Sir Antony Sher: Royal Shakespeare Company pays tribute to actor following death
The Olivier-award winner was one of the UK's most-respected theatre actors
Last updated 3rd Dec 2021
The Royal Shakespeare Company has led tributes to one of the UK's most-respected theatre actors, following his death at the age of 72.
He was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year.
As well as being an Honorary Associate Artist at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon, he was married to the company's Artistic Director, Gregory Doran.
Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director and Erica Whyman, Acting Artistic Director, said in a statement:
‘We are deeply saddened by this news and our thoughts and sincere condolences are with Greg, and with Antony’s family and their friends at this devastating time.
‘Antony had a long association with the RSC and a hugely celebrated career on stage and screen. Antony’s last production with the Company was in the two-hander Kunene and The King, written by his friend and fellow South African actor, writer and activist, John Kani.
‘Antony was a widely exhibited artist and author of multiple books including the theatre journals Year of the King, Woza Shakespeare!, co-written with Gregory Doran, four novels including Middlepost, three plays, a television screenplay and his autobiography Beside Myself.
‘Antony was deeply loved and hugely admired by so many colleagues. He was a ground-breaking role model for many young actors, and it is impossible to comprehend that he is no longer with us. We will ensure friends far and wide have the chance to share tributes and memories in the days to come’.
Sir Antony Sher was knighted for services to acting and writing in 2000.
Born in South Africa, he moved to Britain to study drama in the late 1960s and joined the RSC in 1982. His breakthrough role came two years later in Richard III, a part which earned him the best actor accolade at the Olivier Theatre Awards.
His theatrical skills were not limited to the West End, and his adaptation of If This Is A Man, by Primo Levi, into a one-man show titled Primo, ran on Broadway.
Off stage he had roles in films including Shakespeare In Love and Mrs Brown, and played Adolf Hitler in 2004's Churchill: The Hollywood Years.
His husband, with whom he tied the knot on the day civil partnerships became legal for same-sex couples in the UK, remains on compassionate leave from his role as RSC Artistic Director.