Douglas Campbell (actor)

Douglas Campbell, CM (11 June 1922 – 6 October 2009) was a Canadian-based stage actor. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland.

Douglas Campbell
Born(1922-06-11)11 June 1922
Glasgow, Scotland
Died6 October 2009(2009-10-06) (aged 87)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
NationalityBritish, Canadian
OccupationActor
Years active1941–2000
Spouse(s)
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 1947; died 1990)​
  • Moira Wylie
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1993)​
Children6, including Benedict and Torquil

Acting career

Campbell's interest in the theatre began at London's Old Vic Theatre at age 17, where working as a stage hand he saw Tyrone Guthrie's production of King John. He first performed in the 1941 Old Vic touring productions of Medea and Jacob's Ladder.[1][2]

He was invited to Canada in 1953 by Guthrie, who had just been appointed the first artistic director of the fledgling Stratford Festival of Canada. Campbell played Hastings in the opening production of Richard III in 1953, and King Oedipus in the stage and screen production of Oedipus Rex in 1954. He appeared many times at Stratford in the fifty years that followed, drawing great acclaim in the role of Othello in 1959, and in many appearances as Falstaff.[3][4]

Campbell founded the Canadian Players in 1954, and was artistic director at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis from 1966 to 1967. He was awarded the Order of Canada on 17 April 1997. Campbell received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, in 2003.[5]

Personal life

In 1947, Campbell married Ann Casson, actress and daughter of Sir Lewis Casson and Dame Sybil Thorndike.[6] His children from that marriage are Dirk Campbell, television director; Teresa Padden who played Cordelia to his first King Lear, Tom Campbell, painter; Benedict Campbell, actor. In the late 1960s, Campbell developed a relationship with Moira Wylie, an actress and director, with whom his children Beatrice and Torquil Campbell were born. Beatrice Campbell is a stage manager at the Shaw Festival while Torquil Campbell is an actor and lead singer/songwriter of the indie rock band Stars. Casson, whom Campbell never divorced, died in 1990. He and Wylie married in 1993.[6]

Campbell died at Hôtel Dieu hospital in Montreal, Quebec from complications of diabetes and congestive heart disease on 6 October 2009.[1][7]

Filmography

Movies

Television series

References
  1. Ouzounian, Richard (7 October 2009). "Douglas Campbell, 87: Canadian theatre giant". Toronto Star. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  2. "Douglas Campbell Biography (1922–)". FilmReference.com. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  3. J. Alan B. Somerset. 1991. The Stratford Festival Story, 1st edition. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-27804-4
  4. "Actor Douglas Campbell dies at 87". CBC News. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  5. "Douglas Campbell – biography". Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  6. Martin, Sandra (10 October 2009). "Douglas Campbell, 87 / Actor – 'A gloriously forthright, honest, full-blooded trouper'". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  7. "Renowned Actor Douglas Campbell Dead at 87". BroadwayWorld.com. 9 October 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
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