Vivian MacKerrell Biography

Vivian Alan James MacKerrell (23 May 1944 - 2 March 1995) was a British actor of the 1960s and 1970s. He was the basis for Withnail, a memorable character in British cinema.

Early life

Vivian MacKerrell was the son of Janetta Mary Boyns and Scottish accountant John Alexander McKerrell. He had two brothers, Jock and David. MacKerrell attended the private Trent College in Nottingham.

Personality

As a student at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, he shared a house in Albert Street, Camden, London with the musician David Dundas and film director Bruce Robinson, writer and director of Withnail & I (1987). Fellow house mate and actor Michael Feast, described MacKerrell as a "Splenetic wastrel of a fop", whilst Robinson has said he was a "Jack of all but a master of none", declaring himself a great actor but doing nothing to prove this. The Withnail creator has also claimed that MacKerrell was the funniest person he has ever met.

A biography of Mackerrell, Vivian and I, by Penzance-based author Colin Bacon was published in 2010.

Career

In early 1960s MacKerrell starred with Ian McKellen in "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" and "Coriolanus" with John Neville at Nottingham Playhouse. He also got the job as assistant stage manager. Later in 1970s he was the junior lead in Hadrian VII at the Mermaid Theatre. MacKerrell had only a handful of television and film credits, which included the Play for Today Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971) and Ghost Story (1974), a horror film which also starred Marianne Faithfull.

Screen roles

1967	Les Misrables	Marius (four of ten episodes)
1969	Thirty-Minute Theatre - And Was Invited to Form a Government (BBC2)	Kevin Croft
1971	Play for Today - Edna, the Inebriate Woman (BBC1)	Tramp
1974	Ghost Story	Duller
1974	Romance with a Double Bass (short)	Footman

Illness and Death

His career was curtailed by heavy drinking and he suffered a premature death from throat cancer, which he contracted in his 40s. Bruce Robinson claimed that MacKerrell drank lighter fluid . This is portrayed in a notorious scene from Withnail & I; MacKerrell was reputedly unable to see for days after the incident. After a short remission in the mid-1980s, the illness returned and eventually a laryngectomy was performed. Unable to eat or drink, MacKerrell resorted to injecting alcohol directly into his stomach. In his last days MacKerrell contracted pneumonia after a drunk incident and died in Gloucester Royal Infirmary. His ashes were scattered on Loch Indaal on the island of Islay.

Bibliography

• Vivian and I, Colin Bacon, Quartet Books, 30 Sep 2010, ISBN 0-7043-7194-4