Nicholas Pennell

Nicholas Pennell
Born	19 November 1938(1938-11-19) Brixham, England
Died	22 February 1995(1995-02-22) (aged 56) Ontario, Canada
Occupation	actor

Nicholas Pennell (born 19 November 1938 in Brixham, Devon, England - 22 February 1995) was an English actor who appeared frequently on film and television in the 1960s and emigrated to Stratford, Ontario, Canada where he became a stalwart of the Stratford Festival.

He was educated at Allhallows College, Lyme Regis and trained at RADA. He then appeared in repertory theatre. On television he appeared in The Saint, The Flaxton Boys, The Forsyte Saga as Michael Mont and in 6 episodes of Doctor Who entitled Colony in Space.

On film he appeared as an RAF pilot in Battle of Britain (1969) and in Only When I Larf (1968) as Spencer.

In 1972, he joined the Stratford Festival company upon the urging of William Hutt. In his first season, he appeared as Orlando in As You Like opposite Carole Shelley as Rosalind. The following year he returned to star as Pericles in 1973 in a production designed by Leslie Hurry and directed by Jean Gascon.

When Robin Phillips became Artistic Director in 1975, he found a familiar face. The two had worked together in the film of David Copperfield, and Phillips too was also in the Forsyte Saga. Phillips recruited Pennell to join his young company and perform in The Comedy of Errors and Two Gentleman of Verona. 1976 brought Hamlet and Ariel in the Tempest. He often said he worshipped Phillips as an actor.

Pennell was now a leading member of the company and passionate about the Festival and acting Shakespeare became his vocation. He was a generous company member speaking to student groups and mentoring young actors. In 24 seasons he played a wide range of characters from Stephano in the Tempest, Iago, Richard 11, the Fool in Lear, Sassoon in Not About Heroes, to King John.

He can be seen on DVD in the role of Malvolio in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth night (1986) CBC Home Video, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, based on the 1985 Stratford Shakespeare Festival production.

All featured his melodious voice, his supreme intelligence, and his love of the language.

Pennell died on February 22, 1995 of lymphatic cancer at the age of 56.

Little is known about Pennell's private life beyond his homosexuality.^[1] A biography was published in 2005 by Mary Z. Maher.^[2]

References

1. ^ Keith Garebian, Book Review: "Actor Nicholas Pennell" by Mary Z. Maher
2. ^ Mary Z. Maher, Actor Nicholas Pennell: Risking Enchantment (Baltimore, Maryland: PublishAmerica, 2005), ISBN 1-4137-3808-7

Persondata
Name	Pennell, Nicholas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	19 November 1938
Place of birth	Brixham, England
Date of death	22 February 1995
Place of death	Ontario, Canada