Sir Michael Hordern
Overview
- Occupation Actor
- Also Schoolteacher
- Birthname Michael Murray Hordern
- Birthdate October 3, 1911
- Birthplace Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England
- Education Brighton College
- Died March 5, 1995 (England)
- Character Vice Admiral Rolland
Biography
Michael Hordern was born 1911. He studied at Britain’s Brighton College and after his examination he started to work as a schoolteacher. But his big interest was acting and after beeing an actor in amateur theatrical in his sparetime he turned pro in 1937. He mad his film debut two years later. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy and return to show business in 1945 and became on of England’s most delightful and prolific character actors. His extensive stage work included two Shakespearean roles in King Lear and The Tempest’s Prospero. These two roles were like if they were made only for him.
Michael Hordern has roles in more than 100 films. He appears as Marley’s Ghost in A Christmas Carol (the Alastair Sim version of 1951), Demosthenes in Alexander the Great, ”Cicero” in Cleopatra and Thomas Boleyn in Anne of a Thousand Days. On TV he appeared as Brownlow in the 1982 TV adaptation of Oliver Twist and as Ivanhoe’s father in Ivanhoe from 1985. Many consider his part, in England Made Me, a disipated, disillusioned Journalist, as his finest film assignment. Other movies where he got significant parts include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Theatre of Blood. You can also hear his voice as offscreen narrator in Barry Lyndon and Young Sherlock Holmes.
Michael Hordern was knighted in 1983, and 10 years later he published his autobiography, A World Elsewhere.
Selected films
- Girl in the News, The - 1940
- Girl in a Million, A - 1946
- Years Between, The - 1946
- Third Time Lucky - 1948
- Christmas Carol, A - 1951
- Flesh & Blood - 1951
- Magic Box, The - 1951
- Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men, The - 1952
- You Know What Sailors Are - 1954
- Alexander the Great - 1956
- Storm Over the Nile - 1956
- Spaniard«s Curse, The - 1958
- Cleopatra - 1963
- Genghis Khan - 1965
- Spy Who Came in From the Cold, The - 1965
- I'll Never Forget What's His Name - 1967
- Anne of the Thousand Days - 1969
- Where Eagles Dare - 1969
- Alice«s Adventures in Wonderland - 1972
- England Made Me - 1973
- Lucky Lady - 1975
- Medusa Touch, The - 1978
- Gandhi - 1982
- Missionary, The - 1982
- Ivanhoe (TV) - 1985
- Young Sherlock Holmes - 1985
- Labyrinth - 1986
- Fool, The - 1990
Curiosa
- Michael Hordern were married to Grace Eveline Mortimer from 1943 to her death in 1986. They had one daughter.