Kenneth Haigh
Haigh (right) and Simon Scott in The Twilight Zone episode "The Last Flight" (1960)
Born
Kenneth William Michael Haigh

(1931-03-25)25 March 1931
Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died4 February 2018(2018-02-04) (aged 86)
London, England
Alma materRoyal Central School of Speech and Drama
OccupationActor
Years active1956–2003
Spouse
Myrna Haigh
​
​
(m. 1974; div. 1985)​

Kenneth William Michael Haigh (25 March 1931 – 4 February 2018) was an English actor.[1] He first came to public recognition for playing the role of Jimmy Porter in the play Look Back in Anger in 1956 opposite Mary Ure in London's West End theatre. Haigh's performance in the role on stage was critically acclaimed as a prototype dramatic working-class anti-hero in post-Second World War English drama.

Early life

Born in Mexborough, West Riding of Yorkshire, Haigh studied drama at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which at the time was based at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[2]

Career

He played the central role of Jimmy Porter in the premiere production of John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger in 1956 at the Royal Court Theatre. Haigh's performance in a 1958 Broadway theatre production of that play so moved one young woman in the audience that she mounted the stage and slapped him in mid-performance.[3] For the film version released in 1959, he was passed over in favour of Richard Burton. Coincidentally, Haigh went on to portray the explorer and adventurer Richard Francis Burton in the BBC production of The Search for the Nile. He also briefly appeared in the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night (1964).

Later he portrayed Joe Lampton – a character created by John Braine in the novel Room at the Top – in the television series Man at the Top (1970–72) and its eponymous spin-off film (1973). Haigh also released an LP in 1973, titled How to Handle a Woman.

Haigh made occasional guest appearances on television; for some, the most recognisable is that of time-travelling Flight Lieutenant William Terrence Decker, in the Twilight Zone episode "The Last Flight" (1960).[4] He had already played, three years earlier, another pilot, in High Flight.

He also portrayed Pat Casey in Lionel Bart's Maggie May.

Personal life

Haigh married the West Indies model Myrna Stephens in 1974.[5] They divorced in 1985, but remained good friends; she nursed him through his final years of ill-health.

Death

Haigh died on 4 February 2018, aged 86. He had spent his last years in a nursing home after oxygen deprivation led to brain damage in 2003, following his accidental swallowing of a bone in a restaurant in Soho.[6][7]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1954Companions in CrimeJohn Kendall
1956My Teenage DaughterTony Ward Black
1957Saint JoanBrother Martin Ladvenu
High FlightAnthony 'Tony' Winchester
1960The Last Flight (The Twilight Zone)Lt Terrance Decker, RFC
1963CleopatraBrutus
1964A Hard Day's NightSimon MarshallUncredited
Weekend at DunkirkAtkins
1967The Deadly AffairBill Appleby
1968A Lovely Way to DieJonathan Fleming
1971Journey to MurderDirk BroganExample
1972Eagle in a CageNapoleon Bonaparte
1973Man at the TopJoe Lampton
1976Robin and MarianSir Ranulf
1978A Walk in the SunGeorge
1979The BitchArnold Rinstead
1983Night Train to MurderCousin Milton / Cousin Homer
1985Wild Geese IICol. Reed-Henry
1986A State of Emergency
1991ShuttlecockDr. Quinn
2004Mr BlueMr. BlueShort
Final film role

Theatre

  • Othello (Drogheda, 1952)
  • The Archers Stage Play (Various, 1953)
  • Dear Little Liz (Open Air, Regent's Park, 1955)
  • Look Back in Anger (Royal Court, London, 1956) – Jimmy Porter
  • The Mulberry Bush (1956) – Peter Lord
  • The Crucible (1956) – Rev John Hale
  • Cards of Identity (1956) – Beaufort
  • Caligula (Broadway, 1960; Phoenix, London, 1964) – Caligula
  • Zoo Story (Arts, London, 1961)
  • Altona (Royal Court / Saville Theatre, London, 1961) – Franz von Gerlach
  • The Collection (Aldwych, London, 1962)
  • Playing with Fire (Aldwych, 1962)
  • Julius Caesar (Stratford, RSC 1962) – Mark Antony
  • Maggie May (Adelphi, London, 1964) – Patrick Casey
  • Too Good To Be True (Edinburgh Festival, 1965) – Burglar
  • Prometheus Unbound (Yale University Theatre, 1967) – Prometheus
  • Henry IV (Yale, 1967)
  • The Hotel in Amsterdam (Duke of York's Theatre, London, 1969) – Laurie
  • Much Ado About Nothing (Manchester, 1969) – Benedick
  • Equus (Citadel Theatre, Edmonton, Alberta, 1969–70) – Dysart
  • Prometheus Unbound (Mermaid, London, 1971) – Prometheus
  • Marching Song (Mermaid, 1974) – Rupert Foster
  • The Father (Haymarket, Leicester, 1975) – Father
  • California Suite (Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Broadway, 1977) – Replacement: William, Sidney, Stu
  • The Aspern Papers (Chichester Festival, 1978)
  • Twelfth Night (Stratford, CT, 1979) – Malvolio
  • Julius Caesar (Stratford, CT, 1979) – Brutus
  • The Tempest (Stratford, CT, 1979) – Prospero
  • Clothes for a Summer Hotel (Broadway, 1980) – F Scott Fitzgerald
  • Othello (Young Vic, London, 1982) – Othello

Television

  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
    • Season 4 Episode 29: "Banquo's Chair" (1959) – John Bedford
    • Season 5 Episode 12: "Specialty of the House" (1959) – Mr. Costain
  • Danger Man (1960) episode: "Josetta" – Juan
  • Strange Report (1969) episode: "HOSTAGE — If You Won't Learn, Die!"
  • Search for the Nile (1971)
  • Man at the Top (Thames Television, 1971–73) – Joe Lampton
  • Moll Flanders (ITV, 1975) – Jemmy Earle
  • Hazlitt in Love (1977) – William Hazlitt
  • Maybury (BBC, 1981)
  • The Testament of John (1984)
  • The Fourth Floor (Thames Television, 1986) – George Payne
  • The Blackheath Poisonings (1992) – Charles Russell

References

  1. ↑ "Kenneth Haigh". IMDb. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  2. ↑ V&A, Theatre and Performance Special Collections, Elsie Fogerty Archive, THM/324
  3. ↑ "Woman Quits Audience to Slap Actor in Play". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Movies". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "The Model Archives of Marlowe Press". London: Gavin L B Robinson. 1974. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Kenneth Haigh". The Times. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018. (subscription required)
  7. ↑ "Kenneth Haigh obituary". The Guardian. 13 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
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