|
Derek Jacobi
Birth at
22 October 1938
|
Derek George Jacoby was born in Leystonstone, East London, on 22 October 1938. His mother, herself full of acting ambitions, constantly fueled his interest in theater, and when Derek was six years old, he began appearing in local amateur plays. Entering Cambridge, Jacoby immediately joined the amateur theater troupe. At the age of eighteen, he appeared as Hamlet at the Edinburgh Festival. After graduating in 1960, Jacoby joined the theater troupe in Birmingham. In 1963, he was noticed by Laurence
more
Derek George Jacoby was born in Leystonstone, East London, on 22 October 1938. His mother, herself full of acting ambitions, constantly fueled his interest in theater, and when Derek was six years old, he began appearing in local amateur plays. Entering Cambridge, Jacoby immediately joined the amateur theater troupe. At the age of eighteen, he appeared as Hamlet at the Edinburgh Festival. After graduating in 1960, Jacoby joined the theater troupe in Birmingham.
In 1963, he was noticed by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to the Chichester Festival. A year later, Olivier sent him an invitation to join the new National Theatre. Jacoby agreed and made his debut in London in the same “Hamlet”, the role of Laert. In 1964, in Othello, Olivier gave him the role of Cassio, and a year later a film was made. The next thirty years of his career brought Derek Jacoby a wide variety of roles and outstanding partners. He played Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing, Prospero in The Tempest, starring in Peer Gunte, Uncle Van and Cyrano de Bergerac. The Royal Shakespeare Theatre went on tour in 1984-85. In the U.S., it's "A lot of noise..." and "Cyrano." For the first performance, the Americans awarded Derek Jacoby “Tony” (theatrical Oscar).
Jacoby’s film career was no less strained, beginning in 1965 with the role of Cassio in Othello and continuing with such films as “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Jackal Day”, “Three Sisters”, “The Mystery”, “Henry V”, “Hamlet”, “Finding Richard” and so on. He was seriously considered as a candidate for the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, but here he was overtaken by his old partner Anthony Hopkins. The list of his television works can also be laid almost indefinitely. It is a pity that our audience knows him only from the TV series Cadfael, based on the books of Ellis Peter (we showed a small part of it).
He was knighted in 1993 and returned to the Chichester Theatre in 1995 as Sir Derek Jacoby.