Robert Shaw (actor)

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Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw as Colonel Hessler in Battle of the Bulge.
Born	9 August 1927(1927-08-09) Westhoughton, Lancashire, England
Died	28 August 1978 (aged 51) Tourmakeady, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland
Years active	1947-1978
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Bourke (1952-1963) Mary Ure (1963-1975) Virginia Jansen (1976-1978)
Awards won Other Awards KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor 1967 A Man for All Seasons NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor 1966 A Man for All Seasons

Robert Shaw (9 August 1927 – 28 August 1978) was an English stage and film actor and writer.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Acting career 1.2 Writing career 1.3 Personal life 2 Work 2.1 Stage 2.2 Filmography 3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Robert Shaw was born in Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, in 1927, to Thomas (a physician) and Doreen Shaw. He had three sisters and one brother. At the age of seven, the family moved to Stromness, Orkney, Scotland. When Robert was 12, his father committed suicide by swallowing a lethal dose of opium. He apparently had been struggling with alcohol for a number of years. The family then moved to Cornwall, where he went to school in Truro. Shaw was a teacher in Saltburn, Yorkshire for a brief period, then attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.

[edit] Acting career

Shaw's best-known film performances include a turn as the dangerous enemy secret agent, Red Grant, in the 2nd James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963); the relentless panzer officer Colonel Hessler in Battle of the Bulge (1965); a young Henry VIII in A Man for All Seasons (1966); Lord Randolph Churchill, in Young Winston (1972); the ruthless mobster Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (1973); the tightly wound, but coolly efficient heist mastermind/former mercenary soldier Bernard Ryder aka "Mr. Blue" in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), and the shark-obsessed fisherman Quint in Jaws (1975).

Shaw was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in A Man for All Seasons.

He performed on stage as well, both in England and on Broadway.

[edit] Writing career

In addition to his acting career, Shaw was also an accomplished writer of novels, plays and screenplays. His first novel, The Hiding Place, published in 1960, met with positive reviews. His next, The Sun Doctor, published the following year, was awarded the Hawthornden Prize in 1962.

Shaw then embarked on a trilogy of novels – The Flag (1965), The Man in the Glass Booth (1967) and A Card from Morocco (1969); it was his adaptation for the stage of The Man in the Glass Booth which gained for Shaw's writing the most attention. The book and play present a complex and morally ambiguous tale of a man who, at various times in the story, is either a Jewish businessman pretending to be a Nazi war criminal, or a Nazi war criminal pretending to be a Jewish businessman. The play was quite controversial when performed in the US and the UK, some critics praising Shaw's sly, deft, and complex examination of the moral issues of nationality and identity, others sharply criticizing Shaw's treatment of such a sensitive subject. The Man in the Glass Booth was further developed for the screen, but Shaw disapproved of the resulting film and had his name removed from the credits.

Shaw also adapted The Hiding Place into a screenplay for the film Situation Hopeless ... but not Serious starring Alec Guinness. His play Cato Street, about the 1820 Cato Street Conspiracy, was produced for the first time in 1971 in London.

[edit] Personal life

Shaw was married three times and had ten children: Jennifer Bourke (1952-1963), four daughters; Mary Ure (1963-1975), four children; and Virginia Jansen (1976-1978), two children. One of his sons, Ian Shaw, is also an actor.

A heavy drinker most of his adult life, he died of a heart attack, while filming Avalanche Express, at the age of 51 on August 28, 1978. He was driving with his wife Virginia ,and his youngest son, Thomas after an outing of golf with some friends during a break in filming in Ireland. During the drive back to their house, he felt chest pains. He stopped the car and told Virginia he would get out and walk them off. After taking only four or five steps from the parked car, he collapsed by the side of the road and was pronounced dead 15 minutes later by a paramedic team which arrived by then. A Wetherspoon's Pub has been named after him in his home town.

[edit] Work

[edit] Stage

• The Caretaker (1962)
• The Physicists (1964)
• The Man in the Glass Booth (1969)
• Gantry (1970)
• Old Times (1972)
• Dance of Death (1974)

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Bibliography

• The Hiding Place (1960)
• The Sun Doctor (1961)
• The Flag (1965)
• Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965) (screenplay adaptation of The Hiding Place)
• The Man in the Glass Booth (1967)
• The Man in the Glass Booth (1968) (play adaptation)
• A Card from Morocco (1969)
• Cato Street (1971) (play)

[edit] External links

• Robert Shaw at Find A Grave
• Robert Shaw at the Internet Broadway Database
• Robert Shaw at the Internet Movie Database

[1]

Preceded by Joseph Wiseman

Official James Bond villain actor 1963

Succeeded by Gert Fröbe

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