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Max Adrian

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Max Adrian
Adrian in the TV seriesOne Step Beyond,episode "Image of Death" (1959)
Born
Guy Thornton Bor

(1903-11-01)1 November 1903
Kilkenny,County Kilkenny,Ireland
Died19 January 1973(1973-01-19)(aged 69)
Shamley Green,Surrey, England
Resting placeWoking Crematorium,Woking,Surrey, England
OccupationActor
Years active1925–1973

Max Adrian(bornGuy Thornton Bor;1 November 1903 – 19 January 1973) was an Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both theRoyal Shakespeare Companyand theNational Theatre.

In addition to his success as a character actor in classical drama, he was known for his work as a singer and comic actor inrevueandmusicals,and in one-man shows aboutGeorge Bernard ShawandGilbert and Sullivan,and in cinema and television films, notablyKen Russell'sSong of Summeras the ailing composerDelius.

Early years[edit]

Adrian was born inKilkenny,County Kilkenny,Ireland, the son of Edward Norman Cavendish Bor and Mabel Lloyd Thornton.[1]He was born in the provincialBank of Irelandbranch in Kilkenny, where his father was the bank manager, into aChurch of Irelandfamily, the seventh of eight children. His paternal ancestry wasDutch,from settlers who arrived in Ireland withWilliam of Orangein 1689.[2]He was educated at thePortora Royal School,Enniskillen,whose past pupils also includedOscar WildeandSamuel Beckett.[3]

Adrian began his career as a chorus boy at a silent moving-picture house, coming on as part of the chorus line while the reels were being changed. He made his stage debut in the chorus ofKatja the Dancerin 1925.[4]He then toured withLady Be GoodandThe Blue Train.He made hisWest Enddebut inThe Squallat theGlobe Theatrein December 1927. After working withTod Slaughter's company atPeterborough,he joined the weeklyrepinNorthampton,where he took some forty roles a year.[3]He made further West End appearances inThe Best of Both Worldsat thePlayers' Theatrein 1930,The Glass Wallat theEmbassy Theatrein 1933,First EpisodebyTerence Rattiganand Philip Heimann at theComedy Theatrein 1934 (later toured in the UK and then transferred to Broadway,[5]This Desirable Residenceat the Embassy in 1935, andEngland Expects,also at the Embassy in 1934.[6]

Career[edit]

Classical roles and revue[edit]

Adrian first achieved wide public notice in a nine-month season at the Westminster Theatre from September 1938, as Pandarus in a modern dressTroilus and Cressidaand Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonnington inThe Doctor's Dilemma,winning enthusiastic notices from the critics: "Mr Max Adrian triumphantly turns Pandarus into a chattering and repulsive fribble of the glossily squalid night-club type";[7]"The egregious 'B.B.'... is a great piece of fun, and Mr. Max Adrian rightly draws him with all possible exuberance of line."[8]

Adrian joined theOld Viccompany in 1939, playing the Dauphin in Shaw'sSaint Joan,"a beautifully malicious study in slyness, effeminacy, meanness, and a curious lost, inverted dignity."[9]He continued classical work withJohn Gielgud's company at theHaymarket Theatre(1944–45), where he appeared asPuckinA Midsummer Night's Dream,Osric inHamlet,and Tattle inWilliam Congreve'sLove for Love.[10]

Away from the classics, he played the Scarecrow inThe Wizard of Ozat thePhoenix Theatrein 1943. In 1947, at theLyric Theatre, Hammersmith,Adrian began performing in a series ofrevues(Tuppence Coloured,Oranges and Lemons,Penny Plain,Airs on a Shoestring,From Here to There,andFresh Airs) in which he played more than 2,000 performances,[11]and established himself, inSheridan Morley's words, "as a superlative – if eccentric – light comedian."[3]Fellow performers in the revues includedJoyce Grenfell,Rose HillandElisabeth Welch.Contributors includedMichael Flanders,Donald SwannandAlan Melville,and the producer wasLaurier Lister,who became Adrian's lifelong partner.[12]Adrian's musical numbers included "Prehistoric Complaint" (as a misfit caveman), "Excelsior" (as a put-uponSherpa), "Guide toBritten"(as a manic conductor)," In theD'Oyly Cart[sic] "(as a jadedGilbert and Sullivanperformer), and "Surly Girls" (as headmistress ofSt. Trinian's).

When revue became less popular in the mid-1950s, Adrian went to America in 1956 to appear as Dr. Pangloss and Martin inLeonard Bernstein's operettaCandideonBroadway.The original production was a failure, but the original cast recording has rarely been out of the catalogues in the subsequent half century. He remained in the U.S., working in summer stock in roles as varied as Doolittle inPygmalion,Jourdain inLe Bourgeois Gentilhomme,Shylock inThe Merchant of Venice,and Sir Peter Teazle inThe School for Scandal.[13]He returned to London in 1959 to appear inNoël Coward's playLook After Lulu!in which he also later played on Broadway.[3]

In 1960, Adrian joinedPeter Hall's newly formed Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) inStratford-upon-Avon,together with such actors asPeggy Ashcroft,Peter O'TooleandDiana Rigg.He played Jaques inAs You Like It,Feste inTwelfth Night,Pandarus inTroilus and Cressida,the Cardinal inJohn Webster'sThe Duchess of Malfi,and Father Barré inThe Devils,as well as a range of smaller parts. He also starred withDorothy Tutin,Richard JohnsonandJohn BartoninThe Hollow Crown,an anthology of prose and verse about the monarchs of England, devised by Barton and frequently revived in later years.[14]

Adrian was one of the original members ofLaurence Olivier'sNational Theatre Companyat theOld Vicfrom 1963, and appeared asPoloniusin the opening production ofHamlet,in which Peter O'Toole played the Prince.The Guardiancalled his performance, "sly, dry, and not quite stuffy enough, but every sally from this character was touched with a look of great complicity towards the audience which made something special of this sometimes over-charged part."[15]He then played the Inquisitor inSaint Joan,Serebryakov inUncle Vanya,Balance inThe Recruiting Officerand Brovik inThe Master Builder.[3]

Solo shows and screen work[edit]

In the late 1960s, Adrian toured as George Bernard Shaw in the one-man showAn Evening with GBS,which played in London, on Broadway, and in Asia, Africa and Australia.[16]The Timessaid that the show "presented a deeply understanding portrait... impish, malicious, playful, outrageous, affectionate, angry and almost always eloquent."[10]His later one-man show aboutGilbert and Sullivanwas a lesser, but real, success.[3]

Adrian's first film was in 1934. He appeared in several British films in the 1940s, before playing the Dauphin in the Laurence Olivier production ofHenry V(1944). He also appeared inDr. Terror's House of Horrors(1965) as the vampire Dr Blake,The Deadly Affair(1966), and in severalKen Russellfilms:The Music Lovers(1970; asAnton Rubinstein),The Boy Friend(1971) andThe Devils(1971).

He was also featured in Russell's acclaimed award-winning 1968OmnibusTV filmSong of Summer,as the blind and paralysed composerFrederick Delius.Adrian once said that, of all the roles he had ever played, he had never had such difficulty in ridding himself of involvement in a character as that of Delius inSong of Summer.[17]

Also on television, he appeared ina 1957 adaptationofA. J. Cronin's novelBeyond This Place,which was directed bySidney Lumet.His other television work included the role of Senator Ludicrus Sextus in the first season ofUp Pompeii!withFrankie Howerd(1969),Faginin the 1962 dramatisation ofOliver Twist,and parts inThe Baron,Adam Adamant Lives!and in 1959, in the Case of the Deadly ToyPerry Mason.He also appeared in theDoctor WhostoryThe Myth MakersasKing Priam.[18][19]He played the part of the Baron de Charlus in theBBCradio playsSix Proust ReconstructionsbyPamela Hansford Johnson.

His voice and acting style were notably distinctive.The Timesreferred to his "Osric-like elaborations of manner", and his voice "like no other heard on the English stage of his day, vestigially Irish and harshly attractive." The Times also described his 1934 performance in England Expects (Embassy Theatre) as "a gilded habitué of the backstairs" as outstanding.

Death[edit]

Adrian died at age 69 from a heart attack, at his and Lister's home, Smarkham Orchard,Shamley Green,nearGuildford, Surrey,after returning from the television studios where he had been recordingBertolt Brecht'sThe Caucasian Chalk Circlefor theBBC.[15]At his memorial service, at which theOxford Dictionary of National Biographysaid the great names of British theatre paid tribute to Max Adrian's style and professionalism, the lessons were read byAlec Guinnessand Laurence Olivier and the eulogy was given by Joyce Grenfell.[20]

Personal life[edit]

His elder brother was the botanist Dr.Norman Loftus Bor,who predeceased him by four weeks. Another brother, Lieutenant Thomas Humphrey Bor,RNR,was killed when hisE-classsubmarine struck a mine in the North Sea in 1916.[21]His younger brother, Fetherston Briscoe Bor, remained a farmer in Ireland until his death in 1965.

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1934 The Primrose Path Julian Leigh
1936 A Touch of the Moon Francis Leverton
The Cardinal Barber Uncredited
To Catch a Thief Salesman
The Happy Family Noel Hutt
Nothing Like Publicity Bob Wharncliffe
1937 Why Pick on Me? Jack Mills
When the Devil Was Well David
1938 Macushla Kerry Muldoon
Merely Mr. Hawkins Mr. Fletcher
1941 Kipps Chester Coote
Jeannie
Penn of Pennsylvania Elton
1942 The Young Mr. Pitt Sheridan
Talk About Jacqueline Lionel
1944 Henry V The Dauphin
1950 Her Favourite Husband Catoni
1951 Pool of London Charlie Vernon, acrobat / George
1952 The King and the Mockingbird The King English version, voice
The Pickwick Papers Aide
1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Robert Stone Season 4 Episode 29: "Banquo's Chair"
1963 Uncle Vanya Professor Alexander Serebryakov
1965 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors Dr. Blake (segment "Vampire" )
1967 The Deadly Affair Morton, Adviser
The Terrornauts Dr. Henry Shore
1968 Song of Summer Frederick Delius
1971 The Music Lovers Nicholas Rubinstein
The Devils Ibert
The Boy Friend Max Mandeville aka Mr. Max / Lord Hubert Brockhurst

References[edit]

  1. ^"Bor, Guy Thornton",irishgenealogy.ie
  2. ^"The Family Of Bor Of Holland And Ireland",Bor, Edward J, London, England 1911,seekingmyroots
  3. ^abcdefMorley, page 3.
  4. ^according to hisWho's Whoentry; Morley dates his debut to August 1926
  5. ^Where the play was retitledCollege Sinners(ref. Gaye, p. 288)
  6. ^The Times,25 January 1930, p. 10; 21 February 1933, p. 10; 27 January 1934, p. 8; 28 May 1935, p. 14; and 14 April 1936, p. 8
  7. ^The Observer,25 September 1938, p. 13
  8. ^The Times,18 February 1939, p. 10
  9. ^The Times,12 October 1939, p. 6
  10. ^abThe Times,20 January 1973, p. 16
  11. ^The Times12 July 1955, p. 5
  12. ^"Obituary of Mr Laurier Lister",The Times,2 October 1986
  13. ^Gaye, p. 289
  14. ^"Adrian, Max",Who Was Who,A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007, Retrieved 27 January 2009
  15. ^abThe Guardian,20 January 1973, p. 7
  16. ^The show was sometimes given under the title "By George!" SeeThe New York Times
  17. ^"Song of Summer"Archived6 January 2009 at theWayback Machineat DVD Beaver
  18. ^The Myth Makersat the BBC'sDoctor Whoepisode guide.
  19. ^Max Adrianat the IMDB database.
  20. ^Elsom, John:Adrian, Max (1903–1973),Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2007Retrieved 28 Jan 2009
  21. ^Roll of Honourrnsubs.co.uk

Bibliography[edit]

  • Gaye, Freda:Who's Who in the Theatre,fourteenth edition, 1967, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, London
  • Morley, Sheridan:The Great Stage Stars,Angus & Robertson, London, 1986.ISBN0-8160-1401-9

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMax Adrian.
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