manchester, England, 1966.

Playboy of the Western World, Manchester, England, 1967.

Young Marlow, She Stoops to Conquer, Garrick Theatre, London, 1969.

Hamlet, Garrick Theatre, 1969.

Peer Gynt, University Theatre, Manchester, England, 1970.

Lord Fancourt Babberly, Charley's Aunt, Apollo Theatre, London, 1971.

Leonard, Time and Time Again, Comedy Theatre, London, 1972.

Captain Bluntschli, Arms and the Man, Manchester, England, 1973.

Table Manners, 1974.

Norman, The Norman Conquests, Greenwich Theatre, 1974, then Globe Theatre, London, 1975.

John Clare, The Fool, Royal Court Theatre, Manchester, England, 1975.

The Prince of Homburg, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, England, 1976.

Faulkland, The Rivals, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1976.

(Broadway debut) Simon, Otherwise Engaged, Plymouth Theatre, 1977.

Raskolnikov, Crime and Punishment, Royal Exchange Theatre, 1978.

Owen, Clouds, Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1978.

Norman, The Dresser, Royal Exchange Theatre, then Queen's Theatre, London, both 1980, later Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1981.

The Misanthrope, Royal Exchange Theatre, London, 1981.

Andy Capp, 1983.

Jumpers, 1984.

Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky, Uncle Vanya, Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City, 1995.

Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, 1999.

Philip Larkin, Pretending to Be Me, Comedy Theatre, 2003.

The Home Place, Comedy Theatre, 2005.

Also appeared in Otherwise Engaged; Twelfth Night, Royal Exchange Theatre.

Film Appearances:

Colin Smith, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (also known as Rebel With a Cause), Continental, 1963.

Billy Fisher, Billy Liar, Continental, 1963.

Title role, Private Potter, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963.

Private Arthur Hamp, King and Country, Allied Artists, 1965.

Pasha Strelnikoff, Doctor Zhivago, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1965.

Lieutenant Grey, King Rat, Columbia, 1965.

Robert Hemshaw, Operation Crossbow (also known as Code Name: Operation Crossbow and The Great Spy Mission), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1965.

Navigator, The Day the Fish Came Out (also known as Otan ta psaria vgikan sti steria), International Classics, 1967.

Corporal Hartmann, The Night of the Generals (also known as La Nuit des generaux and Tank Force), Columbia, 1967.

Gatiss, A Dandy in Aspic, Columbia, 1968.

Gerald Arthur Otley (title role), Otley, Columbia, 1969.

Baxter Clarke, Catch Me a Spy (also known as To Catch a Spy, Keep Your Fingers Crossed, and Les doigts croises), Rank, 1971.

Title role, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (also known as En dag I Ivan Denisovitsj'liv), Cinerama, 1971.

Norman, The Dresser, Columbia, 1983.

Frayn, Leonard Part 6, 1987.

Jewelry store manager, Happy New Year, 1987.

Antoine Moreau, Posledni motyl (also known as Le cri du papillon, Le dernier papillon, and The Last Butterfly), 1990.

William Bentley, Let Him Have It (also known as L'age de vivre), 1991.

Uncle Tony Cronin, The Boy from Mercury, Blue Dolphin, 1996.

Harold Smith, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, USA Films, 1999.

Himself, Sir John Mills' Moving Memories (documentary), Carlton, 2000.

Vic Tucker, Last Orders (also known as Letzte Runde), Sony Pictures Classics, 2001.

Newman Noggs, Nicholas Nickleby, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2002.

Leonard, Flood, Power Pictures Corp., 2006.

Television Appearances; Series:

Appeared as Dobley, The Lads.

Television Appearances; Miniseries:

Daniel Quilp, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Disney Channel, 1994.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Marlow, She Stoops to Conquer (also known as Stage 2: "She Stoops to Conquer"), BBC, 1971.

Father Tark Brian, I Heard the Owl Call My Name, CBS, 1973.

Jesus of Nazareth, 1977.

Me and the Girls (also known as Star Quality: Me and the Girls), PBS, 1985.

Colin, Absent Friends, 1985.

Stan Peachey, Redemption, BBC2, 1991.

Bronislaw Malinowski, Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye, Family Channel, 1995.

Roy Southgate, A Rather English Marriage, BBC and PBS, 1998.

Joe McGill, Ready When You Are Mr. McGill, ITV, 2003.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Ghosts, 1967.

The Christmas Chester Mystery Plays, PBS, 1976.

Jesus Christ, The Easter Chester Mystery Plays, PBS, 1977.

John Thaw: An Appreciation, 2002.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

"Tom Courtenay," This Is Your Life, ITV, 1972.

Himself, Wogan (also known as The Wogan Years), BBC, 1991.

Contributor, "Northern Lights," Hollywood U.K., BBC, 1993.

Contributor, "A Very British Picture," Hollywood U.K., BBC, 1993.

Tracey Takes On …, HBO, 1996.

Dr. Felix Crawley, "Memento Mori," Kavanagh QC, ITV, 1998.

Breakfast, BBC, 2005.

The Heaven and Earth Show, BBC, 2005.

Radio Appearances:

Arthur, The Domino Man of Lancashire, BBC Radio 4, 2006.

WRITINGS

Autobiography:

Dear Tom: Letters from Home, Doubleday, 2000.

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

The Guardian, April 30, 1997, p. T12.