Paul Scofield facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Paul Scofield CH CBE
Scofield in 1975
Born	David Paul Scofield (1922-01-21)21 January 1922 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
Died	19 March 2008(2008-03-19) (aged 86) Brighton, East Sussex, England
Resting place	St Mary's Churchyard, Balcombe
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1940–2006
Spouse(s)	Joy Parker ​ (m. 1943)​
Children	2

David Paul Scofield (born January 21, 1922 – died March 19, 2008) was a famous English actor. He had a long career that lasted for sixty years.

Paul Scofield achieved something special called the "Triple Crown of Acting." This means he won an Academy Award (Oscar), an Emmy, and a Tony. He won all three awards in just seven years, which was faster than anyone else at the time.

He won a Tony Award in 1962 for playing Sir Thomas More in the play A Man for All Seasons. Four years later, he won an Oscar for playing the same role in the movie version of the play. This made him one of only a few actors to win both awards for the same character. He also won an Emmy in 1969 for the TV movie Male of the Species.

Even though he preferred acting on stage and spending time with his family, Scofield was known as one of the best actors to perform Shakespeare's plays. He was also nominated for an Oscar for his role in Quiz Show (1994). He won a BAFTA Award for his part in The Crucible (1996). Scofield was offered a knighthood three times but politely turned it down. However, he was given other special honors like the CBE in 1956 and became a Companion of Honour in 2001.

Early Life and Discovering Acting

Paul Scofield was born on January 21, 1922, in Birmingham, England. His family moved to Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, when he was a baby. His father was a headmaster at a school there.

Scofield's parents had different religious backgrounds. His father was Anglican, and his mother was Roman Catholic. He said this made his upbringing a bit confusing.

He also mentioned that he wasn't a great student at school. But when he was twelve, he went to Varndean School in Brighton. There, he discovered the plays of Shakespeare. He loved them and lived for the school's yearly Shakespeare play.

In 1939, when he was seventeen, Scofield left school. He started training at the Croydon Repertory Theatre to become an actor. Soon after World War II began, he tried to join the British Army but was found unfit for service because of a foot problem. He later felt a bit ashamed about this.

Becoming a Star Actor

Paul Scofield started his acting career on stage in 1940. His first performance was in the play Desire Under the Elms. People quickly started comparing him to another famous actor, Laurence Olivier.

He performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and then at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford. In 1947, he starred in Pericles, Prince of Tyre.

In 1948, Scofield played Hamlet in Shakespeare's famous play at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. An actress named Claire Bloom played Ophelia alongside him. Scofield's performance as Hamlet was so good that people called him "The Hamlet of his generation."

One theatre critic said that Scofield's Hamlet was "timeless." He showed a lot of sadness and was like a prisoner stuck in the play's setting. Another person remembered how gently Scofield delivered some of Hamlet's lines, making them sound peaceful.

Claire Bloom, who played Ophelia, later wrote that she had a crush on Scofield during the play. However, Scofield was already happily married and focused on his work.

Scofield once explained that acting on stage takes a lot of energy. He said he liked working with people in the theatre but preferred to be alone when thinking about his roles. He was always thinking about his characters and how to play them.

Famous Roles on Stage and Screen

Paul Scofield was a very versatile actor. He starred in many different types of shows. These included the musical Expresso Bongo (1958) and Peter Brook's famous production of King Lear (1962).

He spent most of his career performing in classic plays. He acted in many Shakespeare plays. He also played the main role in Ben Jonson's Volpone for the Royal National Theatre in 1977.

In an interview in 1994, Scofield talked about why theatre is special. He said that theatre performances are unique because they only exist in your memory. He felt it was more exciting for a performance to stay in someone's mind than to be watched again on video. He also said that the more he learned about acting, the more nervous he became, unlike when he was young and just "had a go."

One of the most important parts of Scofield's career was playing Sir Thomas More in the play A Man for All Seasons, which opened in 1960. Scofield later said this was the only time his natural understanding of a role failed him.

At first, theatre critics gave his performance harsh reviews. This made him start over and focus on the facts of the character. He realized he needed to understand how Thomas More would feel to know how he should sound. He learned the importance of showing sincerity and humility when playing a deeply spiritual man.

Later, filmmaker Fred Zinnemann saw the play and was deeply moved. He remembered how powerful it was to see Thomas More, played by Scofield, stand up to King Henry VIII. More's last words before his execution were, "I die the Kings good servant, but God's first."

When Zinnemann decided to direct the movie version in 1965, the film studio wanted a more famous actor for the lead role. But Zinnemann insisted on casting Scofield. Scofield was surprised to be chosen for the movie because he wasn't well-known in the film world. He said his job was the same, but he focused his thoughts on the camera instead of a live audience.

Zinnemann was very happy with Scofield's performance in the movie. He said that even the film crew was amazed by Scofield's acting. They were "mesmerized by the magic" of his words.

Scofield also appeared in other plays, like Staircase (1966) and A Hotel in Amsterdam (1968). He played Antonio Salieri in the first stage production of Amadeus (1979).

He voiced the Dragon in a children's play called The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew. He also starred in the 1971 film version of King Lear.

His other important movie roles include Colonel von Waldheim in The Train (1964) and Professor Moroi in If Winter Comes (1980). He played poet Mark Van Doren in Robert Redford's film Quiz Show (1994). He was also Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth in the 1996 film The Crucible.

In 1985, Scofield was cast in the film The Shooting Party. However, he had to leave the movie after breaking his leg in an accident on set. The horses pulling a carriage got scared and crashed, throwing the actors out. This injury also stopped him from playing a role in the film Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Actress Helen Mirren, who worked with Scofield, said he was one of their "great, great actors." She felt he aimed for the "soul" of a character. Scofield also played the Ghost in Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 film Hamlet. Mel Gibson, who played Hamlet in that film, looked up to Scofield. But Scofield said Gibson was a very intelligent actor.

Awards and Special Honors

Paul Scofield received many awards and honors throughout his career. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1956.

When he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for A Man for All Seasons, he chose not to go to the ceremony in Los Angeles. When he won, his co-star Wendy Hiller accepted the award for him. Scofield kept his Oscar statue in his workroom but didn't display it much. He said it was nice to get but "not decorative."

He was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Quiz Show. His theatre awards include a 1962 Tony Award for A Man for All Seasons.

In 1969, Scofield became the sixth person to win the "Triple Crown of Acting." This means he won an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony. He won his Emmy Award for Male of the Species. He achieved this in just seven years, which is still a record.

He was also one of only eleven actors to win both a Tony and an Oscar for playing the same role on stage and in a film, which he did for A Man for All Seasons.

Scofield turned down the offer of a knighthood three times. He said he respected those who accepted it, but it wasn't something he wanted for himself. He was appointed a Companion of Honour in 2001. In 2002, he received an honorary degree from the University of Oxford.

In 2004, a survey of actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company named Scofield's performance as King Lear as the greatest Shakespearean performance ever. He also appeared in many radio dramas for BBC Radio 4.

His Personal Life

Paul and Joy Scofield's gravestone in St Mary's churchyard, Balcombe, West Sussex

Paul Scofield married actress Joy Mary Parker on May 15, 1943. They met while acting together in a play where he played Hamlet and she played Ophelia. They decided to get married quickly and did so during a break from a theatre tour.

Paul and Joy Scofield had two children: Martin (born 1945) and Sarah (born 1951). Martin later became a university lecturer. When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Scofield said, "If you have a family, that is how to be remembered." He also said he didn't like birthdays much and enjoyed quiet time at home. A filmmaker named Michael Winner described Paul and Joy Scofield as "one of the few very happily married couples I've ever met."

Later Years and Passing Away

Paul Scofield passed away from leukaemia on March 19, 2008. He was 86 years old. He died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, England. A memorial service was held for him at Westminster Abbey a year after his death. His wife, Joy, passed away four years later in 2012, at the age of 90.

Films Paul Scofield Was In

TV Shows Paul Scofield Was In

Audio Recordings

Paul Scofield lent his voice to many audio dramas and recordings. Some of these include:

• King Lear, where he played the main role.
• Hamlet, where he also played the main role.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• T.S. Eliot's The Family Reunion.
• Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, where he was the narrator.
• Homage to T.S. Eliot, with other famous actors.
• King Lear, a newer recording released in 2002.
• Virgil's The Aeneid, as narrator.
• T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Four Quartets.
• Sandor Marai's Embers, as narrator.
• The Narnia books by C.S. Lewis, as narrator for a radio dramatization.
• Abridged readings of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Bleak House.
• Façade, a musical piece.
• Don Quixote: The Musical.

See also

In Spanish: Paul Scofield para niños