Richard Campion

Richard Meckiff Campion (13 December 1923 – 2 July 2013) was a New Zealand actor, theatre director, and producer. he was the second son and third child, of John Stanley Campion (1893—1950) and his wife born Eleanor Wright, who he had brought back to New Zealand from London after serving in the first world war. The Campion family belonged to the Exclusive Brethren Christian Evangelical movement.

Campion attended Clyde Quay School and Wellington College. He studied at Victoria University College, where he met his future wife and trained as a secondary school teacher. After graduating, Campion taught at Wellington College.

Career Under the influences of playwright Bruce Mason, theatre director Ngaio Marsh, and German refugee Maria Dronke who was a talented actress, producer and teacher

At the close of the 1940s Campion and his wife Edith spent three years in the Old Vic in London where he took the production course.

In 1990 Campion was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the theatre.

The Academy Award-winning screenwriter, producer, and director Jane Campion is his daughter.

The Ngā Whakarākei O Whātaitai / Wellington Theatre Awards annually an award called The Richard Campion Accolade for Outstanding Performance.

Personal life Campion married heiress Edith Hannah in December 1945 at Wellington's Anglican pro-cathedral when they were both 22 and still attending university. Their children, Anna, Jane, and Michael, grew up in the world of New Zealand theatre.