British actor and director (born 1948)
Mark Wing-Davey (born 30 November 1948) is a British actor and director. He portrayed Zaphod Beeblebrox in the radio and television versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
Early life
The son of actor Peter Davey and actress Anna Wing ,[ 2] Wing-Davey attended Woolverstone Hall School in Suffolk before studying English at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge , where he was a member of the Footlights between 1967 and 1970.[ 3] [ 4]
Career
He had a featured role in the 1976 miniseries The Glittering Prizes .[ 5] This role was later cited by Geoffrey Perkins [ 6] as the likely reason for his being cast in arguably his most memorable role, that of the two-headed Galactic President, Zaphod Beeblebrox , in the radio and TV versions of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , written by Douglas Adams . He played a barrister in some episodes of the ITV television series Crown Court , King Henry V in Episode 3 of James Burke 's Connections ,[ 7] a record company executive in the film Breaking Glass (1980) and an accountant in Absolutely Fabulous .[ 8]
In the 1983 television production of Alan Bennett 's An Englishman Abroad , Wing-Davey played Prince Hamlet in the re-enactment of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 's 1958 tour of Hamlet to Moscow.[ 9] His theatre credits include James Stock 's Star-Gazy Pie and Sauerkraut (Royal Court Theatre , 1995) and Caryl Churchill 's Mad Forest , for which he won an Obie award .[ 10] He was the first Artistic Director of The Actors Centre, London.[citation needed ]
In 2003, he returned to the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox for the Above the Title production of the Hitchhiker's Guide Tertiary to Quintessential Phase radio dramas for BBC Radio 4 . More recently he has provided the voice of Judge Ghis in the English version of Final Fantasy XII .[ 11] Wing-Davey directed the off-Broadway production of Unconditional by Brett C. Leonard at The Public Theater . It was put up by Philip Seymour Hoffman 's theater group, LAByrinth Theater Company , of which he is a member. It opened in February 2008.[citation needed ]
In May 2008, New York University 's Tisch School of the Arts announced that Wing-Davey had been named Chairman of, and arts professor in, the School's Graduate Acting Program.[ 12] He reprised the role of Zaphod Beeblebrox in 2012 for a live tour of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . Also in 2012, Wing-Davey directed the world premiere of Brett C. Leonard's "Ninth and Joanie" in a LAByrinth Theater Company production.[citation needed ] In 2013, he directed William Shakespeare 's Pericles, Prince of Tyre at Berkeley Repertory Theatre .[citation needed ]
Personal life
In 1973, while working as a theatre company member in Sheffield , he met actress Anita Carey . The two began living together the following year after they appeared in a production together. They got married in 2002. The pair had two children together. Carey died in 2023.[ 13]
References
^ Mark Wing-Davey profile , researcha.com; accessed 25 November 2015. [dead link ]
^ Profile , bbc.co.uk; accessed 25 November 2015.
^ The Making of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
^ 'Cambridge tripos: results in Economics and English,' The Times , 1 July 1970.
^ The Glittering Prizes details, Internet Movie Database; accessed 25 November 2015.
^ The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts . Douglas Adams , edited by Geoffrey Perkins . First US Printing, Harmony Books, New York, NY, USA. 1985. ISBN 0-517-55950-1
^ Connections details , imdb.com; accessed 25 November 2015.
^ Profile , bbc.co.uk; accessed 25 November 2015.
^ "An Englishman Abroad (1983)" . BFI . Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2023 .
^ Mark Wing-Davey profile , americanrepertorytheater.org; accessed 25 November 2015.
^ "Mark Wing Davey (visual voices guide)" . Behind The Voice Actors . Retrieved 4 July 2023 .
^ "NYU Tisch School of the Arts Appoints Mark Wing-Davey Chair of Graduate Acting Program" (Press release). New York University . 12 May 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2016 .
^ Hayward, Anthony (6 August 2023). "Anita Carey obituary" . The Guardian . Retrieved 6 August 2023 .
External links
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