Please Rewind Talent Wall

Alec McCowen

Alec McCowen was a British actor whose work moved comfortably between classical theatre, modern drama, film and television. Born in Royal Tunbridge Wells on 26 May 1925, he attended The Skinners’ School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before beginning his stage career in repertory theatre in 1942. The stage remained central to McCowen’s career. After making his London debut in Chekhov’s Ivanov in 1950, he took on an unusually broad range of parts, from Shakespearean roles with the Old Vic and Royal Shakespeare Company to demanding contemporary plays. He played Richard II, Mercutio, Oberon and Malvolio, and later appeared as the Fool opposite Paul Scofield’s King Lear. His performance in Hadrian the Seventh brought him an Evening Standard Award and a Tony nomination, while The Philanthropist became a major London success and earned him a Drama Desk Award on Broadway. McCowen was particularly suited to roles built around language, precision and sustained concentration. That quality reached its clearest expression in his solo performance of the complete text of St. Mark’s Gospel, which he devised and directed. The production played in London and New York, received a Tony nomination and was adapted for television. He later portrayed Rudyard Kipling in another one-man stage work, also performed on Broadway and television. His screen career began with The Cruel Sea in 1953. Further film appearances included A Night to Remember, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Witches, Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy, Travels with My Aunt, Never Say Never Again and Henry V. In Never Say Never Again, he played the secret service quartermaster Q, named Algynon. His television work ranged from Shakespeare to espionage, including Malvolio in Twelfth Night, the Chorus in Henry V and the title role in Mr Palfrey of Westminster. McCowen also worked as a theatre director and published two volumes of autobiography. Across a career spanning stage and screen, he was an actor drawn to difficult texts, complicated minds and the expressive possibilities of the spoken word. He died in 2017.