Martyn Sanderson

Martyn Sanderson (24 February 1938 – 14 October 2009) was a New Zealand actor, director, producer, writer and poet.

Sanderson was described as one of the founding fathers of modern theatre in New Zealand. In New Zealand he had appearances in 26 films, but also worked internationally including in Australia and Samoa.

Early life

Sanderson was born the son of a missionary father and a mother who was a writer, he studied literature at Oxford University, and after a brief study of theology, he abandoned his initial plans of joining the priesthood and married a ceramic artist, Liz Earth.

Career

After returning to his native NZ, Sanderson was one of the founders of Downstage Theatre (now the Hannah Playhouse) in 1964 in Wellington, with a vision of a small professional company performing challenging works in an intimate venue. It is now one of the longest serving theatre companies in New Zealand.

He emigrated to Australia in 1966, where he started producing his own documentaries and acting in film roles including the British-Australia production of Ned Kelly. In 1972, his family relocated to Hawkes Bay, where Sanderson toured with the multi-media group Blerta, and worked on films with Blerta members Bruno Lawrence and director Geoff Murphy. That decade he won a New Zealand Feltex Award for playing aviator Richard Pearse in a television film of the same title, and was nominated again for playing a British general in the historical miniseries The Governor, the most expensive TV drama made in New Zealand in that decade.

Sanderson's work as a screen director included a number of shorts featuring New Zealand poets, plus the 1989 feature Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree. Based on a work by Albert Wendt, Flying Fox is about a young Samoan caught between the values of his homeland and European colonisers.

He wrote a documentary One of those Blighters on Ronald Hugh Morrieson and the screenplay for the 1986 film of Morrieson's last novel, Pallet on the Floor.

Sanderson's other screen credits include Geoff Murphy's Utu, Jane Campion's An Angel at my Table, The Scarecrow, Old Scores, The Harp in the South, The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, a recurring guest role in the first two years of Shortland Street, Poor Man's Orange, the Hercules episode "The King of Thieves" and The Rainbow Warrior.

At the time of his death he was working on a play called Muntu with his second wife, Wanjiku Kiare Sanderson and directed by Kenyen artist and playwright Wakanyote Njuguna, through the African Connection Aotearoa, that they also founded.

Death

Sanderson died of emphysema on 14 October 2009 aged 71.

Honours

Sanderson was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005, "for services to literature and the theatre".

Selected filmography

Film Year Title Role Type 1970 Ned Kelly Fitzpatrick Feature film 1975 Richard Pearse Richard Pearse TV movie 1977 Autumn Fires 1977 Wild Man Snake Feature film 1977 Solo Jules Catweazle Feature film 1979 Jack Winter's Dream Ballarat Jake 1979 The Journalist Bert Feature film 1980 A Woman of Good Character Reverend 1980 Squeeze Father Feature film 1981 Bad Blood Les North Feature film 1982 Beyond Reasonable Doubt Len Demler Feature film docudrama 1982 The Scarecrow (aka Klynham Summer) Ned as Adult (voice) Feature film 1983 Patu! Co-ordinator Documentary film 1983 Wild Horses Jones TV movie 1984 Trial Run Alan West Feature film 1984 Utu Vicar Feature film 1985 The Lost Tribe Bill Thorne Feature film 1985 Sylvia Inspector Gulland Feature film 1986 Queen City Rocker Drunk Husband Feature film 1988 The Tale of Ruby Rose Bennett Feature film 1988 Never Say Die Farmer Feature film 1988 Mauri Hospital Doctor (uncredited) Feature film 1990 An Angel at My Table Frank Sargeson Feature film 1991 Old Scores 'Acid' Aitken TV movie 1993 Desperate Remedies Maori Warrior / Townspeople Feature film 1993 The Rainbow Warrior Uncle Emile TV movie 1994 The Last Tattoo Ralph Simpson Feature film 1995 Savage Play Henry Feature film 1996 Juloratoriet Stephen Eliot 1996 Chicken Bryce Tilfer 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Gate Keeper Feature film 2001 Blerta Revisited Documentary film

Television Year Title Role Type 1973 Richard John Seddon - Premier Reeves TV film 1977 The Governor British General TV docudrama miniseries 1978 Rachel Tom TV miniseries 1979 Children of Fire Mountain TV miniseries 1982 Kingi's Story teacher TV film 1986 The Harp in the South Hughie Darcy TV miniseries 1992–93 Shortland Street TV series, recurring guest role 1987 Poor Man's Orange Hughie Darcy TV miniseries 1995 Hercules TV series, episode: "The King of Thieves" 2001–02 Atlantis High Grandpa Gordon TV series