Emrys James

Emrys James Biography

Emrys James (1 September 1928 " 5 February 1989) was a Welsh Shakespearean actor. He also performed in many theatre and TV parts between 1960 and 1989, and was an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He was born in Machynlleth, the son of a railwayman, and attended the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Selected theatre work

After training at RADA, in 1953 James joined Peter Hall and John Barton's Oxford Playhouse-based Elizabethan Theatre Company. In 1956 he played his first season at Stratford, taking the roles of Guildernstern, Salerio in The Merchant of Venice and Claudio in Measure for Measure. Seasons at the Bristol Old Vic and the Old Vic, London, followed.

Notable roles at the RSC included Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1968; Gower in Pericles, 1969; Feste in Twelfth Night, 1969; The Boss in Günter Grass' The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising, 1970; The Cardinal in John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, 1971; Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, 1971; Iago in Othello, 1971; the title role in King John, 1974; Mephistopheles in Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, 1974; Chorus in Henry V, 1975; the title role in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, 1975"76; York in Henry VI, parts I, II and III, 1977"78; Jaques in As You Like It, 1977; Edgar in Strindberg's The Dance of Death, 1978; Cassius in Julius Caesar, 1983; Malvolio in Twelfth Night, 1984; and Sir Giles Overreach in Philip Massinger's A New Way to Pay Old Debts, 1984.

In 1981, he played Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Selected TV and films

Z-Cars (1963)
Moulded in Earth (1965)
Talking to a Stranger (TV, dir. Christopher Morahan, 1966) as Gordon Lester
Wessex Tales (TV, 1973) as Dr. Grove
Softly Softly (TV, 1973) as Jack Hodder
Seven of One (TV, 1973) as Reverend Simmonds
Pygmalion (TV, 1973) as Doolittle
Candide (TV, 1973) as Dr. Pangloss
Fall of Eagles (1974)
Days of Hope (TV, dir. Ken Loach, 1975)
The Man in The Iron Mask (1977) as Percerin
Testament of Youth (TV, 1979) as Mr Brittain
Hammer House of Horror (1980)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (TV, 1980) as Player King
Doctor Who State of Decay (1981) as Aukon / Anthony O'Connor
Open All Hours (TV, 1981) as Eli Bickerdyke
Dragonslayer (film, 1981) as Valerian's Father
Antony and Cleopatra (BBC, 1981) as Enobarbus
Giro City (film, dir. Karl Francis, 1982) as Tommy Williams
Dombey & Son (TV, 1983) as Captain Cuttle
Eureka (film, dir. Nicolas Roeg, 1983) as Judge
Anna of the Five Towns (TV, 1985) as Ephraim Tellwright
God's Chosen Carpark (TV, 1986)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Series, 1987)
The Diary of Anne Frank (BBC, 1987) as Otto Frank
Out of Love (TV film, 1988)

Family life

In 1958 he married the novelist Sian James, whom he had met while they were both students at the University of Wales. The couple set up home, firstly in London then in Warwickshire, when James began his lasting association with the RSC at Stratford. They had four children.

Emrys James

Emrys James Biography

Selected theatre work

Selected TV and films

Family life

Further reading