Geoffrey Hutchings
Encyclopedia
Geoffrey Hutchings was a British stage
, film
and television
actor.
, England
. After attending Hardye's School, he studied French
and Physical Education at Birmingham University before he became a member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
and the Royal Shakespeare Company
in 1968. He played Bosola in the 1971 RSC production of John Webster
's The Duchess of Malfi
.
for his role in the musical Poppy
.
In 1998, he played Carry On actor Sid James
in the Royal National Theatre
's production of Terry Johnson's stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick
, a behind-the-scenes look of the love affair between Sid James and his co-star Barbara Windsor
, which was subsequently made into a ITV drama called Cor, Blimey! in 2000. In 2004, he played Nagg in Samuel Beckett
's Endgame
at the Albery Theatre alongside Sir Michael Gambon
, Lee Evans
and Liz Smith
. From October 2006 to April 2007, he played Herr Schultz in the West End production of Cabaret
. His final stage role was in 2009 in the West End
production of The Shawshank Redemption
.
A first collaboration with David Leland
for the film Made in Britain
(directed by Alan Clarke
and starring Tim Roth
) in 1981 has led to his notable role as Hubert Mansell, the embittered father of Emily Lloyd
in Wish You Were Here
in 1987.
His other movie successes included White Hunter, Black Heart (with Clint Eastwood
), Henry V
(with Kenneth Branagh
), Topsy-Turvy
(with Jim Broadbent
), Clockwise
(with John Cleese
), The Thief Lord
(as Conte) and The Affair of the Necklace
(with Hilary Swank
).
On television, his most notable production has probably been Our Friends in the North
(1996), in which he played corrupt building contractor John Edwards, a character closely based on the real-life figure of John Poulson
. He also had a semi-regular role as Bobby Hollamby in the ITV prison drama Bad Girls
from 2000 to 2003.
In December 2006, he made an appearance in the Sky One
television adaption of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. In 2008, he appeared in the ITV comedy series Benidorm
and had a small role in the second Terry Pratchett adaption Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.
In February 2009, he appeared in EastEnders
as Roger Clarke, Jane and Christian's father.
In 2010 he appeared in the BBC medical drama Casualty
and the sitcom Grandma's House
, both of which were screened after his death.
He was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actor.
Early life and career
Hutchings was born in Dorchester, DorsetDorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. After attending Hardye's School, he studied French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Physical Education at Birmingham University before he became a member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
and the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
in 1968. He played Bosola in the 1971 RSC production of John Webster
John Webster
John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
's The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...
.
Career
In 1982, Hutchings won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy PerformanceLaurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance
See Olivier Awards for more information about the awards and a full list of categories and winners.The Laurence Olivier Awards are a series of awards presented annually by The Society of London Theatre. They are presented in recognition of achievements in commercial British theatre, most notably...
for his role in the musical Poppy
Poppy (musical)
Poppy is a musical comedy play about the Opium Wars. The play takes the form of a pantomime, complete with Dick Whittington , a pantomime dame, and two pantomime horses. The book and lyrics were written by Peter Nichols; the composer was Monty Norman.-Plot:The year is 1840...
.
In 1998, he played Carry On actor Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
in the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
's production of Terry Johnson's stage play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick
Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick
Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick is a 1998 play written by the English dramatist Terry Johnson, who also directed the original production at the National Theatre....
, a behind-the-scenes look of the love affair between Sid James and his co-star Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor
Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
, which was subsequently made into a ITV drama called Cor, Blimey! in 2000. In 2004, he played Nagg in Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
's Endgame
Endgame (play)
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French ; as was his custom, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the...
at the Albery Theatre alongside Sir Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
, Lee Evans
Lee Evans (comedian)
Lee Evans is an English comedian, writer, actor and musician.-Personal life:Lee Evans was born in Avonmouth, Bristol, England to an Irish mother and a Welsh father, Dave Evans, a nightclub performer. He left Bristol at the age of 13 and then went to The Billericay School in Billericay, Essex...
and Liz Smith
Liz Smith (actress)
Liz Smith, MBE is a British actress, best-known for her roles in the sitcoms The Vicar of Dibley and The Royle Family. She also appeared in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.-Early life:...
. From October 2006 to April 2007, he played Herr Schultz in the West End production of Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
. His final stage role was in 2009 in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman....
.
A first collaboration with David Leland
David Leland
David Leland is a director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directorial debut Wish You Were Here in 1987.-Life:...
for the film Made in Britain
Made in Britain
Made in Britain is a 1982 British drama film directed by Alan Clarke, and written by David Leland, about a 16-year-old white power skinhead named Trevor, and his constant confrontations with authority figures. It was originally broadcast on ITV as the fourth in an untitled series of works by...
(directed by Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke
Alan Clarke was a television and film director, producer and writer, born in Wallasey, Merseyside, England.Most of Clarke's output was for television rather than cinema, including work for the famous play strands The Wednesday Play and Play for Today...
and starring Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
) in 1981 has led to his notable role as Hubert Mansell, the embittered father of Emily Lloyd
Emily Lloyd
-Early life:Emily Lloyd Pack was born in London, the daughter of Sheila , now known as , a theatrical agent who was a longtime secretary at Harold Pinter's stage agency, and Roger Lloyd-Pack, a stage actor, well-known as Trigger in the British hit sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Her grandfather,...
in Wish You Were Here
Wish You Were Here (1987 film)
Wish You Were Here is a 1987 British drama/comedy film starring Emily Lloyd and Tom Bell. The film was written and directed by David Leland. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers.-Plot:...
in 1987.
His other movie successes included White Hunter, Black Heart (with Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
), Henry V
Henry V (1989 film)
Henry V is a 1989 film directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on William Shakespeare's play The Life of Henry the Fifth about the famous English king. Branagh stars in the title role, and wrote the screenplay. The film was highly acclaimed on its release....
(with Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
), Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy
Topsy-Turvy is a 1999 musical drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh and stars Allan Corduner as Arthur Sullivan and Jim Broadbent as W. S. Gilbert, along with Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The story concerns the 15-month period in 1884 and 1885 leading up to the premiere of Gilbert...
(with Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
), Clockwise
Clockwise (film)
Clockwise is a 1986 British comedy film starring John Cleese. It was directed by Christopher Morahan, written by Michael Frayn and produced by Michael Codron. The film was co-produced by Moment Films and Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment...
(with John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...
), The Thief Lord
The Thief Lord
The Thief Lord is a children's novel written by Cornelia Funke. It was published in Germany in 2000 and translated into English by Oliver Latsch in 2002 for The Chicken House, a division of Scholastic publishing company...
(as Conte) and The Affair of the Necklace
The Affair of the Necklace
The Affair of the Necklace is a 2001 American historical drama film directed by Charles Shyer. The screenplay by John Sweet is based on what became known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, an incident that helped fuel the French populace's disillusionment with the monarchy and, among other...
(with Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank
Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
).
On television, his most notable production has probably been Our Friends in the North
Our Friends in the North
Our Friends in the North is a British television drama serial, produced by the BBC and originally broadcast in nine episodes on BBC Two in early 1996...
(1996), in which he played corrupt building contractor John Edwards, a character closely based on the real-life figure of John Poulson
John Poulson
John Garlick Llewellyn Poulson was a British architect and businessman who caused a major political scandal when his use of bribery was disclosed in 1972. The highest-ranking figure to be forced out was Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling...
. He also had a semi-regular role as Bobby Hollamby in the ITV prison drama Bad Girls
Bad Girls (TV series)
Bad Girls is an award-winning British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1999 to 2006. It is produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road...
from 2000 to 2003.
In December 2006, he made an appearance in the Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...
television adaption of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. In 2008, he appeared in the ITV comedy series Benidorm
Benidorm (TV series)
Benidorm is an award-winning British television comedy-drama that is produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV and written by Derren Litten, co-writer of The Catherine Tate Show, exploiting the working-class stereotype of this popular tourist destination....
and had a small role in the second Terry Pratchett adaption Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic.
In February 2009, he appeared in EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
as Roger Clarke, Jane and Christian's father.
In 2010 he appeared in the BBC medical drama Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
and the sitcom Grandma's House
Grandma's House
Grandma's House is a sitcom television series for BBC Two. Written by Simon Amstell and long term collaborator Dan Swimer, the series stars Simon Amstell playing a version of himself: a television presenter searching for meaning in his life...
, both of which were screened after his death.
Personal life
Hutchings died suddenly, in hospital, on the morning of 1 July 2010 following a suspected viral infection. He was surrounded by his family; second wife Andi Godfrey, and the three children of his first marriage: one son and two daughters.He was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery.