Robert Atkins (actor)
Robert Atkins Old Vic" Shakespeare Co. photo | |
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Born | Robert Alexander Atkins 10 August 1886 |
Died | 9 February 1972 London, England | (aged 85)
Occupation(s) | Actor, producer & director |
Spouse | Ethel Davey |
Robert Atkins CBE (10 August 1886 – 9 February 1972) was an English actor, producer and director.[1]
Biography
Born in
Old Vic company in 1915, and became Director of Productions for Lilian Baylis from 1921 to 1926.[2][3][4]
He also appeared many times on film and in television, though not with the success of his theatre career.
His first film was a 1913 production of Hamlet, as the First Player, with Johnston Forbes-Robertson in the title role.[5] Atkins went on to appear in several other film and television roles over the next 50 years with the most famous production possibly being A Matter of Life and Death.[6] He also produced and/or directed several adaptations of William Shakespeare plays during the '40s and '50s for British TV.[7][8]
He was director of the
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, and along with Sydney Carroll, also founded Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.[4][9][10]
Robert Atkins was married twice: to Mary Sumner whom he divorced, and to Ethel Davey, a film editor. He died in London, England in 1972.[2]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1935 | Peg of Old Drury | Dr. Samuel Johnson | |
1936 | The Cardinal | General Belmont | |
Everything Is Thunder | Adjutant | ||
1937 | Victoria the Great | Garter King-at-Arms | |
1941 | He Found a Star | Frank Forrester | |
1942 | Let the People Sing | Hassock | |
The Great Mr. Handel | |||
1946 | A Matter of Life and Death | The Vicar | |
1949 | That Dangerous Age | George Drummond | |
Black Magic | King Louis XV | ||
1951 | I'll Never Forget You | Dr. Samuel Johnson | Uncredited |
References
- .
- ^ a b c "ROBERT ATKINS, 85, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR". The New York Times. 11 February 1972.
- ISBN 9781472934253– via Google Books.
- ^ a b "STR Publications: Robert Atkins – An Unfinished Autobiography". str.org.uk.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Hamlet (1913) Credits". BFI Screenonline.
- ^ "Robert Atkins". Archived from the original on 9 October 2018.
- ^ "Scenes from Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor (BBC, 1937)". 3 April 2014.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: The Tempest on Screen". BFI Screenonline.
- ^ "Touchstone : Online Exhibition". touchstone.bham.ac.uk.
- ^ "Robert Atkins – Our Heritage – Open Air Theatre". openairtheatreheritage.com.
External links
- Robert Atkins at IMDb