Nigel Davenport
{{Short description|English actor (1928–2013)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nigel Davenport
| image = File:Dracula (1973) - Nigel Davenport 2.png
| image_size =
| caption = Davenport as Abraham Van Helsing in Bram Stoker's Dracula
| birth_name = Arthur Nigel Davenport
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|5|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|10|25|1928|5|23|df=y}}
| death_place = Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Helena White|1951|1960|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Maria Aitken|1972|1981|end=divorced}}
}}
| children = 3, including Jack Davenport
| yearsactive = 1953–2003
}}
Arthur Nigel Davenport (23 May 1928 – 25 October 2013) was an English stage, television and film actor,{{cite news|first=Michael|last=Coveney|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/oct/29/nigel-davenport|title=Nigel Davenport obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=29 October 2013|date=29 October 2013}} best known as the Duke of Norfolk and Lord Birkenhead in the Academy Award-winning films A Man for All Seasons and Chariots of Fire, respectively.
Early life and education
Davenport was born in Great Shelford,{{cite web|url=http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Cambridge-born-actor-Nigel-Davenport-star-of-Chariots-of-Fire-and-Howards-Way-dies-aged-85-20131030120000.htm |title=Cambridge-born actor Nigel Davenport, star of Chariots of Fire and Howards' Way, dies aged 85 |publisher=cambridge-news.co.uk |access-date=31 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102002031/http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Cambridge-born-actor-Nigel-Davenport-star-of-Chariots-of-Fire-and-Howards-Way-dies-aged-85-20131030120000.htm |archive-date=2 November 2013 }} Cambridgeshire, son of Arthur Henry Davenport and Katherine Lucy (née Meiklejohn).Who's Who in the Theatre, 17th ed., vol. 1, part 2, ed. Ian Herbert, Pitman, 1981, p. 167 His father was an engineer, educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge before being employed as an engineer for the Midland Railway, and was later a lecturer in engineering, a Fellow, and the bursar at his alma mater, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge;List of Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers of Great Britain, 1933, p. 143 Arthur Davenport had served for four years in the Royal Engineers during World War I, and was awarded a Military Cross. Nigel's great-uncle, Major Maury Meiklejohn, was awarded a Victoria Cross during the Second Boer War.{{Cite web |date=1 November 2013 |title=Nigel Davenport: There's a glare in there - tough guy actor had 'the look'. |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nigel-davenport-theres-a-glare-in-there-tough-guy-actor-had-the-look-20131101-2wqc4.html |access-date=22 November 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald}}
He grew up in an academic family and was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford, Cheltenham College and Trinity College, Oxford.{{cite news|title=In pictures: Nigel Davenport|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24740851|access-date=26 June 2016|agency=BBC News|date=30 October 2013}} Originally he chose to study Philosophy, Politics and Economics but switched to English on the advice of one of his tutors.Hayward, Anthony. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-nigel-davenport-character-actor-sought-by-directors-in-all-mediums-for-nearly-half-a-century-8913654.html "Obituary: Nigel Davenport, character actor sought by directors in all mediums for nearly half a century"], The Independent, 30 October 2013
In the 1950s Davenport undertook National Service with the Royal Army Service Corps as a disc jockey on the British Forces Broadcasting Service in Hamburg.
Career
Davenport first appeared on stage at the Savoy Theatre and then with the Shakespeare Memorial Company, before joining the English Stage Company, one of its earliest members, at the Royal Court Theatre in 1956.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/film-obituaries/10412939/Nigel-Davenport.html Obituary: Nigel Davenport], telegraph.co.uk, 29 October 2013 He began appearing in British film and television productions in supporting roles, including a walk-on in Tony Richardson's film, Look Back in Anger (1959). Subsequent roles included a theatre manager opposite Laurence Olivier in the film version of The Entertainer and a policeman in Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (both 1960).
File:Nigel Davenport Angela Lansbury A Taste of Honey 1960.jpg as Helen in A Taste of Honey on Broadway, in 1960]]
In the 1962 last episode of the first season of the TV series The Saint, titled "The Charitable Countess", with Roger Moore as Simon Templar and Patricia Donahue as Countess Rovagna, Davenport played a supporting role as the Countess's confidant, Aldo Petri. Davenport appeared again in The Saint in season 3, episode 16 (titled "The Rhine Maiden") as Charles Voyson.
He made an impression as Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk in A Man for All Seasons (1966),{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-24738939|title=Actor Nigel Davenport dies at 85|work=BBC News |date=30 October 2013}} co-starred with Michael Caine in the war movie Play Dirty, and had a major role as Lord Bothwell in Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1972, he appeared as George Adamson, opposite Susan Hampshire in Living Free, the sequel to Born Free.
During the production of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Davenport read the lines of HAL 9000 off-camera during the computer's dialogues with actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. However, Kubrick thought that Davenport's English accent was too distracting and dismissed him after a few weeks. Canadian actor Douglas Rain was ultimately chosen for the role.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30252645 |title=2001: A Space Odyssey revisited |access-date=30 November 2014 |work=BBC News|date=30 November 2014 |last=Dowd |first=Vincent}} Davenport took the leading role in the off-beat Phase IV (1974), which failed to find an audience. In 1979, he portrayed King George III in Prince Regent.
He appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge's grudging father Silas in the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol (1984), and played opposite Michael Caine again in the 1988 Sherlock Holmes spoof Without A Clue, which was Davenport's second-last feature film.
He portrayed The Duke of Holdernesse in a 1993 BBC Radio dramatisation of the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Priory School".{{Cite web|url=http://merrisonholmes.com/return.php|title=The BBC audio complete Sherlock Holmes|website=merrisonholmes.com}}
In February 1997, Davenport was the subject of This Is Your Life when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at David Nicholson's stables near Cheltenham.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
He was president of Equity from 1986 to 1992.
Personal life
Davenport was married twice, first to Helena Margaret White whom he met while he was studying at Oxford University. They married in 1951 and had a daughter, Laura, and a son, Hugo. His second wife was actress Maria Aitken with whom he had a second son, Jack, also an actor, best known for appearing in Pirates of the Caribbean.{{cite news|title=Actor Nigel Davenport dies at 85|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24738939|access-date=26 June 2016|agency=BBC News|date=30 October 2013}} According to Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Jack was cast as the James Norrington character partly because of Nigel's involvement in A High Wind in Jamaica.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! {{Tooltip|Ref.|Reference}} |
|---|
| 1959
| 1st Commercial Traveller |
| rowspan="2"| 1960
| Det. Sgt. Miller |
| The Entertainer
| Theatre Manager |
| 1962
| Juke's Stepfather | |
| rowspan="2"| 1963
| Mr Strang | |
| Bitter Harvest
| Police Inspector | |
| 1964
| Lew Harding | |
| rowspan="2"| 1965
| Mr Thornton |
| Sands of the Kalahari
| Sturdevant | |
| rowspan="2"| 1966
| Duke of Norfolk |
| Where the Spies Are
| Parkington | |
| 1968
| Captain Cyril Leech |
| rowspan="3"| 1969
| Sergeant Driscoll |
| Sinful Davey
| Richardson | |
| The Royal Hunt of the Sun
| |
| rowspan="2"| 1970
| John Custance | |
| The Mind of Mr. Soames
| Dr Maitland | |
| rowspan="3"| 1971
| Villain | Bob Matthews | |
| Mary, Queen of Scots
| Lord Bothwell |
| The Last Valley
| Gruber | |
| 1972
| George Adamson |
| 1973
| The Picture of Dorian Gray | Lord Harry Wotton |
| rowspan="2"| 1974 |
| Phase IV
| Dr Ernest D. Hubbs | |
| 1975
| Álvaro Mesía | |
| 1976
| Death of a Snowman | Lt. Ben Deel | |
| rowspan="2"| 1977
| Montgomery | |
| Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers
| Sgt. Driscoll |
| rowspan="2"| 1979
|Arthur Minton | |
| Zulu Dawn
| Colonel Hamilton-Brown |
| 1980
| Gray Harrison Hunt | |
| rowspan="2"| 1981
| Lord Birkenhead |
| Nighthawks
| Peter Hartman | |
| rowspan="2"| 1984
| Silas Scrooge | |
| Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
| Major Jack Downing |
| 1986
| Giustiniani | |
| 1988
| Lord Smithwick | |
| 1997
| |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes ! {{Tooltip|Ref.|Reference}} |
|---|
| 1957–1958
| The Adventures of Robin Hood | St Peter Marston, Claude the Seneschal, Barty and others | 7 episodes |
| 1957
| Sergeant Spence | 6 episodes | |
| 1958
| Big Guns | Sergeant Spence | 6 episodes | |
| 1962
| Miguel Cervantes | 1 episode | |
| 1962-1965
| Aldo Petri/Charles Voyson | 2 episodes |
| 1963
| The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre | Dino Stefano/Larry Mason | 2 episodes: NB: The Verdict | |
| 1964
| Madame Bovary | Rodolphe | |
| 1966–68
| Lord Barnes / Robertson | |
| 1969
| David Windom | 1 episode | |
| 1972
| Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | 1 episode |
| 1974
| South Riding | Robert Carne | 11 episodes |
| 1975
| Jim Fraser | 13 episodes |
| 1979
| King George III | 8 episodes, TV mini-series |
| rowspan="2"| 1981
| Masada | Sen. Mucianus | Part 1 | |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream
| Theseus | TV movie |
| rowspan="2"|1982
| Minder | Ray | | |
| Bird of Prey
| Charles Bridgnorth | |
| 1982–83
| Don't Rock The Boat | Jack Hoxton | 12 episodes, TV mini-series |
| 1985–1990
| Sir Edward Frere | 29 episodes |
| rowspan="2"| 1986
| Count Litvinoff | 1 episode | |
| Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy
| Lord Ismay | | |
| 1991
| Trainer | James Brant | 13 episodes |
| 1993
| The Commodore | 1 episode: The Commodore |
| 1994
| Woof! | Mr. Wellesby | 1 episode | |
| 1996
| Lord Blackstock | |
| 2000
|The Adventures of Captain Pugwash |Narrator |26 episodes | |
| rowspan="3"| 2000
| Dan Peggotty | TV movie |
| Midsomer Murders
| William Smithers | 1 episode |
| Longitude
| Sir Charles Pelham | TV movie | |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20170321065715/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f10e50d Nigel Davenport] at the British Film Institute
- {{IMDb name|id=0202638|name=Nigel Davenport}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Nigel}}
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford
Category:English male film actors
Category:English male stage actors
Category:English male television actors
Category:People educated at Cheltenham College
Category:Male actors from Cambridgeshire
Category:Place of death missing
Category:British trade union leaders
Category:English trade unionists