A sad day.

A great actor and a man of great integrity and devotion to his art. There are many lines, many poems and indeed many of the great roles that I find it difficult to hear other than in his voice and with his powerful intelligence behind them. He will be greatly missed. 

I never saw him perform live, so my observations are restricted to films and - particularly - audio.

He was a very strange vocal actor, I always thought - I have a recording of him playing Hamlet from the 60s, where he takes the soliloquies in such a strangulated tone that they are no pleasure to listen to (I've also got a recording of Lear where he does the same thing), yet he's very natural and unforced in the dialogue.

Not one of my favourite actors, but I bow to those who saw him on stage.

Not so well documented outside the profession was his sense of fun - he'd make it his business to see how many of his colleagues he could make 'corpse'. Charles Kay being a favourite victim, apparently....

He will, indeed, be missed.

In my twenties I went to the theatre a good deal. I was lucky enough to see many of the great actors of our time: Peter O'Toole, Nigel Hawthorne, Jane Lapotaire, Judi Dench, etc.

One performance stands out as unforgettable and that is Paul Scofield's as Salieri in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus at the National.

"Mediocrities everywhere, te absolvo."

An actor and a human being of deepest integrity.

Requiescat in pace.

Many thanks for your reaction, Stanley. It's touching, informative and respectful.

  Thank you, George.       Your posting sent me scuttling for Kenneth Tynan's collected reviews: "Curtains" and "Tynan Right & Left" - are they really o/p nowadays? - and the rest of the day is now bespoken.

   "O, there has been much throwing about of brains"      Hamlet Act 2, Sc 2

Interesting, too, to remember that Peter Brook's original production of Hamlet was in 1955 at Stratford.    I had to wait until the late autumn of 1956/early 57 to see the season at the Phoenix Theatre;     'Hamlet',  Graham Greene's,  'Power & The Glory' and T S Eliot's'The Family Reunion'  - makes me wonder whether this repertoire finally clinched the formation of the RSC and a decision to seek a base in London.    They finally arrived at The Aldwych Theatre in 1960.

In "Curtains", Tynan wrote.        "After Hamlet and The Power & The Glory, the Peter Brook-Paul Scofield season of sin and damnation has entered on its last anguished lap with Mr Eliot's The Family Reunion.
To Mr Scofield who has hardly had a cheerful line to speak in the past six months, one's heart goes out; having worked like a Trojan, he is now called on to impersonate a tormented pseudo-Greek.   He does it yeomanly.    On Mr Eliot's Orestean hero he bestows a sleepless mien, gently haggard, and an anxious warmth of utterance that very nearly cures the character of its priggishness.   As he is softened by Mr Scofield, we almost come to like Harry.   Almost, we believe that he might exist.   

This, of course, is just a trick of mimetic trompe-l'oeil.   Harry has no real blood in his veins.   He is merely a projection of the obsessive guilt (often connected with the death of a woman) that constantly recurs in Mr Eliot's work.   "Sweeney Agonistes" gives the clue:

              I knew a man once did a girl in
              Any man might do a girl in
              Any man has to, needs to, wants to
              Once in a liftetime, do a girl in "           

(NB: a sense of disquiet here as I think of the recent Ipswich murder trial)

I also recall the imposing set for this production with the upstage, central windows keeping the intrusive Furies at bay.     Even better, Tynan writes about "an eerie upholstered vault" in which "the whole cast (including Sybil Thorndike, Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Nora Nicholson and Patience Collier) inhales Mr Eliot's thin air as if it were nourishing them; or as if it held some scent more refreshing than that of dry bones."        I saw a subsequent production of "The Family Reunion" but it has now receded in my memory.

I've also retrieved a video of "Anna Karenina", a handsome production filmed in Hungary in 1985 with Scofield as Karenin, Jacqueline Bisset as Anna and Christopher Reeve, Vronsky.   Of course, I'm now transferring it to DVD as a commercial release seems unlikely.   Made me wonder why it was overlooked in the mid-80s until I realised that this was the age when the Star Wars series was well underway and John Trovolta disco-dancing displays filled the developing multi-screens.   Special effects replaced narrative.

Paul Scofield avoids the stereotype cold-fish Karenin and bases his performance on his forthright words to Vronsky: "I am not altogether charmless.   I have no need of friends.  I have my work."      Earlier, admiring Vronsky's steed, and aware of the developing relationship between his wife and Vronsky, he looks directly from the horse and says, "Of course, there is no substitute for temperament and breeding."     A chilling moment.

Fifty one years after seeing Scofield's 'Hamlet', no actor for me has matched the duologue with Horatio,  Act V, Sc II,:

Horatio:        "You will lose this wager,my lord.

Hamlet:      "I do not think so; since he (Laertes) went into France I have been in continual practice.   I shall win at the odds.   But thou wouldst not think how ill all's here about my heart; but no matter."        This was a masterclass in the art of stillness.   I went to see the production again on the next evening.

 Thanks again, Pim.

My Tynan collection includes:  The Life of KT(1987)..The Letters of KT (1994) both by Kathleen Tynan and The Diaries of KT by John Lahr (2001).

However, the prized items are Kenneth Tynan "Curtains" (1961)  A Critic's View of Plays, Players, and Theatrical Events - 1950 - 1960:

Tynan - Right & Left (1967) - Plays, Films, People, Places & Events as seen by K T

Kenneth Tynan  The Sound of Two Hands Clapping (1975) - KT describes this as 'a book of enthusiasms' in which he features portraits of  personalities and performers who stand out in his memory for their excellence and individualism.  A rehearsal schedule for Olivier's 'Othello'; a first read through when the sheer power of Olivier's voice made windows shake and scalps tingle.    A touching tribute in memory of Noel Coward (died 1973).    KT sat alone at Sardi's in New York and froze, when he looked up from his menu, to see Coward standing before him.  Earlier in the day he had written a scathing review of NCs adaptation of Feydeau's 'Look After Lulu'.      Coward 'eyebrows quizzically arched and upper lip raised to unveil his teeth, leaned towards him.'    "Mr T," he said crisply, "you are a c..t.   Come and have dinner with me."   'Limp with relief, I joined him and for over an hour this generous man talked with vivacious concern about the perils of modishness.'

Kenneth Tynan   Show People (1980)    Profiles in Entertainment, including Ralph Richardson, Tom Stoppard and Louise Brooks.

He Who Plays the King (1950)        Early Tynan and student reviews


Top Gun and Tom Cruise?      'Your state is the more gracious.'