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Stephen Murray (actor)

Stephen Umfreville Hay Murray (6 September 1912 – 31 March 1983) was an English cinema, radio, theatre and television actor.

Stephen Murray
Born
Stephen Umfreville Hay Murray

(1912-09-06)6 September 1912
Partney, Lincolnshire, England
Died31 March 1983(1983-03-31) (aged 70)
London, England
Alma materRADA
OccupationActor
SpouseJoan Alestha Butterfield (m.1937)
Children1

Background and education

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A member of Clan Murray headed by the Duke of Atholl, he was born in Partney, Lincolnshire], the son of the Reverend Charles Murray, Rector of Kirby Knowle, North Riding of Yorkshire, and Mabel (née Umfreville). He was the great-grandson of the Right Reverend George Murray, Bishop of Rochester, while the diplomat Sir Ralph Murray was his elder brother. He was educated at Brentwood School, Essex and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. He was also the great-uncle of the comedian Al Murray.[1]

Acting career

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Murray found his greatest fame as the new Number 1, later promoted to Lieutenant Commander in The Navy Lark on BBC Radio.[2] His film debut was as the second police officer who interrupts an amorous Eliza and Freddy (Wendy Hiller and David Tree) in Pygmalion (1938).[3] He was Gladstone to John Gielgud's Disraeli in The Prime Minister in 1941.[4] He played Dr. Stephan Petrovitch in the 1943 Ealing war film Undercover.[5] Among his other larger film roles were Uncle Henry in London Belongs to Me (1948, heavily made-up to look several decades older) and the lead in Terence Fisher's Four Sided Triangle (1953).[6] He once again appeared under heavy make-up as the elderly Dr Manette in A Tale of Two Cities (1958).[7]

Murray made his stage debut at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1933, and he played such parts as Seyton in Macbeth, among smaller roles.[8] He later did seasons at the Malvern Festival and at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where he played Hamlet.[9] He worked at the Old Vic in London with Laurence Olivier and Tyrone Guthrie.[10] He also played at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, and in the West End.[11] At the Westminster Theatre in 1940 he portrayed the title character in John Drinkwater's Abraham Lincoln.[12] He was in many of the plays of George Bernard Shaw, and he did later engagements at the Mermaid Theatre in London and at Stratford, Ontario, Canada. On television he played in such prorammes as Dr. Finlay's Casebook, and had a leading role as Svengali.[13] In 1952 he returned to the Old Vic to play King Lear, and toured Europe in that production. Several years later he also played Lear on radio.[14]

Radio became one of Murray's most triumphant acting areas, with appearances in over 300 plays.[15] He played Macbeth in 1949 with Flora Robson, a month after playing the part on television (with Ruth Lodge), so different were the two medium's audiences deemed to be.[16][17] He played the part again on radio in 1960. He was a fine Leontes in The Winter's Tale in 1951 with Elspeth March and Fay Compton, and again in 1966 with Rachel Gurney and Edith Evans. He played Shakespeare's Timon of Athens both in 1961 and in 1975.[18] In 1964, he played the title role in the monumental BBC Radio production of Marlowe's Tamburlaine with Sheila Allen as Zenocrate with Timothy West, Andrew Sachs, Joss Ackland, Gabriel Woolf, Bruce Condell and other leading Shakespearian actors of the day.[19] He did two versions of the BBC radio epic The Rescue by Edward Sackville-West, where he played Odysseus.[20][21] Other classic '50s roles included Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, John Gabriel Borkman and Brand as well as Calderon's The Mayor of Zalamea.[22][23][24][25] However, his longest running part was that of "No 1" in The Navy Lark in which he starred from 1960 to 1977.[26]

In 1970 Murray played alongside Glenda Jackson in the BBC drama series Elizabeth R about the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth I.[27] In this he played Sir Francis Walsingham, head of Elizabeth's secret service, and a noted Puritan, whose work exposed the Babington Plot which led to the trial and execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.[28] Even in the 1970s he enjoyed the difficult roles, like August Strindberg's To Damascus with Zena Walker.[29]

His expressive voice was often anguished and uncertain in his roles, so he was ideal for A Hospital Case by Dino Buzzati, a play which Albert Camus had translated and adapted for the Paris stage.[30] He also did new radio work like Peter Tegel's Rocklife.[31] In 1970 he was the old Prince Bolkonsky in BBC radio's War and Peace.[32] He tried his hand at science fiction in radio's The Tor Sands Experience by Bruce Stewart.[33]

Personal life

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Murray married Joan Alestha, daughter of John Joseph Moy Butterfield, in 1937. He died in London on 31 March 1983, aged 70. Their daughter and only child Amanda appeared in several episodes of The Navy Lark with her father.

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1938 Pygmalion Second Policeman Film debut
1941 The Prime Minister Mr. W.E. Gladstone
1942 The Next of Kin Mr. Barratt
1943 Undercover Dr. Stephan Petrovitch
1947 Master of Bankdam Zebediah Crowther
1948 My Brother Jonathan Dr. Craig
London Belongs to Me Uncle Henry
1949 Silent Dust Robert Rawley
For Them That Trespass Christopher Drew
Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll / Knave of Hearts Voice
Now Barabbas Chaplain
1950 The Magnet Dr. Brent
1952 24 Hours of a Woman's Life Father Andre Benoit
1953 Four Sided Triangle Bill
1954 The Stranger's Hand British Consul in Venice
1955 The End of the Affair Father Crompton
1956 Guilty? Summers
The Door in the Wall Sir Frank Wallace Short
1957 At the Stroke of Nine Stephen Garrett
1958 A Tale of Two Cities Dr. Manette
1959 The Nun's Story Chaplain (Father Andre)
1963 Master Spy Boris Turganev Final film
1971 Elizabeth R Walsingham Miniseries
1981 Lady Killers Archibald Bodkin Episode: My Perfect Husband

1956

Any Man's Kingdom's Narrator BTF Travelogue about Northumbria -

References

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  1. ^ "Comedian Al Murray has a chat about his Pub Landlord character, TV satire and mentally sub-normal medieval fools". 16 March 2014.
  2. ^ "Mr Murray Is Victimised, The Navy Lark - BBC Radio 4 Extra". BBC.
  3. ^ "Stephen Murray - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  4. ^ "The Prime Minister (1941)". Archived from the original on 29 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Undercover (1943)". Archived from the original on 9 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Stephen Murray". Archived from the original on 22 March 2016.
  7. ^ "Stephen Murray". aveleyman.com.
  8. ^ "Stephen Murray - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  9. ^ "Production of Hamlet - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  10. ^ "Production of Othello - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  11. ^ Morgan, Charles (20 May 2013). Dramatic Critic: Selected Reviews (1922-1939): Selected Reviews (1922-1939). Oberon Books. ISBN 9781849439411 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Wearing, J. P. (22 August 2014). The London Stage 1940-1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810893061 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "Trilby (1959)". Archived from the original on 18 January 2018.
  14. ^ "Tragedy of King Lear, The · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.
  15. ^ McFarlane, Brian (16 May 2016). The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781526111975 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ Kabatchnik, Amnon (14 August 2017). Blood on the Stage, 1600 to 1800: Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781538106167 – via Google Books.
  17. ^ Hand, Richard J. (1 November 2015). Listen in terror: British horror radio from the advent of broadcasting to the digital age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781526102577 – via Google Books.
  18. ^ Shakespeare, William (14 August 2008). Timon of Athens: The Oxford Shakespeare. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780191623080 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ Marlowe, Christopher (1 January 1967). Tamburlaine the Great: Parts 1 and 2. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803252714 – via Internet Archive. tamburlaine 1964 bbc radio.
  20. ^ Deacon, Alison Deacon, Nigel. "radio plays drama,bbc,The Rescue, by Edward Sackville-West, DIVERSITY website". suttonelms.org.uk.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "The Rescue (BBC Third Programme, 1943)". 3 May 2014.
  22. ^ "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus". 28 May 1964. p. 30 – via BBC Genome.
  23. ^ "World Theatre presents Stephen Murray with Beatrix Lehmann and Dorothy Holmes-Gore in ' JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN'". 25 May 1956. p. 18 – via BBC Genome.
  24. ^ "Brand". 1 March 1957. p. 39 – via BBC Genome.
  25. ^ "Stephen Murray and Barbara Jefford in 'THE MAYOR OF ZALAMEA'". 12 February 1954. p. 43 – via BBC Genome.
  26. ^ "The Navy Lark - Cast". navylark.0catch.com.
  27. ^ "Elizabeth R - Cast & Crew on MUBI". mubi.com.
  28. ^ "The Enterprise of England (1971)". Archived from the original on 18 January 2018.
  29. ^ Strindberg, August (29 May 2014). Strindberg Plays: 3: Master Olof; Creditors; To Damascus. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781472574138 – via Google Books.
  30. ^ "BBC Radio 4 FM - 19 June 1972 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk.
  31. ^ Deacon, Alison Deacon, Nigel. "radio plays drama,bbc,Peter Tegel, DIVERSITY website". suttonelms.org.uk.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ "War and Peace". 5 March 1970. p. 35 – via BBC Genome.
  33. ^ "The Tor Sands Experience". 21 December 1978. p. 103 – via BBC Genome.
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