Tony Church

Tony Church
Born	James Anthony Church (1930-03-11)11 March 1930 London, England
Died	25 March 2008(2008-03-25) (aged 77) Oxford, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1953–2007

James Anthony Church (11 May 1930 – 25 March 2008)^[1] was an English actor, who has appeared on stage and screen. In 1989 he became the Dean of the National Theatre Conservatory, which is the teaching arm of the Denver Center Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado.

Stage

Church was educated at Hurstpierpoint College, and Clare College, Cambridge.^[2] In 1953 when fellow Cambridge student Peter Hall directed his first professional production—Pirandello's Henry IV at the Arts Theatre, London—Church was a performer. In 1960 Hall set up the new Royal Shakespeare Company and Church joined him as a founder member.

He was a regular performer with the company until 1987. In 1988 Church took leading parts in Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, once again under the direction of Peter Hall, at London's National Theatre. He appeared for the last time on the Stratford stage on 31 March 2007, in a special programme marking the closure of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.^[3]

He was appointed Director of Drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1982, leaving to take up the post with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in 1989.

Film and television

He appeared in Work Is a Four-Letter Word (1968), On Giant's Shoulders (1979), Tess (1979), and Krull (1983). In the 1963 BBC production of As You Like It he played Duke Frederick. Later he played Frederick's banished brother, Duke Senior, in the 1978 BBC Television Shakespeare production. He also had small roles as Squire Bancroft in Lillie and Samuel Hoare in Edward & Mrs. Simpson.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	Work Is a Four-Letter Word	Mr. Arkwright
1979	Tess	Parson Tringham
1982	The Plague Dogs	Civil Servant #3	Voice
1983	Krull	Turold

References

1. Moore, John (25 March 2008). "Tony Church: Consummate man of theater". The Denver Post. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
2. Coveney, Michael (28 March 2008). "Obituary: Tony Church". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
3. Ward, David (2 April 2007). "Exeunt all as Stratford's actors prepare to tread new boards". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2007.

Other sources

• Trowbridge, Simon (17 December 2008). "Church, Tony". Stratfordians: a Biographical Dictionary of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Oxford, England: Editions Albert Creed. ISBN 978-0-9559830-0-9.
• Who's Who (2007): James Anthony Church
• A Stage for a Kingdom (2013) Tony Church

External links

• Tony Church at IMDb
• Obituary, The Guardian, 28 March 2008
• Obituary, The Independent, 31 March 2008
• Obituary, The Times, 2 April 2008