Sebastian Shaw (actor)

Sebastian Lewis Shaw (29 May 1905 – 23 December 1994) was an English actor, theatre director, novelist, playwright and poet.

During his 65-year career, he appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions.

Shaw was born and brought up in Holt, Norfolk, and made his acting debut at age eight at a London theatre.

He studied acting at Gresham's School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Shaw made his acting debut at age eight on the London stage as one of the juvenile band in The Cockyolly Bird at the Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea on New Year's Day of 1914.

During his time at Gresham's, he also played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, his first of many performances from the works of William Shakespeare; schoolmate W. H. Auden, who would go on to become a highly regarded poet, portrayed Katherina in the play opposite him.

After Gresham's, Shaw planned to become a painter and spent two years at the Slade School of Fine Art before switching his interests to acting; regarding the change, his father informed him, "I wondered when you would come to your senses."

He earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Bloomsbury, London.

Actor Charles Laughton enrolled in the academy at the same time as Shaw, who later said his first impression of Laughton was "a poor fat boy".

Although Shaw and his fellow students initially felt pity for Laughton, they were quickly impressed with his talent.

Shaw appeared in regional theatres in Bristol, Liverpool and Hull.

In 1925, he performed in London as the Archangel in The Sign of the Sun, and played first Lewis Dodd and then the Major in separate productions of The Constant Nymph.

He received instruction in verse speaking under famed theatre director William Bridges-Adams in the Stratford Festival Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, where he played some of his early Shakespeare roles, including Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Ferdinand in The Tempest and Prince Hal in Henry IV in 1926.

He was criticised for the audacity he displayed in the latter role.

When Prince Hal takes on his kingship and rejects the self-indulgent character Falstaff, convention of the day called for Prince Hal to change from a jovial drinking partner to an arrogant snob, but Shaw saw the view as simple-minded and contradictory toward Shakespeare's script.

Instead, he displayed inward regrets about leaving Falstaff and accepting the new responsibilities.

The interpretation was criticised at the time but, years later, became the standard approach to the character.

Although he worked primarily on the London stage, he made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played one of the two murderers in Rope's End.

Shaw made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played the murderer Wyndham Brandon in Patrick Hamilton's stage thriller, Rope's End.

In 1929, he married Margaret Delamere and lived with her in the Albany, an apartment complex off of Piccadilly in London.

He appeared in his first film, Caste, in 1930 and quickly began to create a name for himself in films.

He described himself as a "rotten actor" as a youth and said his success was primarily due to his good looks.

He claimed to mature as a performer only after returning from service in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Shaw was particularly known for his performances in productions of Shakespeare plays which were considered daring and ahead of their time.

The first film Shaw appeared in was Caste in 1930.

He returned to the works of William Shakespeare in 1931, playing Claudio in Measure for Measure at London's Fortune Playhouse.

The two would eventually have a daughter together named Drusilla (born 1932).

In 1932 he once again played Romeo at the Embassy Theatre.

Other works around this period included productions of Ivor Novello's Sunshine Sisters in 1933, Double Door alongside actress Sybil Thorndike in 1934, J.M. Barrie's A Kiss for Cinderella in 1937, and Robert Morley's Goodness, How Sad in 1938.

He soon began to make a name for himself in films such as Brewster's Millions in 1935, Men Are Not Gods in 1936 and Farewell Again in 1937.

He was making about £300 a week during this stage of his career, a significant sum higher than the salary of the British Prime Minister of the time.

He brought what the Daily Telegraph described as a "smooth villainy" to the role of Frank Sutton in The Squeaker in 1937, while in 1939 he played the hero Cdr.

David Blacklock alongside Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson in The Spy in Black, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's first collaboration.

Shaw described himself as a film buff and called Academy Award-winning actor Spencer Tracy his "great god of all screen actors"; he was so impressed by Tracy's technique that he claimed to become depressed while watching his films because Tracy made acting look simple, while Shaw claimed to find it so difficult to master himself.

When World War II broke out, Shaw took a break from acting and joined the Royal Air Force.

In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he remained for a decade and delivered some of his most acclaimed performances.

He also wrote several poems and a novel, The Christening, in 1975.

In 1983, he appeared in the third installment of the original Star Wars Trilogy, Return of the Jedi, as the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, as well as Skywalker's ghost in the original 1983 theatrical release of the film.

Shaw was one of three children born to Geoffrey Shaw, the music master at Gresham's School, a Norfolk independent boarding school, where Shaw began his education.

His uncle, Martin Shaw, was a composer of church music, and his family's love of music heavily influenced Shaw's career path.