Derek Jacobi
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Image:Derek Jacobi1.jpg Sir Derek George Jacobi (IPA: /ˈdʒæˌkəbi/), CBE (born 22 October, 1938) is a British actor and director, knighted in 1994 for his services to the theatre. He is the second actor to hold two knighthoods, Danish and English (Sir Lawrence Olivier was the other).
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Biography
Youth and early career
Jacobi was born in Leytonstone in east London, England, and is the only child of a department store manager and a secretary. Descendant of Christian German immigrants. Although a "war" baby, he claims a happy childhood. Derek went to the Leyton County High School and was an integral part of the drama club, The Players of Leyton.
At 18, Derek won a three years scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where his younger classmates included Ian McKellen and Trevor Nunn. Since drama was not a recognized course of study, he chose history. During his stay at Cambridge, he played many parts including Hamlet. This Hamlet was taken on tour to Switzerland where he met Richard Burton.
As a result of his performance of Edward II at Cambridge, he was invited to become a member of the Birmingham Rep immediately upon graduation in 1960.
He quickly came to the fore, and his talent was recognised by Laurence Olivier, who invited him back home to London to become one of the eight founding members of the new National Theatre. He was the youngest and only unknown of the eight members. Olivier gave him the role of Cassio in his 1965 film of Othello in 1965 and of Andrei in Three Sisters in 1970.
Success
After eight years at the National Theatre, Jacobi left in 1971 to pursue different roles and mediums of expression, like TV. In 1972, he starred in the BBC miniseries Man of Straw, directed by Herbert Wise. Most of his theatrical work in the 70's was with the touring classical Prospect Theatre Company, with which he did many roles likeIvanov, Pericles and A Month in the Country.
Although Jacobi's name was becoming known and he was increasingly busy with stage and screen acting, his big breakthrough did not come until 1976. It was the title role of the BBC's blockbuster series I, Claudius that finally cemented his popular reputation. His performance as the stammering, twitching Emperor Claudius won him many plaudits.
In 1977 thanks to his international popularity he brought Hamlet through England, Egypt, Sweden, Australia, Japan and China where he was the first actor playing it in English. He was then prestigiously invited to play it at Elsinore Castle.
In 1978 he played BBC's production of Shakespeare's Richard II, with Sir John Gielgud and Dame Wendy Hiller.
Theatre, TV and Cinema
In 1980 Jacobi took the leading role in BBC's Hamlet and he gave his Broadway debut in The Suicide, then joined the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1982 to 1985 where he alternated four demanding roles simultaneously: Benedick in William Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, Prospero in The Tempest, Peer Gynt and Cyrano de Bergerac.
In 1986, he made his West End debut in Breaking the Code with the role of Alan Turing(the scientist who deciphered the Enigma code). The play was taken to Broadway. In 1998 Jacobi alternated in West End the roles of Shakespeare's Richard II and Richard III in repertoire.
His TV career saw him measure with Inside the third Reich(1982), where he played Hitler; Mr.Pye(1985); Little Dorrit(1987), from Charles Dickens's book; The Tenth Man (1988) with Anthony Hopkins and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Jacobi continued to play Shakespeare, notably in Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film of Henry V (as the Chorus) and as Branagh's director in Renaissance Theatre Company's production of Hamlet.
The 1990's saw Jacobi keeping on with repertoire stage work in Kean at the Old Vic, Becket in the West End (The Haymarket) and Macbeth at the Royal Shakespeare Company in both London and Stratford. He was appointed the joint artistic director of the Chichester Festival Theatre, with the West End impresario Duncan Weldon in 1995 for a three year tenure. As an actor at Chichester, he also starred in four plays, including his first Uncle Vanya in 1996 (he took a second run in 2000). Jacobi's work during the 90's included the 13 episodes series TV adaptation of the novels by Ellis Peters Cadfael (1994-1998) and a televised version of Breaking the Code(1996).
Films included marvelous performances in Kenneth Branagh's Dead Again (1991), Hamlet (1996) as King Claudius and in John Maybury's Love is the Devil (1998), a difficult portrait of painter Francis Bacon.
Recent works
Jacobi has also done the narration for an audio book version of the Iliad, and also for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis.
He remains one of Britain's foremost actors. Image:The 2000s Papillon.jpg
In 2002 Jacobi toured Australia in the The Hollow Crown with Sir Donald Sinden, Ian Richardson and Dame Diana Rigg. Jacobi also played the role of Senator Gracchus in Gladiator, and starred in the 2002 miniseries The Jury.
In 2003 he was involved with Scream of the Shalka — a webcast based on the science fiction series Doctor Who. He played the voice of the Master alongside Richard E. Grant as the Doctor. In the same year he also appeared in Deadline, an audio drama also based on Doctor Who. In that he played Martin Bannister, an ageing writer who makes up stories about "the Doctor", a character who travels in time and space, the premise being that the series had never made it onto television.
Also in 2001 Jacobi won an Emmy for his guest appearance on Frasier playing a forgotten theatre star.
In 2004, Jacobi starred in Friedrich Schiller's Don Carlos at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, in an acclaimed production, which opened at the Gielgud Theatre in London in January 2005. The London production of Don Carlos gathered rave reviews.
Still in 2004 he starred like Lord Teddy Thursby in the first of four parts BBC's series The Long Firm, from Jake Arnott's novel.
In Nanny McPhee (2005) he played the role of the colourful Mr. Wheen, an undertaker.
He played the role of Alexander Corvinus in the 2006 movie Underworld: Evolution.
In March 2006 BBC2 broadcasted "Pinochet in Suburbia", a docudrama about former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and the attempts to extradite him from Great Britain. Jacobi played the leading role.
Personal Life
After 27 years together, he registered his civil partnership with long-term partner Richard Clifford in March 2006, four months after civil unions became legal in England and Wales.
Filmography
- Nanny McPhee (2006)Mr. Wheen
- Underworld: Evolution (2006)Corvinus
- Bye Bye Blackbird (2005)Lord Dempsey
- Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage TV(2004)Colonel Protheroe
- The Long Firm TV(2004)Lord Edward 'Teddy' Thursby
- Revengers Tragedy (2004)The Duke
- Strings (2004)Nezo
- Two Men Went to War (2004)Major Merton
- The Wyvern Mystery TV(2003)Squire Fairfield
- Nijinsky (2002)Voice of Vaslav Nijinsky
- Revelation (2002)Librarian
- Gosford Park (2001)Probert
- The Body (2001)Father Lavelle
- Gladiator (2000)Gracchus
- Jason and the Argonauts TV(2000)Phineas
- Up At the Villa (2000)Lucky Leadbetter
- Edvard Grieg - What Price Immortality? (1999)
- Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)Father Leonor Fousnel
- Love Is the Devil (1998)Francis Bacon
- Hamlet (1996)Claudius
- Looking for Richard (1996)Himself
- Cadfael TV (1994-1998)Brother Cadfael
- Dead Again (1991)Franklyn Madson
- The Fool (1990)Mr. Frederick/Sir John
- Henry V (1989)Chorus
- Little Dorrit TV(1988)Arthur Clennam
- The Tenth Man TV(1988)The imposter
- The Secret Garden TV(1987)Archibald Craven
- Philby Burgess and MacLean - Spy Scandal of the Century TV(1986)
- Mr Pye TV(1986)Mr. Pye
- Enigma (1983)Kurt Limmer
- Hunchback of Notre DameTV(1982)Frollo
- Inside the Third Reich TV(1982)Adolf Hitler
- The Secret of NIMH (1982)Nicodemus' voice
- Charlotte (1981)Daberlohn
- Hamlet, Prince of Denmark TV(1980)Hamlet
- The Human Factor (1979)Arthur Davis
- Richard II TV(1978)Richard II
- The Medusa Touch (1978)Townley
- I, Claudius TV (1976)Claudius
- The Odessa File (1974)
- The Day of the Jackal (1973)
- Blueblood (1973) Gregory
- Othello (1965)Cassio
External links
- {{{2|{{{name|Derek Jacobi}}}}}} at The Internet Movie Database
- BBC - Drama Faces - Derek Jacobi
- Sir Derek Jacobi Linsdomain
- Sir Derek Jacobi TMAW
- Sparrow Sir Derek Jacobi Pages
- Movies Yahoocs:Derek Jacobi
de:Derek Jacobi es:Derek Jacobi fr:Derek Jacobi it:Derek Jacobi he:דרק ג'קובי nl:Derek Jacobi ja:デレク・ジャコビ pl:Derek Jacobi sv:Derek Jacobi