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He was considered an actor's actor. Paul Scofield leapt
to international fame with his Oscar winning performance
in "A Man for All Seasons"(1966) as Sir Thomas More who
stood up to King Henry VIII (brilliantly played by the late
Robert Shaw) when Henry rejected the Catholic Church as
a means to obtain a divorce and remarry so he could sire
an heir. More's conscience would not allow him to be drawn
into Henry's scheme choosing to retire as chancellor rather
than give approval to Henry's plan to reject the church
so he could sire an heir. ***
Scofield could have used "A Man for All Seasons" to
leap to the front ranks of lead actors in Hollywod. Instead,
he chose to pursue those roles that interested him whether
they be on stage, in movie theaters or on TV. He followed
his own muse believing "the play's the thing" after all.
As a result, Scofield isn't as well known as some of his
contemporaries but those film roles he essayed were played
brilliantly whether they were supporting roles as in "Quiz
Show" where he played Mark Van Doren or his next-to-last
film role as Judge Thomas Danforth in the film adaptation
of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". ***
Scofield grew up in West Sussex and fell in love with
acting early veering away from his father's profession as
a schoolmaster. He achieved his early success playing the
lead in "Henry V" continuing to tackle a variety of Shakespeare's
characters including Cloten in "Cymbeline" and the title
role in "Hamlet". Scofield made his first appearance in
1955's "That Lady" in a supporting role as King Philip of
Spain performing opposite Olivia de Havilland. It would
be three years before he made his next film "Carve Her Name
with Pride" made by Lewis Gilbert opposite Virginia McKenna.
His first role in a major Hollywood project was for John
Frankenheimer in his action thriller "The Train" playing
the villain Col. Von Waldheim opposite Burt Lancaster and
Jeanne Moreau. ***
His signature role in "A Man for All Seasons" came
about for the film version when he won a number of awards
for his performance of Robert Bolt's play on the London
stage. He played the role on Broadway in 1964 prior to being
cast in Fred Zinnemann's film version of the play after
Richard Burton turned down the role. The original choice
to play More Lawrence Olivier (by the producers) was fought
by director Fred Zinnemann who saw Scofield's performance
and was bowled over by him. Scofield spent much of the rest
of the decade alternating between stage, TV and film projects
appearing in "Tell Me Lies" and "Male of the Species". ***
During the 70's he tackled a variety of roles from
King Lear in a film version directed by Peter Brook to a
supporting role in Michael Winner's thriller "Scorpio" featuring
Burt Lancaster and the French actor Alain Delon. Scofield
made an interesting mixture of films in between his stage
work throughout the 80's and early 90's. ***
Scofield's last project was as the voice of Boxer in
a TV adaptation of "Animal Farm". His rich, rumbling voice
added character to anything he did whether it was something
as simple as narration for a documentary to a project like
the live action adaptation of George Orwell's novel. ***
Scofield was an intensely private man so it's understandable
that he chose not to advertise his battle with leukemia.
He is survived by his wife Joy Parker and his children Martin
Scofield & Sarah Scofield. His diversity proved that he
was, indeed, a man for all seasons.
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