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OutUK is sad to mark the death of actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne, who died on Boxing Day (26th December 2001) of a heart attack, after two years fighting cancer. The TV role of civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby and of King George III on the big screen, brought him celebrity not only in the UK but right across the world. OutUK's Guy Hornsby interviewed him a few years ago, and before they started talking, Nigel made them both a cup of tea. He was that sort of an unassuming man. |
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Nigel Hawthorne was born in Coventry in 1929. His father was Dr Charles Bernard Hawthorne, and his mother was Agnes Rosemary. The family emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa in 1931 where he went to St. George's Grammar School Christian Brothers' College. The Brothers were stern and adopted the approach of beating wickedness out of boys and beating knowledge into them. He claimed in an interview many years later that it was during this these early years he realised he was gay.
Soon after appearing in a Cape Town theatre production at the age of 22, Nigel Hawthorne convinced himself he would find happiness on the British stage and left for England with just £12 in his pocket. Initially he had very little success in getting parts so he had to take the role of understudy to Leslie Phillips in a West End comedy. In this first 19 months as an actor in London, he didn't appear on stage once. He returned to South Africa in 1963 and after appearing in the first overseas production of Beyond the Fringe he gained the confidence needed to give British stages a try once more. This time he was more fortunate. He had a spell in revue and then joined the Joan Littlewood Company in time to tour with their production of Oh What a Lovely War! He picked up more roles on the stage including some in Shakespeare's Falstaff and Macbeth and then turned to television starting with two-lines in an early episode of Dad's Army. The TV paid off as in 1977 writers Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn offered him the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby in their new political TV sitcom Yes, Minister playing opposite Paul Eddington and Derek Fowlds. Hawthorne often needed medication to cope with the stress of the TV filming and to enable him to cope with the studio audiences. He often used to say, "I just don't see the need for them." His portrayal of the verbally dexterous civil servant who balanced suavity and servility with blatant self-interest earned the Nigel Hawthorne four Bafta awards and made him a household name. | |
| Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher invited him to tea at Downing Street, and insisted on filming a scene with the cast. Civil servants even invited him to meet the Israeli Prime Minister. Five series were made, and the show with its sequel Yes, Prime Minister was shown in more than 50 countries. |
| He met his partner Trevor Bentham, a stage-manager at the Royal Court theatre in 1968, and soon after Trevor started his writing career. They set up home together in Hertfordshire in 1979 and were happy living there until the news that there was a motorway service station planned outside their drive. They moved a few miles away to a large country cottage that had belonged to Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys. The two of them became fund raisers for the North Hertfordshire Hospice and other local charities. |
| His most successful screen role came in 1994. The title role in The Madness of King George was always going to be Hawthorne's. After his Olivier-winning portrayal on stage of the inspiring but insane monarch, scriptwriter Alan Bennett insisted the film role went to the actor. Nigel Hawthorne did him proud, and earned an Oscar nomination for the part. He enjoyed his late flowering success saying, "I didn't really know who I was, until I was middle-aged." | |
| He received a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1987 Queen's Honours list. He was given a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his part in The Madness of King George in 1994. In the New Year's Honours List on 31st. December 1998 Nigel Hawthorne was awarded a knighthood for services to the theatre, film, and television. |
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He was outed in March 1995 just before the Oscar Awards ceremony when he gave an interview to The Advocate. He might have thought of it as an obscure American magazine but uncharacteristically he talked openly about his sexuality. The magazine made a big issue of it and proclaimed that he was 'the first openly gay actor to be nominated for a Best Actor Award'. The British tabloids then took up the story, with The Daily Express running the headline 'The madness of Queen Nigel', and the Mail 'Yes, Minister, I'm gay".
Once he said of his relationship: “Our attitude is, don’t scare the horses and we’ll all get along fine.” He was always opposed to the militant element of the homosexual community. “The militant lot I have no time for,” he once said. “Flaunting your sexuality offends people and what’s the point in doing that if you are trying to win them over?” Early in the year 2000, Hawthorne’s doctor discovered he had a malignant tumour in his pancreas which had to be operated on as soon as possible. He was told that had it not been discovered when it was, he would probably have died within a few days. The cancer treatment had been going well and the heart attack was unexpected. Sir Nigel died peacefully at home with Trevor Bentham at his side. He was 72, a wonderfully special person and a brilliant actor.
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