Stephen Murray

:"This article is for the actor. For the BMX rider, see Stephen Murray (BMX rider).Stephen Murray (born in Partney, Lincolnshire, England, 1912, died 1983) was an English cinema, radio, theatre and television actor.

He found his greatest fame as the new Number 1, later promoted to Commander in "The Navy Lark" on BBC Radio. His film debut was as the second police officer who interrupts an amorous Eliza and Freddy (Wendy Hiller and David Tree) in "Pygmalion" (1938). He was Gladstone to John Gielgud's Disraeli in "The Prime Minister" in 1941. Among his other larger film roles were Uncle Henry in "London Belongs to Me" (1948, heavily made-up to look several decades older) and the lead in Terence Fisher's "Four Sided Triangle" (1953). He once again appeared under heavy make-up as the elderly Dr. Manette in "A Tale of Two Cities" (1958).

Stephen Murray made his stage debut at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1933, and he played such parts as Seyton in "Macbeth", among smaller roles. He later did seasons at the Malvern Festival and at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where he played Hamlet. He worked at the Old Vic in London with Laurence Olivier and Tyrone Guthrie. He also played at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park, and in the West End. At the Westminster Theatre in 1940 he portrayed the title character in John Drinkwater's "Abraham Lincoln". He was in many of the plays of George Bernard Shaw, and he did later engagements at the Mermaid Theatre in London and at Stratford, Ontario. His leading roles on television included Svengali. In 1952 he returned to the Old Vic to play King Lear, and toured Europe in that production. Several years later he also played Lear on radio.

Radio became one of his most triumphant acting areas. He played Macbeth in 1947 with Flora Robson - a month after playing the part on television (with Ruth Lodge), so different were the two medium's audiences deemed to be. He played the part again on radio in 1960. He was a fine Leontes in "The Winter's Tale" in 1951 with Elspeth March and Fay Compton, and again in 1966 with Rachel Gurney and Edith Evans. Similarly he played Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens" both in 1961 and in 1975. In 1964, he played the title role in the monumental BBC Radio production of Marlowe's "Tamburlaine" with Sheila Allen as Zenocrate with Timothy West, Andrew Sachs, Joss Ackland, Bruce Condell and other leading Shakespearian actors of the day. He did two versions of the BBC radio epic "The Rescue" by Edward Sackville-West, where he played Odysseus. Other classic 50s roles included Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus", "John Gabriel Borkman" and "Brand" and Calderon's "The Mayor of Zalamea" (the last now lost.)

Even in the 70s he enjoyed the difficult roles, like Strindberg's "To Damascus" with Zena Walker.

His voice was full of anguish and uncertainty. So he was ideal for "A Hospital Case" by Dino Buzatti, a terrifying play which Camus had translated and adapted for the Paris stage; or new radio work like Peter Tegel's "Rocklife." In 1970 he was the old Prince Bolkonsky in BBC radio's "War and Peace" - a monumental 20 hours of broadcasting.

He tried his hand at everything, including science fiction - e.g. radio's "The Tor Sands Experience" by Bruce Stewart.

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Stephen Murray is the great uncle of the comedian Al Murray (The Pub Landlord)