Derek Jacobi

(* 1938)

Biographical Sketch

Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE (born London, England, October 22, 1938) is an English actor and stage director.

A “forceful, commanding stage presence” (Encyclopædia Britannica’s Guide to Shakespeare), Jacobi has enjoyed a successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He has twice been awarded a Laurence Olivier Award, first for his performance of the eponymous hero in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1983 and the second for his Malvolio in Twelfth Night in 2009. He also received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing in 1984 and a Primetime Emmy Award in 1988 for The Tenth Man. His stage work also includes playing Octavius Caesar, Edward II, Richard III and Thomas Becket.

In addition to being a founder member of the Royal National Theatre and winning several prestigious theatre awards, Jacobi has also enjoyed a successful television career, starring in the critically praised adaptation of Robert Graves’s I, Claudius (1976), for which he won a BAFTA; in the titular role in the medieval drama series Cadfael (1994-1998), as Stanley Baldwin in The Gathering Storm (2002), as Stuart Bixby in the ITV comedy Vicious (2013-2015) and as Alan Buttershaw in Last Tango in Halifax (2012-present).

Jacobi has also appeared in a number of films, including The Day of the Jackal (1973), Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Gladiator (2000), Gosford Park (2001), The Riddle (2007), The King’s Speech (2010), My Week with Marilyn (2011), and Cinderella (2015).

He holds a British knighthood and has been appointed a Knight First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog.

Read more about Derek Jacobi on Wikipedia.

Major Awards and Honors

Titles of the British Empire

• 1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire
• 1994: Knight Bachelor

Screen Actors’ Guild Awards (USA)

• 2002: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – “Gosford Park”
• 2011: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – “The King’s Speech”

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards
(USA & Canada)

• 2002: Best Acting Ensemble – “Gosford Park”

Tony Awards (Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) (USA)

• 1985: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play – “Much Ado About Nothing”

Olivier Awards (Great Britain)

• 1983: Best Actor in a Revival – “Cyrano de Bergerac”
• 2009: Best Actor in a Play – “Twelfth Night”

Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards (Great Britain)

• 1983: Best Actor – “Cyrano de Bergerac”
• 1983: Best Actor – “Much Ado About Nothing”

Evening Standard Awards (Great Britain)

• 1983: Evening Standard British Theatre Awards, Best Actor – “Much Ado About Nothing”
• 1987: Evening Standard British Film Awards, Best Actor – “Little Dorrit”
• 1999: Evening Standard British Film Awards, Best Actor – “Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon”

BAFTA Awards (British Academy of Film and Television Arts)

• 1977: BAFTA Television Awards: Best Actor – “I, Claudius”

Edinburgh International Film Festival

• 1998: Best British Performance – “Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon”

Emmy Awards (USA)

• 1989: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special – “The Tenth Man”
• 2001: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series – “Frasier,” episode “The Show Must Go Off”

Online Film Critics Society Award

• 2002: Best Ensemble – “Gosford Park”

satellite Awards

• 2002: Best Ensemble – “Gosford Park”

Helen Hayes Awards (USA)

• 2008: Helen Hayes Tribute for Lifetime Achievement

Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)

• 1989: Knight First Class

Filmography

Movies

• Othello (1965)
  – Role: Cassio
• Interlude (1968)
  – Role: Paul
• Three Sisters (1970)
  – Role: Andrei
• Blue Blood (1973)
  – Role: Gregory
• The Day of the Jackal (1973)
  – Role: Caron
• The Odessa File (1974)
  – Role: Klaus Wenzer
• The Medusa Touch (1978)
  – Role: Townley
• The Human Factor (1979)
  – Role: Arthur Davis
• Charlotte (1981)
  – Role: Daberlohn
• The Secret of NIMH (1982)
  – Role: Nicodemus (voice)
• Enigma (1982)
  – Role: Kurt Limmer
• Little Dorrit (1988)
  – Role: Arthur Clennam
• Henry V (1989)
  – Role: Chorus
• The Fool (1990)
  – Role: Mr. Frederick / Sir John
• Dead Again (1991)
  – Role: Franklyn Madson
• Looking for Richard (1996)
  – Role: Himself
• Hamlet (1996)
  – Role: Claudius
• Basil (1998)
  – Role: Father Frederick
• Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon (1998)
  – Role: Francis Bacon
• Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)
  – Role: Father Leonor Fousnel
• Up at the Villa (2000)
  – Role: Lucky Leadbetter
• Gladiator (2000)
  – Role: Gracchus
• The Body (2001)
  – Role: Father Lavelle
• Gosford Park (2001)
  – Role: Probert
• The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (2001)
  – Role: Nijinsky
• Revelation (2001)
  – Role: Librarian
• Revengers Tragedy (2002)
  – Role: The Duke
• Two Men Went to War (2002)
  – Role: Major Merton
• Strings (2004)
  – Role: Nezo
• Bye Bye Blackbird (2005)
  – Role: Lord Dempsey
• Nanny McPhee (2005)
  – Role: Mr. Wheen
• Underworld: Evolution (2006)
  – Role: Alexander Corvinus
• The Riddle (2007)
  – Role: Charles Dickens
• Airlock or How to Say Goodbye in Space (2007)
  – Role: President
• The Golden Compass (2007)
  – Role: Magisterial Emissary
• A Bunch of Amateurs (2008)
  – Role: Nigel
• Morris: A Life with Bells On (2009)
  – Role: Quentin Neely
• Endgame (2009)
  – Role: Rudolf Agnew
• Adam Resurrected (2009)
  – Role: Dr. Nathan Gross
• Charles Dickens’s England (2009)
  – Role: Himself
• Hippie Hippie Shake (2010)
  – Role: Judge
• There Be Dragons (2010)
  – Role: Honorio
• Ironclad (2010)
  – Role: Cornhill
• The King’s Speech (2010)
  – Role: Cosmo Gordon Lang
• Hereafter (2010)
  – Role: Himself
• Anonymous (2011)
  – Role: Narrator
• My Week with Marilyn (2011)
  – Role: Sir Owen Morshead
• Jail Caesar (2012)
  – Role: Sulla
• Effie (2013)
  – Role: Travers Twiss
• Cinderella (2015)
  – Role: The King

Television

• Man of Straw (1972)
  – Role: Diederich Hessling; 2 episodes.
• The Strauss Family (1972)
  – Role: Joseph Lanner; 2 episodes.
• The Pallisers (1974)
  – Role: Lord Fawn; 8 episodes.
• I, Claudius (1976)
  – Role: Claudius; 12 episodes.
• Philby, Burgess and MacLean (1977)
  – Role: Guy Burgess; TV movie.
• The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare (BBC): Richard II (1978)
  – Role: Richard II
• Minder (1979)
  – Role: Freddie Fenton; episode The Bounty Hunter
• The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare (BBC): Hamlet (1980)
  – Role: Hamlet
• Inside the Third Reich (1982)
  – Role: Adolf Hitler; TV movie.
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1982)
  – Role: Frollo
• Cyrano de Bergerac (1985)
  – Role: Cyrano de Bergerac; TV movie.
• The Secret Garden (1987)
  – Role: Archibald Craven; TV movie.
• Mr Pye (1986)
  – Role: Mr. Pye; 4 episodes.
• The Tenth Man (1988)
  – Role: The Imposter; TV movie.
• The Civil War (1990)
  – Roles: Various; 9 episodes.
• The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1993)
  – Role: Mr Jeremy Fisher; 1 episode.
• Cadfael (1994–1998)
  – Role: Brother Cadfael; 13 episodes.
• Breaking the Code (1996)
  – Role: Alan Turing; TV movie.
• The Wyvern Mystery (2000)
  – Role: Squire Fairfield; TV movie.
• Jason and the Argonauts (2000)
  – Role: Phineas; TV movie.
• Frasier (2001)
  – Role: Jackson Hedley; episode The Show Must Go Off
• The Jury (2002)
  – Role: George Cording QC; 6 episodes.
• The Edwardian Country House (2002)
  – Role: Narrator; all episodes.
• The Gathering Storm (2002)
  – Role: Stanley Baldwin; TV movie.
• London (2004)
  – Role: Tacitus; TV movie.
• The Long Firm (2004)
  – Role: Lord Edward Thursby; 2 episodes.
• Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (2004)
  – Role: Colonel Protheroe
• The Old Curiosity Shop (2007)
  – Role: Grandfather; TV movie.
• Doctor Who (2007)
  – Role: The Master / Professor Yana; episode Utopia
• Mist: The Tale of a Sheepdog Puppy (2007–2009)
  – Role: Narrator; 38 episodes.
• In the Night Garden (2007–2010)
  – Role: Narrator; 100 episodes.
• The Borgias (2011)
  – Role: Cardinal Orsini; 2 episodes.
• Titanic: Blood and Steel (2012)
  – Role: William Pirrie; 12 episodes.
• Last Tango in Halifax (2012—)
  – Role: Alan Buttershaw; 2 series, 6+ episodes.
• Vicious (2013— )
  – Role: Stuart Bixby; 2 series, 12 episodes + 1 Christmas special.
• The Amazing World of Gumball (2014-2016)
  – Role: Narrator, Moon; 2 episodes.

Notable Stage Appearances

• The Suicide (ANTA Playhouse, New York, 1980)
  – Role: Semyon Semyonovich Podsekalnikov
• Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company & Broadway, 1982–1985)
  – Role: Signior Benedick of Padua
• Cyrano de Bergerac (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1983–1985)
  – Role: Cyrano de Bergerac
• Breaking the Code (West End & Broadway, 1986–1988)
  – Role: Alan Turing
• Uncle Vanya (Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, 2000)
  – Role: Ivan Petrovich Voinitsky
• Twelfth Night (Donmar Warehouse, London, 2009)
  – Role: Malvolio
• King Lear (Donmar Warehouse, London, 2010)
  – Role: King Lear
• Romeo and Juliet ( (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company / Garrick Theatre, London, 2016)
  – Role: Mercutio

Links

• Derek Jacobi at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• Derek Jacobi at the Internet Broadway Database
• Derek Jacobi at Britannica.com
• Derek Jacobi’s profile at the Who’s Who online edition (Oxford University Press)
• William Shakespeare’s author page on this blog, Lioness at Large
• Ellis Peters’s author page on this blog, Lioness at Large
• Project: Measure for Measure
• Project: The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael
• Project: On Page and Screen
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• Reviews and blog posts related to Derek Jacobi on this blog, Lioness at Large