Sir Robert Graham Stephens (14 July 193112 November 1995) was an English actor in the early years of Britain's Royal National Theatre.

Early life Robert Graham Stephens was born on 14 July 1931 in Shirehampton, Bristol, the eldest of three children of shipyard labourer and costing surveyor Reuben Stephens (19051985) and chocolate-factory worker Gladys Millicent (née Deverill; 19061975). When aged 18, he won a scholarship to Esme Church's Bradford Civic Theatre School in Yorkshire, where he met his first wife Nora, a fellow student.

Career Stephens's first professional engagement was with the Caryl Jenner Mobile Theatre, which he followed in 1951 by a year of more challenging parts in repertory at the Royalty Theatre, Morecambe, followed by seasons of touring and at the Hippodrome, Preston. London director Tony Richardson saw a performance at the Royalty; this led to an offer of a place in the "momentous" first season of English Stage Company at the Royal Court in 1956.

Stephens appeared in two versions of Epitaph for George Dillon on Broadway during the 1958–59 season for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Stephens's early films included A Taste of Honey (1961), Cleopatra (1963), and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), with his then wife Maggie Smith. He also had a minor role as Prince Escalus in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet (1968), as well as a starring role in Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) and the gothic horror film The Asphyx (1972).

Stephens played Atahuallpa in the original 1964 National Theatre production of The Royal Hunt of the Sun. He and Smith appeared together on stage and in film, notably in The Recruiting Officer at the Old Vic and the film version of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969. However, following his departure from the National Theatre in 1970 and the break-up of their marriage in 1973, he suffered a career slump, not helped by heavy drinking and a breakdown.

Although Stephens continued to work on stage (notably in the National Theatre's The Mysteries in 1986), film (The Fruit Machine (1988), in 1988—titled Wonderland in the US—and Kenneth Branagh's Henry V), and television (notably in the role of Abner Brown in the 1984 BBC TV dramatisation of the children's classic The Box of Delights and as the Master of an Oxford college in an episode of Inspector Morse).

It was not until the 1990s that he re-established himself at the forefront of his profession, when the Royal Shakespeare Company invited him to play Falstaff in Henry IV for director Adrian Noble (opening April 1991), the title roles in Julius Caesar (director Steven Pimlott) later in the year and then King Lear, again for Noble, in May 1993. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1993 for Best Actor, for his performance as Falstaff.

Stephens provided the voice of Aragorn in the 1981 BBC Radio serialisation of The Lord of the Rings. In 1985, he directed the British premiere production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley at the Gate Theatre, London.

Stephens was knighted as a Knight Bachelor in the 1995 New Years Honours List "For services to Drama".

Personal life and death Stephens was married four times: 1951: to Nora Ann Simmons; they had one child and divorced in 1952 1956: to Tarn Bassett; they had one child and divorced in 1967 1967: to Maggie Smith; they had two sons, the actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens and divorced in 1975 1995: to Belfast-born Patricia Quinn

Following years of ill health, Stephens died on 12 November 1995, aged 64, due to complications during surgery, a little under a year after having been knighted.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes 1956 War and Peace Officer Talking with Natasha Uncredited 1960 Circle of Deception Captain Stein 1961 A Taste of Honey Peter Smith Pirates of Tortuga Henry Morgan The Queen's Guards Henry Wynne-Walton Lunch Hour The Man 1962 The Inspector Roger Dickens Released as Lisa in USA 1963 The Small World of Sammy Lee Gerry Sullivan Cleopatra Germanicus 1966 Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment Charles Napier 1968 Romeo and Juliet The Prince of Verona 1969 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie Teddy Lloyd 1970 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes 1972 The Asphyx Sir Hugo Cunningham Travels with My Aunt Ercole Visconti 1974 Luther Johan Von Eck 1977 The Duellists General Treillard At Night All Cats Are Crazy Charles Watson 1978 The Shout Chief Medical Officer 1981 The Games of Countess Dolingen The Professor 1983 Ill Fares the Land 1986 Comrades James Frampton 1987 High Season Konstantinis Empire of the Sun Mr. Lockwood 1988 American Roulette Screech The Fruit Machine Vincent Ada in the Jungle Lord Gordon Testimony Vsevolod Meyerhold 1989 Henry V Ancient Pistol 1990 Wings of Fame Merrick The Bonfire of the Vanities Sir Gerald Moore The Children Azariah Dobree 1991 The Pope Must Die The Camarlengo 30 Door Key Prof. Pimco Afraid of the Dark Dan Burns 1992 Chaplin Ted the Drunk 1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer Poe's teacher The Secret Rapture Max Lopert Century Mr. Reisner 1995 England, My England John Dryden (final film role)

Television

Year Title Role Notes 1956 Nom-de-Plume John Episode: The Counting House Clerk 1964 Channing Paddy Riordan Episode: A Bang and a Whimper First Night Arnold Claybill Episode: The Improbable Mr Claybill 1971 The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Max Carrados Episode: The Missing Witness Sensation 1974 QB VII Robert Highsmith TV miniseries, 3 episodes1976GangstersSir George Jeavons2 episodes 1978 Holocaust Uncle Kurt Dorf TV miniseries, 4 episodes1980Lady KillersEdward Marshall Hall1 episode 1982 Anyone for Denis? Schubert TV movie 1983 Studio Lyndsay 7 episodes 1984 The Box of Delights Abner Brown 6 episodes, recurring role Fortunes of War Bill Castlebar 3 episodes 1985 By the Sword Divided Sir Ralph Winter 1986 Hell's Bells Bishop Godfrey Hethercote 6 episodes 1987 Inspector Morse Sir Wilfred Mulryne Episode: The Settling of the Sun 1988–1989 War and Remembrance SS Sturmbannführer Karl Rahm TV mini series, 3 episodes 1989 South Bank Show Raymond Chandler TV arts series, 1 episode, dramatised readings 1990 The Storyteller: Greek Myths Hades 1 episode 1994–1995 99-1 Commander Oakwood 7 episodes

See also List of actors in Royal Shakespeare Company productions List of British actors List of Royal National Theatre Company actors

References

Bibliography Stephens, Robert; Coveney, Michael. (1995). Knight Errant. Hodder and Stoughton Stevens, Christopher. (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life of Kenneth Williams. John Murray McFarlane, Brian. (2005). The Encyclopaedia of British Film. Methuen, 2nd edition

External links

Portraits of Stephens at the National Portrait Gallery