Tom Courtenay
Sir Thomas Daniel Courtenay (/ˈkɔːrtni/; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he achieved prominence in the 1960s as part of actors of the British New Wave. Courtenay received numerous accolades including three BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Silver Bear, and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Emmy Award. He was knighted for his services to cinema and theatre in the 2001 New Year Honours.[1]
This article is about the English actor. For the American athlete, see Tom Courtney.
Tom Courtenay
Actor
1960–present
Courtenay earned the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for his role in the coming-of-age film The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in David Lean's epic Doctor Zhivago (1965). Other notable film roles during this period include Billy Liar (1963), King and Country (1964), King Rat (1965), and The Night of the Generals (1967).
For his performance in the 1983 film adaptation of the play The Dresser, in which he reprised the role of Norman he originated both on the West End and Broadway, Courtenay won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and received Academy and BAFTA Award nominations. His later roles include Last Orders (2001), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Quartet (2012), 45 Years (2015), and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018).
He received two British Academy Television Awards for his performances in the television film A Rather English Marriage (1998) and the first series of the crime drama Unforgotten (2015) as well as a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for the PBS miniseries Little Dorrit (2008).
Early life and education[edit]
Courtenay was born on 25 February 1937 in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Annie Eliza (née Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter in Hull fish docks. He attended Kingston High School and went on to study English at University College London, where he failed his degree.[2] After this he studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.
Personal life[edit]
Courtenay married actress Cheryl Kennedy in 1973. They divorced in 1982. In 1988, he married Isabel Crossley, a stage manager at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester.[4] They have homes in Manchester and Putney in London. In 2000, Courtenay's memoir Dear Tom: Letters From Home was published to critical acclaim. It comprises a selection of the letters exchanged between Courtenay and his mother, interspersed with his own recollections of life as a young student actor in London in the early 1960s.
Courtenay is the President of Hull City AFC's Official Supporters' Club. In 1999, Courtenay was awarded an honorary doctorate by Hull University. In 2018, he was bestowed the Honorary Freedom of the City of Hull.