A week ago, I only just learned.
One of the greatest contemporary Shakespearean actors, and a son of Cape Town. I had the pleasure of seeing him and John Kani in The Tempest, he was an awesome Prospero.
The BBC has a good article with a quote from John Kani
"Fellow actor and playwright John Kani said in a tribute: "Both Tony Sher and I were born when our country, South Africa, was the worst place a child could be born let alone to be raised by parents who worked very hard to prepare their children for a difficult future - Apartheid South Africa. By the grace of his God and my ancestors, like Romeo and Juliet we found each other in 1973.
“We travelled together as compatriots, comrades in the struggle for a better South Africa, as fellow artists… I am at peace with you my friend and myself. Exit my King. Your Brother.”
Here’s a video with his reflection on playing King Lear
And a documentary about his breakthrough performance as Richard III in 1984
One of the greatest classical actors of our generation dies : 1 reply, 150 views (thanks, @gkster , for the links).
Monkees member dies - 71 replies, thousand+ views.
Says it all, really. Maybe if Sher had done Star Trek or was an X-Man…
It was not to be.
And Vicente Fernandez gets a single sentence in the death pool thread.
Not an actor i am terrible familiar with, being US based, I never saw any of the RSC performances mentioned. I have seen some of the movies he was in, though.
A loss for the Shakespearean when’s, without doubt.
I just exchanged emails with the friend who introduced me to Antony Sher. He teaches Theatre & Acting on the high school and college level and says that Sher was a real inspiration to him.
As well as Shakespeare, Sher did other theater including an adaptation of Primo Levi’s Auschwitz memoir, which was shown on PBS as Primo: Primo | Introduction | Great Performances | PBS
It’s available on HBO Max and the reviews on Amazon are glowing.
Bumped.
Just saw this, and hadn’t heard of his passing earlier. I will always remember how very, very good he was as Disraeli in Her Majesty, Mrs. Brown, with Dame Judi Dench as Queen Victoria. A relatively small part, but he was just wonderful.
May he rest in peace.
You are forgetting his performance as “bellboy” in Superman II!
That is certainly true.
That particular scene is cursed. Within 41 years of procucing it, all three actors involved died!
Wow. I had completely forgotten that scene!
I first encountered Sher in the 90s, before I ever saw him act in anything. His The Year of the King is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at a year in the RSC.
Wow, that was a real Brad and Janet moment at the beginning of the scene.
Awkward American accent.