Brian Bedford, British actor and voice actor, Died at 80

  Actor

Brian Bedford was born on February 16, 1935, in Morley, West of Yorkshire, and died on January 13, 2016, Santa Barbara, California, United States.

He was an English actor.

Bedford has appeared on the stage and in films.

Brian Bedford was also known for both acting in and directing Shakespeare.

His parents were Ellen (née O’Donnell) and Arthur Bedford.

He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1952–1954 and was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Peter O’Toole.

He was mainly a stage actor, Brian was known for his English-speaking interpretations of the French playwright Molière, including Tony Award-nominated performances in Tartuffe, The Molière Comedies (a double bill of the short plays The School for Husbands and The Imaginary Cuckold) and The School for Wives, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.

Brian did many Shakespearean work, notably as Ariel in The Tempest opposite John Gielgud’s Prospero in 1958, Angelo in Measure for Measure at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1975 and 1976, and The Public Theater’s New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It (as Orlando), and Timon of Athens (as Timon), the latter based on a production he originated with the National Actors Theatre in 1993 and which he eventually played on Broadway.

His other credits include Broadway credits include The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Private Lives, Two Shakespearean Actors, London Assurance and Jumpers.

He has worked with James Garner in the 1966 film Grand Prix, and in 1967, Brian was a regular on the short-lived CBS television series Coronet Blue.

Bedford provided the voice of Robin Hood in the 1973 Disney film of the same name.

Brian Bedford was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, in 1997.

He was also awarded, the Obie, the Outer Circle Critics Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the LA Drama Critics Award.

Bedford starred as “Lady Bracknell” in The Importance of Being Earnest, marking 27 seasons of acting and/or directing, at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, in 2009.

Brain repeated the role in 2010 (in a double role as both actor and director) for the Roundabout Theatre in New York, which earned him a 2011 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.

He also shared a renovated home in Stratford with fellow actor and husband Tim MacDonald.

Brian Bedford passed away at 80 yrs old.