Leo McKern

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Leo McKern
AO
McKernRyansDaughter.png
McKern in Ryan's Daughter (1970)
Born Reginald McKern
(1920-03-16)16 March 1920
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom
Cause of death Diabetes mellitus
Residence United Kingdom (from 1946)
Education Sydney Technical High School
Occupation Actor
Years active 1944–1999
Organization Royal Shakespeare Company
Known for A Man for All Seasons
(play and film)
Travelling North (film)
Television The Prisoner
Rumpole of the Bailey
Spouse(s) Jane Holland
(m. 1946–2002) (his death)
Children Abigail and Harriet McKern
Parent(s) Norman Walton McKern
Vera McKern (née Martin)
Awards Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (1987)

Leo McKern, AO (born Reginald McKern, 16 March 1920 – 23 July 2002) was an Australian actor who appeared in numerous British and Australian television programmes and films, and in more than 200 stage roles. Notable roles he portrayed include Clang in Help! (1965), Thomas Cromwell in A Man for All Seasons (1966), Tom Ryan in Ryan's Daughter (1970), Paddy Button in The Blue Lagoon (1980), Dr. Grogan in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Father Imperius in Ladyhawke (1985) and, in the role that made him a household name as an actor, Horace Rumpole, whom he played in Rumpole of the Bailey. He also portrayed Carl Bugenhagen in the first and second installments of the The Omen trilogy.

Early life

McKern was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Vera (née Martin) and Norman Walton McKern. He attended Sydney Technical High School.[1] After an accident at the age of 15, he lost his left eye.[2] He first worked as an engineering apprentice, then as an artist, followed by service in the Australian Army during World War II.[3] In 1944, in Sydney, he performed in his first stage role.

Career

Theatre

Having fallen in love with actress Jane Holland, McKern moved to the United Kingdom to be with her; they married in 1946. He soon became a regular performer at London's Old Vic theatre and the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre (now the Royal Shakespeare Theatre) in Stratford-upon-Avon, despite the difficulties posed by his glass eye and Australian accent.

McKern's most notable Shakespearean role was as Iago in Othello, in 1952. He originated the role of Common Man in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons in the West End in 1960, but for the show's Broadway production appeared as Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, a role he would reprise for the 1966 film version. He also portrayed Subtle in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist in 1962. In 1965, he played the eponymous villain in Bolt's The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew, and Disson in Harold Pinter's Tea Party.

Film

McKern's film debut was in Murder in the Cathedral (1952). His other notable film appearances included the science-fiction classic The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961), the World War I drama King and Country (1964), Help! (1965), the Academy Award-winning adaptation of A Man for All Seasons (1966), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Massacre in Rome (1973), The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975), The Omen (1976), The Blue Lagoon (1980), The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) and Ladyhawke (1985). He was presented with the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Travelling North (1987). In Monsignor Quixote (1985), he co-starred as Sancho Zancas opposite Alec Guinness as Father Quixote.

Television

One of McKern's earliest television roles was in the 1950s black-and-white series The Adventures of Robin Hood (as Sir Roger DeLisle, usurper of the Locksley manor and lands, and Herbert of Doncaster, a corrupt moneylender). During the 1960s, he was one of several Number Twos in the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed TV series The Prisoner. Along with Colin Gordon, McKern was one of only two actors to play Number Two more than once. He first played the character in the episodes "The Chimes of Big Ben" and "Once Upon a Time", and later reprised the role in the final episode, "Fall Out". The filming of "Once Upon a Time" proved to be a particularly intense experience for McKern; according to one biographer, the stress caused him to suffer either a nervous breakdown or a heart attack (accounts differ), forcing production to stop for a time.[4] In 1976 McKern narrated and presented The Battle of the Somme a BBC documentary marking the 60th anniversary of the World War I battle. He played the Earl of Gloucester in the Granada Television production of King Lear (1983) with Sir Laurence Olivier.

Rumpole of the Bailey

In 1975, McKern made his first appearance in the role that would make him a household name as an actor, Horace Rumpole, whom he played in Rumpole of the Bailey, a BBC Play for Today. A series of the same name, comprising 44 episodes, was produced for ITV between 1978 and 1992. John Mortimer, series creator and writer, wrote the part with actor Alastair Sim in mind, but, as Sim had died in 1976, McKern was chosen for the part. According to Mortimer, "he not only played the character Rumpole—he added to it, brightened it and brought it fully to life."[5]

Although he enjoyed the role, McKern expressed doubts about its popularity and the extent to which his life was becoming intertwined with Rumpole's. "McKern was often unhappy, decrying his television fame as an 'insatiable monster'. He stressed that his Peer Gynt was a greater performance and lamented: "If I get an obit in any paper, they will say, '.. of course, known to millions as Rumpole.'"[6] In the later series, his daughter Abigail McKern joined the cast as Mizz Liz Probert.

Commercial work

In 1987, investment firm Smith Barney selected McKern to succeed John Houseman as its spokesman. At the same time, Smith Barney's corporate advertising department decided to change the format of its television advertisements, the first of which featuring McKern airing in September 1987.[7] McKern's advertisements were not as popular with the viewing public as Houseman's, and in 1989, Smith Barney switched to a campaign featuring the voice of American actor George C. Scott.

In the 1990s, McKern appeared in a series of advertisements for Lloyds Bank, widely shown on British television, in which he portrayed a character reminiscent of Rumpole.

Radio

McKern provided the voice of Captain Haddock in the 1992 and 1993 BBC Radio adaptation of Hergé's The Adventures of Tintin.

Personal life

In 1983, McKern was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the performing arts.[8]

McKern informed his daughter Abigail that he suffered from stage fright, which became harder to control with age. He also worried that his stout frame would not appeal to audiences.

In 1997 he appeared in a party political broadcast for the UK Independence Party.[9]

Suffering from diabetes and other health problems, he moved to a nursing home near Bath in Somerset in 2002. He died a few weeks later at the age of 82. His body was cremated at Haycombe Cemetery in Bath.

McKern was survived by his wife Jane Holland, his daughters Abigail and Harriet, and a grandchild. His grandchild was married to Jane Attenborough, the daughter of Richard Attenborough.[10] His wife Audrey Jane Holland, died along his great-grandchild Lucy and the wife of Grandson Michael, Jane Holland (née Attenborough), in Phuket on 26 December 2004, during the 2004 tsunami.[11]

Selected filmography

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References

  1. ↑ Leo McKern Biography (1920–2002)
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ World War II Nominal Roll
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ [1] New York Times, 24 July 2002
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Smith Barney In Ad Change – New York Times, 16 September 1987
  8. ↑ It's an Honour
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Triple tragedy hits Attenborough family - Telegraph
  11. ↑ 'Put my ashes with girls I lost in tsunami': Lord Attenborough's moving last plea to be buried with daughter and granddaughter who died in 2004 tragedy

External links

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