Scofield, (David) Paul CBE CH

1922

This brilliant and powerful actor was born at Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, on 21 January 1922, the son of Edward H. and M. Scofield. He attended the Vardean School in Brighton and trained for the stage at the Croydon Repertory School in 1939 and at the London Mask Theatre School in 1940. He toured with companies entertaining troops in 1941, was with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre 1942-1945 and then with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon 1946-1948. At the last he enjoyed great success as Henry V, Cloten in “Cymbeline”, Don Adriano in “Love’s Labour’s Lost”, Lucio in “Measure for Measure” and Hamlet. In London at the Arts Theatre he acted Tegeus Chromis in “A Phoenix Too Frequent”. Scofield has continued to play major roles at most of London’s major theatres. Among his most memorable performances were Pierre in “Venice Preserv’d” (Lyric Hammersmith 1953), the drunken priest in “The Power and the Glory” (1957), Thomas More in “A Man For All Seasons” (Globe 1960), Coriolanus (Stratford, Canada, 1963), Uncle Vanya (London 1970), Volpone (London 1977) and Salieri in “Amadeus” (National Theatre 1979). Among his films are “A Man For All Seasons” (Academy Award 1966), Tobias in “A Delicate Balance” (1974) and the French King in Branagh’s version of “Henry V” (1989). Scofield was awarded a CBE in 1956 and was named Companion of Honour in January 2001. He holds honorary doctorates from Glasgow, Kent and Sussex universities. Possessed with an extraordinary voice and ‘a strongly moulded face’, he has been a masterful and compelling performer in the British theatre for over 60 years. (WW, OCT) See also Burnim and Wilton, “The Richard Bebb Collection in the Garrick Club”, B0154.