Donald Albery
{{Short description|English theatre impresario}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sir Donald Albery
| image = Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Albery in December 1972.
| birth_name = Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery
| birth_date = 19 June 1914
| birth_place = St Pancras, London, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|1988|09|14|1914|06|19|df=y}}
| death_place = Monte Carlo, Monaco
| death_cause =
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| spouse = {{ubl|{{marriage|Rubina Macgilchrist|1934|1946|end=div}}|{{marriage|Cicely Boys|1946|1974|end=div}}|{{marriage|Nobuko Uenishi Morris|1974}}}}
| children = 4, including Ian, Nicholas and Tim
| parents =
| father = Sir Bronson Albery
}}
Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery (19 June 1914 – 14 September 1988){{cite encyclopedia | title = ALBERY, Sir Donald | encyclopedia = Who's Who in the Theatre | volume = 1 | pages = 7 | publisher = Gale Research Company | year = 1981 | issn = 0083-9833 | editor = Ian Herbert}} was an English theatre impresario who did much to translate the adventurous spirit of London in the 1960s onto the stage.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|pages=11/2}}
Biography
He was born into a theatrical family, with his father being the director Sir Bronson James Albery. His first job was to manage Sadler's Wells Ballet during the Blitz. When he launched his own Donmar company in 1953 he championed plays by Graham Greene, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee, Jean Anouilh, and an adaptation by J. B. Priestley of an Iris Murdoch novel.{{cite ODNB|id=39920|first=Wendy|last=Trewin|author-link = Wendy Trewin|title=Albery, Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston}}
Though he was always commercially minded, his spirit of adventure endured with the first London production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and sponsorship of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. In 1961, Albery, in collaboration with William Donaldson, produced Beyond the Fringe in London and, in 1962, in New York.
From 1964 to 1968, Albery served as director and administrator of the London Festival Ballet.
Albery was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1977 New Year Honours for services to the theatre.{{London Gazette |issue=47102 |date=30 December 1976 |page=1 |supp=y}}
In 1982, Albery added his archive to the British theatre holdings of the Harry Ransom Center. Records include correspondence, legal and financial documents, scripts, sound recordings, prompt books, manuscript and printed music scores and parts, and printed and publicity materials such as clippings, programmes, playbills, posters, proofs and tickets concerning the theatrical productions and business affairs of Wyndham's Theatres Ltd., The Piccadilly Theatre Ltd., Sadler's Wells Theatre, the Royal Ballet, and the touring productions of the Festival Ballet.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/collections/performingarts/holdings/browse/descriptions/|title=Collection Descriptions|website=Hrc.utexas.edu|access-date=2019-01-10}}
Family
Albery was married three times.
- In 1934 he married Rubina Macgilchrist (injured in an air raid, and died 1956); they were divorced in 1946, having had a son, Ian Albery.
- In 1946 he married Cicely Margaret Heather Boys, daughter of the army officer Reginald Harvey Henderson Boys; they were divorced in 1974, and had three children including Nicholas Albery and Tim Albery.{{cite web |title=Albery, Tim, Grove Music |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000900069 |website=oxfordmusiconline.com |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O900069 }}
- In 1974 he married Nobuko Uenishi Morris, former wife of author Ivan Morris.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/guides/MusicalTheatre Donald Albery Papers] at the Harry Ransom Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Albery, Donald}}
Category:English theatre managers and producers
Category:Businesspeople from the London Borough of Camden
Category:English National Ballet
Category:20th-century English businesspeople
Category:People from St Pancras, London