Biography: A grand, well-respected actor of stage, film and TV, most people think New Zealander Clive Revill is British. And although most people think of him as a comic eccentric best known for his sterling work on the musical stage, he was regarded for years as a formidable Shakespearean dramatic player. A man of many skills, Revill was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and educated at Rongotai College and ... show all A grand, well-respected actor of stage, film and TV, most people think New Zealander Clive Revill is British. And although most people think of him as a comic eccentric best known for his sterling work on the musical stage, he was regarded for years as a formidable Shakespearean dramatic player. A man of many skills, Revill was born in Wellington, New Zealand, and educated at Rongotai College and Victoria University (Wellington). Once trained for a career as an accountant, he abruptly switched gears and made his stage debut in Auckland, New Zealand playing Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" in 1950. He then moved to England to study with the Old Vic School in London. He appeared at Stratford-on-Avon in mid-1950s presentations of "Hamlet," "Love's Labour's Lost," "The Merchant of Venice," "Julius Caesar" and "The Tempest," among others.
Having made his Broadway debut back in 1952 with "Mr. Pickwick," he took a juicy chunk out of the Big Apple when he returned to New York in the 1960s with his critically lauded, Tony Award-nominated work in "Irma La Douce" and as Fagin in "Oliver!". He has delighted audiences for years with his larger-than-life roles, particularly in the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas "The Mikado" and "The Pirates of Penzance." Other musicals included "Sherry," "Lolita" and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," replacing George Rose in the last mentioned after the actor's untimely death in 1988. Most adept at humorous ethnic roles (he has played everything from Chinese to Russian), he is simply legendary for his acute sense of comic timing and uncanny use of body language.
Revill has reveled over the years playing delightfully hissable gents who are often stuffy, pompous and ruthless to the hilt. Making an inauspicious debut in an unbilled role in 1956, his more pronounced movie work includes Kaleidoscope (1966), The Assassination Bureau (1969), The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), Avanti! (1972), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, The Legend of Hell House (1973), Mack the Knife (1990) and Robin Hood, Men in Tights (1993). Divorced from Valerie Nelson, Revill has one daughter and makes his home in Los Angeles. hide |
