Hawthorne, Sir Nigel

Hawthorne, Sir Nigel (1929-2001), British actor who, after a long career as a character actor on stage and in television, enjoyed a late flowering with a series of stage and film roles of memorable subtlety and dignity.

He was born in Coventry and brought up in Cape Town, South Africa. His first attempt to establish an acting career in England was unsuccessful and he returned to South Africa. His second attempt led to work in regional repertory theatre and, eventually, with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and the Royal Court. In 1978 he appeared in Peter Nichols' Privates on Parade for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). In 1979 he took on the role of Sir Humphrey Appleby, a Machiavellian civil servant in the satirical comedy Yes Minister by the BBC, a role that made him a household name.

In later years he was acclaimed for a series of moving stage performances, signifying a new maturity and depth to his acting. He was especially memorable as C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands (1990), and in The Madness of George III (1992) by Alan Bennett at the National Theatre, a role that he repeated on film, gaining an Academy Award nomination in 1995. Other film work included Richard III (1995); Twelfth Night (1996); Amistad (1997); The Winslow Boy, and The Clandestine Marriage (both 1999). Hawthorne, who was awarded a CBE in 1987, was knighted in the 1999 New Year's Honours for his services to acting.