Nigel Hawthorne

Born: April 5, 1929
Where: Coventry, England
Died: 26th December, 2001

Sir Nigel Hawthorne, one of Britain's best-loved actors was not only known for his role in Yes, Minister, but also as a film actor of the highest calibre.

His stage debut took place in 1950 when he played Archie Fellows in a Cape Town production of The Shop at Sly Corner, and already in London a year later, Nigel played Donald in You Can't Take It With You in the West End.

It was a full twenty years before Nigel featured in his first move. He was cast in Richard Attenborough's Young Winston and received high critical praise.

The 70s and the 80s saw Nigel on stage and in TV series, and in 1982 he won a BAFTA for his comic role in Yes, Minister which shot him to fame - twenty five years into his career!

In 1982 Nigel reteamed with Attenborough for the director's highly acclaimed Gandhi, starring Ben Kingsley, in which Nigel played Kinnoch - a British officer in India.

Three years later Nigel found himself working with Kingsley again in Turtle Diary, also starring Glenda Jackson, and in 1986 he returned to the small screen with a reprisal of his famous role as Sir Humphrey in the sequel comedy Yes, Prime Minister.

In 1987, Queen Elizabeth II honoured him with the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) title.

More and more experience on the stage led Nigel to a Tony award for the American stage version of Shadowlands, and in 1991 Nigel was cats in the title role in the London stage version of The Madness of George III, directed by Nicholas Hytner.

Before that part turned into a screen role, Nigel actually made his Hollywood debut playing the amorally ambiguous potentate in Demolition Man.

It was in 1994 that Hytner took The Madness of King George to the big screen and cast Nigel in the title role.

The leading man garnered international acclaim and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for the role which he had spent two years portraying on the stage. The part also won him a BAFTA.

In 1997 Nigel was cast as President Martin Van Buren in Steven Spielberg's Oscar nominated Amistad, and also worked again with Hytner for The Object of My Affection, playing a gay theatre critic.