Anton Rodgers

Infobox actor
name = Anton Rodgers


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birthdate = Birth date|1933|1|10|df=y
location = Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
deathdate = death date and age|2007|12|1|1933|10|1|df=y
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Anton Rodgers (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director, best known for his appearances in television sitcoms. [cite news |title= Anton Rodgers |work=telegraph.co.uk |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/12/03/db0301a.xml |date=2007-12-03 |accessdate=2007-12-03] [ cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7126800.stm |title=Actor Anton Rodgers dies aged 74 |accessdate=2007-12-04 |format= |work=BBC News Online ]

His early education was at Westminster School. Later he was educated at the Italia Conti Academy and LAMDA. He appeared on stage from the age of 14. He was well known for his television performances, specifically his long-running roles in the television sitcoms "Fresh Fields" in the 1980s and "May to December" from 1989 to 1994.

However, he also had a long career as an actor on both stage and film, with his stage roles ranging from contemporary comedy and satirical farce to Restoration comedy, Ibsen, Shaw and Wilde, and Peter Nichols. He appeared in films such as "The Fourth Protocol" (1987) and "Scrooge" (1970) (in which he performed the Academy Award-nominated Best Original Song "Thank You Very Much" while dancing on Scrooge's coffin). He also narrated the children's animated TV series "Old Bear Stories".

Rodgers' second wife was the actress Elizabeth Garvie, whom he met while filming the 1982 drama series, "Something in Disguise". They often appeared on stage together, and toured giving readings from the works of Jane Austen and Robert Browning, among others.

Theatre

Anton Rodgers made his first West End appearance in 1947, aged 14, in "Carmen" at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He followed this in 1948 with a tour of an adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" playing Pip, and the title role in a revival of Terence Rattigan's "The Winslow Boy" which toured the UK in 1949. After repertory experience at Birmingham, Northampton and Hornchurch, he trained at LAMDA.

Returning to London in November 1957 he joined the cast of "The Boy Friend" at Wyndham's Theatre. Thereafter his credits include:
*Fingers in "The Crooked Mile", Cambridge Theatre, September 1959
*Appeared in the revue "And Another Thing", Fortune Theatre, October 1960
*Appeared in the revue "Twists", Arts Theatre, February 1962; and Edinburgh Festival, August 1962
*Withers and Tim in John Osborne's double-bill, "Plays for England", Royal Court, July 1962
*He was a member of the original cast of the musical "Pickwick", in which he played Mr Jingle, Saville Theatre July 1963; makng his New York debut in he same role at the 46th Street Theatre, October 1965
*Felix in "The Owl and the Pussycat", Criterion Theatre, February 1966
*Chichester Festival season 1967: Francis Archer in "The Beaux Stratagem"; Randall Utterword in "Heartbreak House"; and Fadinard in the Labiche farce "An Italian Straw Hat"
*Title role in "Henry V", Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, March 1968
*Vladimir in "Waiting for Godot", University Theatre, Manchester, 1968
*Directed "A Piece of Cake" and "Grass Roots" at Leatherhead, 1968
*Devised and co-directed "We Who Are About To..." with George Melly at Hampstead Theatre, February 1969; eight one-act plays presented in a modified form as "Mixed Doubles" at the Comedy Theatre, April 1969
*Dr Stockman in "An Enemy of the People", Harrogate, August 1969
*Directed "The Fantasticks", Hampstead, May 1970, and took this production and "The Rainmaker" to the Ibiza Festival
*Directed "The Roses of Eyam" and "The Taming of the Shrew" at the Northcott Theatre, Exeter, 1970
*Gerald in "The Formation Dancers", Hampstead Theatre, January 1971
*Frank in "Forget-Me-Not Lane" (Peter Nichols), Greenwich Theatre, then Apollo Theatre, April 1971
*Macheath in "The Threepenny Opera", Stratford Festival, Ontario. 1972
*Dr Rank in "A Doll's House] ", Criterion Theatre, February 1973
*Hildy Johnson in "The Front Page". National Theatre production touring Australia, 1974
*Lord Henry Wotton in "The Picture of Dorian Gray", Greenwich Theatre, February 1975
*Directed "Death of a Salesman", Oxford Playhouse, October1975
*Astrov in "Uncle Vanya", Oxford Playhouse, December 1975
*Jack Manningham in "Gaslight", Criterion Theatre, March 1976
*Directed "Are You Now or Have You Ever Been...?", Bush Theatre, June 1977
*Directed "Flashpoint", New End Theatre, December 1978; Mayfair Theatre, February 1979
*Leading role in the 'musical entertainment' "Songbook", Globe Theatre, July 1979
*Jim in "Passion Play" (Peter Nichols), RSC Aldwych Theatre, January 1981
*Walter Burns in "Windy City", Victoria Palace, July 1982
*Richard de Beauchamp in "Saint Joan" (George Bernard Shaw), National Theatre Olivier, February 1984
*Tudor Phillips in "Some Singing Blood", Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, March 1992
*Gerry Stratton in "Time of My Life" (Alan Ayckbourn), Vaudeville Theatre, August 1993
*Dr Feldman in "Duet for One" revival (Tom Kempinski), Riverside Studios. May 1996
*Etienne in "Under the Doctor", Comedy Theatre. February 2001
*Grandpa Potts in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", London Palladium, April 2002

elected filmography

* "Rotten to the Core" (1965)
* "Scrooge" (1970)
* "The Man Who Haunted Himself" (1970)
* "The Day of the Jackal" (1973)
* "The Fourth Protocol" (1987)
* "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988)
* "Impromptu" (1989)
* "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993)

Television

* "The Old Curiosity Shop" as Dick Swiveller
* "Danger Man" as Attala
* "Man in a Suitcase" as Max Stein
* "The Prisoner" episode "The Schizoid Man" as Number Two.
* "Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)" episode 16 "When the Spirit Moves You" as Calvin Bream
* "The Elusive Pimpernel" (1969) as Sir Percy Blakeney
* "" as Scone
* "Jason King" as Philippe de Brion
* "" as Newdigate
* "Murder Most English" as Detective Inspector Purbright
* "" as Ken Aspen
* "Lillie" as Edward Langtry
* "Fresh Fields" as William Fields
* "French Fields" as William Fields
* "Noah's Ark" as Noah Kirby
* "Disraeli" as Bentinck
* "Zodiac" as David Gradley
* "After the War" as Samuel Jordan
* "May to December" as Alec Callender
* "" as Lord James Chetwood
* "Longford" (2006) as William Whitelaw

References

*citation|title=Who's Who in the Theatre|editor=Ian Herbert, Christine Baxter and Robert E. Finlay|publisher=Gale|location=Detroit|date=1981|isbn=978-081030234-1|edition=17th
*Theatre Record and its annual Indexes

External links

*imdb name|id=0734668|name=Anton Rodgers
*ibdb name|id=108745|name=Anton Rodgers
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2993905.ece Obituary in "The Times", 4 December 2007]
*cite news |first=Patrick |last=Newley |title=Actor Anton Rodgers dies |work=The Stage |url=http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/19016/actor-anton-rodgers-dies |date=2007-12-03 |accessdate=2007-12-03

Persondata
NAME= Rodgers, Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Actor
DATE OF BIRTH= Birth date|1933|1|10|df=y
PLACE OF BIRTH= Wisbech, Cambridgeshire
DATE OF DEATH= 2007-12-1
PLACE OF DEATH=