Derek Jacobi

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.

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