Noel Willman

Noel Willman (4 August 1918 – 14 December 1988) was a Northern Irish actor and theatre director. Born in Derry, Ireland, Willman died aged 70 in New York City, United States.Willmans films included The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), The Kiss of the Vampire (1963), Doctor Zhivago (1965), The Reptile (1966), and The Odessa File (1974).He was also a theatre director and actor, and won a Tony Award in 1962 for his direction of the original Broadway production of Robert Bolts A Man For All Seasons. According to Bolt, he was instrumental in many aspects of the plays development, including the casting of Paul Scofield as Thomas More. In 1966 he was nominated in the same category for James Goldmans The Lion in Winter. He later directed Katharine Hepburn and Christopher Reeve in A Matter of Gravity in 1976. He frequently collaborated with Bolt, directing The Tiger and the Horse and Gentle Jack (and appearing in Zhivago, which Bolt scripted). One of his most famous theatrical roles was opposite Alec Guinness in the stage production of Bridget Bolands The Prisoner, for which he won the Clarence Derwent Award, and which was later made into a film with Guinness and Jack Hawkins.Willman studied for the stage at the London Theatre Studio which had been set up by Michel St Denis and George Devine in 1935. Working as stage manager for John Gielguds touring production of The Beggars Opera, he took over the role of Macheath at short notice from Michael Redgrave, who and fallen ill and whose usual understudy had suffered a bout of laryngitis. During the war he toured with the Old Vic Company, then directed by Tyrone Guthrie, playing in The Merchant of Venice in 1941, and taking part in several productions at the Vics Liverpool Playhouse base, including Shaws Androcles and the Lion. Prompted by Guthrie, he became a director, in 1942 presenting his debut production Ah, Wilderness! by Eugene ONeill.

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