Misplaced Pages

Robert Atkins (actor)

Article snapshot taken from[REDACTED] with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
English actor (1886–1972) For other people named Robert Atkins, see Robert Atkins (disambiguation).

Robert AtkinsCBE
"Old Vic" Shakespeare Co. photo
BornRobert Alexander Atkins Jr.
(1886-08-10)10 August 1886
Dulwich, London, England, UK
Died9 February 1972(1972-02-09) (aged 85)
London, England, UK
Occupation(s)Actor, producer, director
Spouse(s)Mary Sumner
Ethel Davey

Robert Alexander Atkins Jr. CBE (10 August 1886 – 9 February 1972) was an English actor, producer and director.

Biography

Robert Alexander Atkins Jr. was born in Dulwich, London, England, to Annie Evans and Robert Atkins Sr. He had a brother, Lawrence. Atkins was most famous for his association with the theatre. An early graduate of Beerbohm Tree's Academy of Dramatic Art, he joined the Old Vic company in 1915, and became Director of Productions for Lilian Baylis from 1921 to 1926. He also appeared many times on film and in television, although not with the success of his theatre career.

His first film was a 1913 production of Hamlet, as the First Player, with Johnston Forbes-Robertson in the title role. Atkins went on to appear in several other film and television roles over the next 50 years with the most famous production possibly being A Matter of Life and Death. He also produced and/or directed several adaptations of William Shakespeare plays during the 1940s and 1950s for British TV. He was director of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford, and along with Sydney Carroll, also founded Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

Personal life and death

Robert Atkins was married twice: to Mary Sumner whom he divorced, and to Ethel Davey, a film editor. He died in London, England in 1972.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1935 Peg of Old Drury Dr. Samuel Johnson
1936 The Cardinal General Belmont
Everything Is Thunder Adjutant
1937 Victoria the Great Garter King-at-Arms
1941 He Found a Star Frank Forrester
1942 Let the People Sing Hassock
The Great Mr. Handel
1946 A Matter of Life and Death The Vicar
1949 That Dangerous Age George Drummond
Black Magic King Louis XV
1951 I'll Never Forget You Dr. Samuel Johnson Uncredited

References

  1. "Atkins, (Alexander) Robert (1886–1972), actor and theatre director". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/40449.
  2. ^ "ROBERT ATKINS, 85, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR". The New York Times. 11 February 1972.
  3. Pigott-Smith, Tim (1 June 2017). Do You Know Who I Am?: A Memoir. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781472934253 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "STR Publications: Robert Atkins – An Unfinished Autobiography". str.org.uk.
  5. "BFI Screenonline: Hamlet (1913) Credits". BFI Screenonline.
  6. "Robert Atkins". Archived from the original on 9 October 2018.
  7. "Scenes from Shakespeare: The Merry Wives of Windsor (BBC, 1937)". 3 April 2014.
  8. "BFI Screenonline: The Tempest on Screen". BFI Screenonline.
  9. "Touchstone : Online Exhibition". touchstone.bham.ac.uk.
  10. "Robert Atkins – Our Heritage – Open Air Theatre". openairtheatreheritage.com.

External links

Categories:
Robert Atkins (actor) Add topic