Max Adrian

Max Adrian (born Guy Thornton Bor; 1 November 1903 – 19 January 1973) was an Irish actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

In addition to his success as a character actor in classical drama, Adrian was known for his work as a singer and comic actor in revue and musicals, and in one-man shows about George Bernard Shaw and Gilbert and Sullivan, and in cinema and television films, notably Ken Russell's Song of Summer, in which he played the ailing composer Frederick Delius.

Early years Adrian was born Guy Thornton Bor in Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Ireland, the son of Edward Norman Cavendish Bor and Mabel Lloyd Thornton. He was born in the provincial Bank of Ireland branch in Kilkenny, where his father was the bank manager, into a Church of Ireland family, the seventh of eight children. His paternal ancestry was Dutch, from settlers who arrived in Ireland with William of Orange in 1689. His elder brother was the botanist Norman Loftus Bor. Another brother, Lieutenant Thomas Humphrey Bor, RNR, was killed when his E-class submarine struck a mine in the North Sea in 1916. His younger brother, Fetherston Briscoe Bor, remained a farmer in Ireland until his death in 1965.

Adrian was educated at the Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, whose past pupils also included Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett.

Career

Early work Adrian began his career as a chorus boy at a silent moving-picture house, coming on as part of the chorus line while the reels were being changed. He made his stage debut in the chorus of Katja the Dancer in 1925. He then toured with Lady Be Good and The Blue Train. He made his West End debut in The Squall at the Globe Theatre in December 1927. After working with Tod Slaughter's company at Peterborough, he joined the weekly rep in Northampton, where he took some forty roles a year. This Desirable Residence at the Embassy in 1935, and England Expects, also at the Embassy in 1934.

Classical roles and revue Adrian first achieved wide public notice in a nine-month season at the Westminster Theatre from September 1938, as Pandarus in a modern dress Troilus and Cressida and Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonnington in The Doctor's Dilemma, winning enthusiastic notices from the critics: "Mr Max Adrian triumphantly turns Pandarus into a chattering and repulsive fribble of the glossily squalid night-club type"; "The egregious 'B.B.'... is a great piece of fun, and Mr. Max Adrian rightly draws him with all possible exuberance of line."

Adrian joined the Old Vic company in 1939, playing the Dauphin in Shaw's Saint Joan, "a beautifully malicious study in slyness, effeminacy, meanness, and a curious lost, inverted dignity." He continued classical work with John Gielgud's company at the Haymarket Theatre (1944–45), where he appeared as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Osric in Hamlet, and Tattle in William Congreve's Love for Love.

Away from the classics, Adrian played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz at the Phoenix Theatre in 1943. In 1947, at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, Adrian began performing in a series of revues (Tuppence Coloured, Oranges and Lemons, Penny Plain, Airs on a Shoestring, From Here to There, and Fresh Airs) in which he played more than 2,000 performances, and established himself, in Sheridan Morley's words, "as a superlative – if eccentric – light comedian." Adrian's musical numbers included "Prehistoric Complaint" (as a misfit caveman), "Excelsior" (as a put-upon Sherpa), "Guide to Britten" (as a manic conductor), "In the D'Oyly Cart [sic]" (as a jaded Gilbert and Sullivan performer), and "Surly Girls" (as headmistress of St. Trinian's).

When revue became less popular in the mid-1950s, Adrian went to America in 1956 to appear as Dr. Pangloss and Martin in Leonard Bernstein's operetta Candide on Broadway. The original production was a failure, but the original cast recording has rarely been out of the catalogues in the subsequent half century. He remained in the U.S., working in summer stock in roles as varied as Doolittle in Pygmalion, Jourdain in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and Sir Peter Teazle in The School for Scandal. He returned to London in 1959 to appear in Noël Coward's play Look After Lulu! in which he also later played on Broadway.

Adrian was one of the original members of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company at the Old Vic from 1963, and appeared as Polonius in the opening production of Hamlet, in which Peter O'Toole played the Prince. The Guardian called his performance, "sly, dry, and not quite stuffy enough, but every sally from this character was touched with a look of great complicity towards the audience which made something special of this sometimes over-charged part." He then played the Inquisitor in Saint Joan, Serebryakov in Uncle Vanya, Balance in The Recruiting Officer and Brovik in The Master Builder. The Times said that the show "presented a deeply understanding portrait... impish, malicious, playful, outrageous, affectionate, angry and almost always eloquent."

Also on television, Adrian appeared in a 1957 adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel Beyond This Place, which was directed by Sidney Lumet. His other television work included the role of Senator Ludicrus Sextus in the first season of Up Pompeii! with Frankie Howerd (1969), Fagin in the 1962 dramatisation of Oliver Twist, and parts in The Baron, Adam Adamant Lives! and in 1959, in the Case of the Deadly Toy Perry Mason. He also appeared in the Doctor Who story The Myth Makers as King Priam. He played the part of the Baron de Charlus in the BBC radio plays Six Proust Reconstructions by Pamela Hansford Johnson.

Adrian's voice and acting style were distinctive. The Times referred to his "Osric-like elaborations of manner", and his voice "like no other heard on the English stage of his day, vestigially Irish and harshly attractive." The Times also described his 1934 performance in England Expects (Embassy Theatre) as "a gilded habitué of the backstairs" as outstanding.

Death Adrian died at the age of 69, from a heart attack, at his and Lister's home after returning from the television studio where he had been taking part in a recording of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle for the BBC.

Adrian's partner Lister outlived him by 13 years, dying on 30 September 1986 at the age of 79.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes1934 The Primrose Path Julian Leigh 1936 A Touch of the Moon Francis Leverton The Cardinal Barber Uncredited To Catch a Thief Salesman The Happy Family Noel Hutt Nothing Like Publicity Bob Wharncliffe 1937 Why Pick on Me? Jack Mills When the Devil Was Well David 1938 Macushla Kerry Muldoon Merely Mr. Hawkins Mr. Fletcher 1941 Kipps Chester Coote Jeannie Penn of Pennsylvania Elton 1942 The Young Mr. Pitt Sheridan Talk About Jacqueline Lionel 1944 Henry V The Dauphin 1950 Her Favourite Husband Catoni 1951 Pool of London Charlie Vernon, acrobat / George 1952 The King and the Mockingbird The King English version, voice The Pickwick Papers Aide 1959 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Robert Stone Season 4 Episode 29: "Banquo's Chair"1963 Uncle Vanya Professor Alexander Serebryakov 1965 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors Dr. Blake (segment "Vampire") 1967 The Deadly Affair Morton, Adviser The Terrornauts Dr. Henry Shore 1968 Song of Summer Frederick Delius 1971 The Music Lovers Nicholas Rubinstein The Devils Ibert The Boy Friend Max Mandeville aka Mr. Max / Lord Hubert Brockhurst