Derek Jacobi Biography (1938-)

Full name, Derek George Jacobi; born October 22, 1938, in Leystone, London, England; son of Alfred George (a store manager) and Daisy Gertrude (a secretary; maiden name, Masters) Jacobi. Addresses: Agent: c/o International Creative Management, Oxford House, 76 Oxford St., London W1N 0AX, England.

Nationality
British
Gender
Male
Occupation
Actor, director
Birth Details
October 22, 1938
Leystone, London, United Kingdom

Famous Works

  • CREDITS
  • Stage Appearances
  • Title role, Hamlet, English National Youth Theatre, Edinburgh Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1955
  • Title role, Edward II, Marlowe Society, Cambridge, England, 1959
  • Henry VIII, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham, England, 1960
  • Stanley Honeybone, One Way Pendulum, Birmingham Repertory Theatre,1961
  • Brother Martin, Saint Joan, Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester, England, 1963
  • P.C. Liversedge, The Workinghouse Donkey, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1963
  • (London debut) Laertes, Hamlet, National Theatre Company, Old VicTheatre, 1963
  • Fellipillo, The Royal Hunt of the Sun, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1964
  • Cassio, Othello, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1964
  • Simon Bliss, Hay Fever, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre,1964
  • Don John, Much Ado about Nothing, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1965
  • Brindsley Miller, Black Comedy, Chichester Festival Theatre, thenOld Vic Theatre, later Queen's Theatre, London, 1966
  • Tusenbach, The Three Sisters, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1967
  • Touchstone, As You Like It, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1967
  • King of Navarre, Love's Labour's Lost, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1968
  • Edward Hotel, Macrune's Guevara, National Theatre Company, Old VicTheatre, 1969
  • Adam, Back to Methuselah, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1969
  • Myshkin, The Idiot, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1970
  • Lodovico, The White Devil, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1970
  • Sir Charles Mountford, A Woman Killed with Kindness, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1971
  • Orestes, Electra, Greenwich Theatre, London, 1971
  • Title role, Oedipus Rex, Birmingham Repertory Company, 1972
  • Mr. Puff, The Critic, Birmingham Repertory Company, 1972
  • Buckingham, Richard III, 1972
  • Title Role, Ivanov, Prospect Theatre Company, London, 1972
  • The Grand Tour, Goldsmith's Hall, London, 1973
  • Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Twelfth Night, Prospect Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, London, then Prospect Theatre Company, European and MiddleEastern cities, all 1973
  • Title role, Pericles, Prospect Theatre Company, Round House Theatre, 1973, then Her Majesty's Theatre, London, 1974
  • Rakitin, A Month in the Country, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1974
  • Will Mossop, Hobson's Choice, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, England, 1975
  • Rakitin, A Month in the Country, Prospect Theatre Company, AlberyTheatre, London, 1975
  • Cecil Vyse, A Room with a View, Prospect Theatre Company, Albery Theatre, 1975
  • Pleasure and Repentance, 1975
  • The Hollow Crown, 1975
  • Title role, Hamlet, Prospect Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1977
  • Octavius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Prospect Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1977
  • The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet, Old Vic Theatre, 1978
  • The Grand Tour, Old Vic Theatre, 1978
  • Thomas Mendip, The Lady's Not for Burning, Prospect Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1978
  • Title role, Ivanov, Prospect Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, 1978
  • Title role, Hamlet, Prospect Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, then Elsinore, 1979
  • (Broadway debut) Semyon Semyonovich Podsekalnikov (Senya), The Suicide, American National Theatre and Academy, 1980
  • Title role, Peer Gynt, 1982
  • Benedick, Much Ado about Nothing, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1982, then Gershwin Theatre, New York City, 1984
  • Prospero, The Tempest, Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre,1983
  • Title role, Cyrano de Bergerac, Royal Shakespeare Company, AldwychTheatre, 1983, then Gershwin Theatre, 1984
  • Alan Turing, Breaking the Code, Haymarket Theatre, London, 1986, then Eisenhower Theatre, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, 1986, later Neil Simon Theatre, New York City, 1987
  • Title role, Richard II, Phoenix Theatre, London, 1988
  • Title role, Richard III, Phoenix Theatre, 1989
  • Lord Byron, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know, Center Theatre Group,Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 1989-1990
  • Title role, Kean; or, Disorder and Genius, Old Vic Theatre, 1990
  • Title role, Becket, Haymarket Theatre, 1991
  • Lord Byron, Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know, Ambassadors Theatre,London, 1992
  • Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company, Barbican Theatre, London, 1993
  • Title role, Hadrian VII, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1995
  • Playing the Wife, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1995
  • Title role, Uncle Vanya, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1996, then Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 2000
  • God Only Knows, 2001
  • Prospero, The Tempest, Old Vic Theatre, 2003
  • Also appeared in Little Dorrit.
  • Major Tours
  • Title role, Pericles, Prospect Theatre Company, European and Middle Eastern cities, 1973
  • Also toured in The Grand Tour and Hamlet, Scandinavian, Australian, Japanese, and Chinese cities.
  • Stage Work
  • Director, Hamlet, Phoenix Theatre, London, 1988
  • Film Appearances
  • (Film debut) Cassio, Othello, Warner Bros., 1965
  • Paul, Interlude, Columbia, 1968
  • Andrei, The Three Sisters, American Film Theatre, 1970
  • Caron, Lebel's assistant, The Day of the Jackal, Universal, 1973
  • Gregory, Blue Blood, Mallard/Impact Quadrant, 1973
  • Klaus Wenzer, The Odessa File (also known as Die Akte Odessa and Der Fall Odessa), Columbia, 1974
  • Townley, the publisher, The Medusa Touch (also known as La grande menace), Warner Bros., 1978
  • Arthur Davis, The Human Factor, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1979
  • Martin Beck, Mannen som gick upp i roek (also known as The ManWho Went Up in Smoke, Der Mann, der sich in Luft aufloeste, and A sved, akinek nyoma veszett), Svenska Filminstiet/Europafilm, 1980
  • Daberlohn, Charlotte (also known as Charlotte S), 1981
  • Voice of Nicodemus, The Secret of NIMH (animated; also known as Mrs. Brisby and the Rats of NIMH), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1982
  • Kurt Limmer, East German, Enigma, Embassy, 1982
  • Arthur Clennam (The Clennam House), Little Dorrit (also known as Little Dorrit's Story and Nobody's Fault), Sands Films/Cannon, 1987
  • Chorus, Henry V, Samuel Goldwyn, 1989
  • Director, Discovering Hamlet, PBS Home Video, 1990
  • Sir John/Mr. Frederick, The Fool, Barcino Barcino Films, 1990
  • Franklyn Madson, Dead Again, Paramount, 1991
  • Leper of St. Giles, 1994
  • Himself, Looking for Richard, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1996
  • Narrator, Achilles, 1996
  • Claudius, William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Columbia, 1996
  • Francis Bacon, Love Is the Devil (also known as Ai no akumaand Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon), StrandReleasing, 1998
  • Father Frederick, Basil, Kushner-Locke, 1998
  • Father Leonor Fousnel, Molakai: The Story of Father Damien (also known as Father Damien and Damiaan), 1998
  • Lucky Leadbetter, Up at the Villa, October Films, 1999
  • Joan of Arc: The Virgin Warrior, 1999
  • Senator Gracchus, Gladiator, DreamWorks, 1999
  • Father Lavelle, The Body, TriStar, 2000
  • (As Sir Derek Jacobi) Voice of Nijinsky, The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky (also known as Nijinski and Die Tagebuecher von Waslaw Nijinski), Winstar, 2001
  • The librarian, Revelation, First Look Pictures Releasing, 2001
  • Mr. Probert, Gosford Park, United International, 2001
  • (Uncredited) Voice of puppet, The Children's Midsummer Nights Dream, 2001
  • (In archive footage) Senator Gracchus from Gladiator, UltimateFights from the Movies, Flixmix, 2002
  • The Duke, A Revenger's Tragedy, Northcroft, 2002
  • Richard Dadd, Night's Noontime, Bits and Pieces, 2002
  • Major Merton, Two Men Went to War, Guerilla, 2002
  • Television Appearances
  • Miniseries
  • Josef Lanner, The Strauss Family, ABC, 1973
  • Title role, I, Claudius, BBC, 1976, then PBS, 1977
  • Lord Fawn, The Pallisers, PBS, 1977
  • Adolf Hitler, Inside The Third Reich, ABC, 1982
  • The Civil War (also known as The American Civil War), PBS,1990
  • Daedalus, "Daedalus & Icarus," The Storyteller: Greek Myths (also known as Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths), HBO, 1990
  • Voice, Baseball (also known as The History of Baseball), PBS, 1994
  • Phineas, Jason and the Argonauts, NBC, 2000
  • Voices, Jazz, PBS, 2001
  • George Cording QC, The Jury, PBS, 2002
  • Narrator, The Edwardian Country House, 2002
  • Movies
  • Guy Burgess, Philby, Burgess, and MacLean, Granada TV, 1977
  • Dom Claude Frollo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (also known as Hunchback), CBS, 1982
  • Title role, Cyrano de Bergerac, 1985
  • Randal, Circle of Deceit, 1993
  • Title role, Cyrano de Bergerac, Bravo, 1994
  • Voice of Archibald Craven, The Secret Garden (animated), ABC, 1994
  • General, Witness against Hitler, 1996
  • Narrator, Animated Epics: Beowulf (animated; also known as Beowulf), 1998
  • Stanley Baldwin, The Gathering Storm, HBO, 2002
  • Stanley Baldwin, The Lonely War, HBO, 2002
  • Specials
  • Don Pedro, Much Ado about Nothing, 1967
  • Narrator, Statue of Liberty (documentary), PBS, 1985
  • Narrator of animated sequences, Cathedral (documentary), PBS, 1986
  • Host, Jessye Norman's Christmas Symphony, PBS, 1987
  • Narrator, Pyramid (documentary), PBS, 1988
  • Voice, The Congress (documentary), PBS, 1989
  • Backstage at Masterpiece Theatre: A 20th Anniversary Special, PBS,1991
  • Narration, Carnivore!, Arts and Entertainment, 1992
  • Narration, Three Tenors: The Impossible Dream, PBS, 1993
  • Voice of Marcus Fabricius, City, PBS, 1994
  • Brother Cadfael, "Cadfael," Mystery!, PBS, 1995
  • Sister Wendy: Pains of Glass, PBS, 1995
  • Narrator, The Crown Jewels, The Disney Channel, 1995
  • Alan Turning, Breaking the Code, PBS, 1997
  • Master of ceremonies, "San Francisco Opera Gala Celebration," Great Performances, PBS, 1997
  • Brother Cadfael, Cadfael 2, PBS, 1997
  • Voice, Thomas Jefferson, PBS, 1997
  • Brother Cadfael, Cadfael 3, PBS, 1998
  • Voiceover, Margaret Sanger, PBS, 1998
  • (In archive footage) Bring Me Sunshine: The Heart and Soul of Eric Morecambe (also known as The Heart and Soul of Eric Morecambe and Omnibus: Bring Me Sunshine: The Heart and Soul of Eric Morecambe), 1998
  • Brother Cadfael, Cadfael 4, PBS, 1999
  • Scrooge/Bernard, Victoria Wood with All the Trimmings, BBC, 2000
  • Squire Fairfield, The Wyvern Mystery, PBS, 2000
  • Voice, Chasing the Sun (documentary), PBS, 2001
  • Larry and Vivien: The Oliviers in Love, 2001
  • (In archive footage) Claudius, The 100 Greatest TV Characters, Channel 4, 2001
  • Voice of Priam Huntington, Mill Times, PBS, 2002
  • Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (also known as Broadway: The Golden Age), 2003
  • Series
  • Title role, Mr. Pye, 1986
  • Voice of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends(animated), 1993
  • Narrator, Flora Britannica, 1999
  • Episodic
  • Herbert Fletcher, "Do Me a Favour," Budgie, LWT, 1972
  • William Drew, "The Secret of the Foxhunter," The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, 1973
  • Title role, "Richard II" (also known as "The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: King Richard the Second"), The BBC Television Shakespeare, BBC, 1978, then PBS, 1979
  • "Angela's Skin," Tales of the Unexpected, syndicated, 1979
  • Title role, "Hamlet" (also known as "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" and "TheComplete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Prince of Denmark"),The Shakespeare Plays (also known as BBC Television Shakespeare), PBS, 1980
  • Archibald Craven, "The Secret Garden," Hallmark Hall of Fame, CBS,1987
  • Imposter, "Graham Greene's The Tenth Man," Hallmark Hall of Fame,CBS, 1988
  • Jackson Hedley, "The Show Must Go Off," Frasier, NBC, 2001
  • Colonel Anger, "Pain Killers," Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), BBC1, 2001
  • Narrator, Manor House, PBS, 2003
  • Also appeared as voice, The West, PBS; in The Morecambe & Wise Show.
  • Other
  • Man of Straw, 1971-1972
  • Markheim, [Scotland], 1973
  • Affairs of the Heart, 1973
  • Paths of the Future, 1979
  • A Stranger in Town, 1982
  • Saint John the Divine, The Revelation, 1990
  • Also appeared in She Stoops to Conquer.
  • Radio Appearances
  • Appeared as King of France, King Lear, BBC.
  • RECORDINGS
  • Taped Readings
  • Appeared as King of France, King Lear, Random House Audiobooks; recorded taped readings of 1984 for Listen for Pleasure, and A Severed Head for G.K. Hall.

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

    Periodicals
    • Advocate, October 13, 1998, p. 82
    • Artforum, September, 1998, p. 136
    • Interview, October, 1998, p. 80