Henry Woolf
Encyclopedia
Henry Woolfis a British
actor
, theatre director, and teacher of acting, drama, and theatre who lives in Canada
, and a longtime friend and collaborator of 2005 Nobel Laureate
Harold Pinter
, having stimulated Pinter to write his first play, The Room (1957) in 1956. Woolf served as a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan
from 1983 to 1997 and as artistic director of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan
from 1991 until 2001.
in 1930, Henry Woolf was educated at Hackney Downs School
, where he met Harold Pinter
; he and Pinter were friends and collaborators for over 60 years. He earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree from the University of London
and then pursued a postgraduate course in directing at the University of Bristol
, Bristol
, England
, before going to the United States
, to earn a postgraduate diploma from the College of William and Mary
, in Williamsburg, Virginia
. While doing his directing course at Bristol, he commissioned and directed Harold Pinter's first play, The Room (1957), in which he also originated the role of Mr. Kidd.
In 1978, with his wife, actress/director Susan Williamson, whom he married in 1965, Woolf moved to Canada
where he took a teaching position at the University of Alberta
Drama Department. By 1983 they had settled in Saskatoon
, Saskatchewan
, where they currently reside. They have four children.
and elsewhere, working alongside such contemporaries as Laurence Olivier
, Orson Welles
and Ralph Richardson
.
His film credits include Marat/Sade
(1967), The Lion in Winter
(1968), Steptoe and Son
(1972), Steptoe and Son Ride Again
(1973), The Rocky Horror Picture Show
(1975), Gorky Park
(1983), Superman III
(1983). He still makes occasional film appearances, in the 2004 short film, Of Note and in the 2007 short film smallfilm. In All You Need Is Cash
, a film by The Rutles
(a fictional mock-Beatles
band jointly created by Eric Idle
and Neil Innes
), Woolf played a character named Arthur Sultan, a fictional spoof of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
.
On British television he played the Man in Harold Pinter
's one-man play Monologue (1973); parts in Rutland Weekend Television
(1975) and The Sweeney
(1975); the Collector in the Doctor Who
serial The Sun Makers
; served as the host of the 1970s pre-school British educational series Words and Pictures; and performed the role of Doctor Cornelius in the BBC adaptation of Prince Caspian (1989).
Woolf joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan
in 1983, was promoted to professor in 1990, also serving as head of its Drama department, and received the University's Master Teacher Award in 1994, before retiring in 1997, at the Canadian mandatory retirement age of 67. Woolf also served as artistic director of the annual summer Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan
festival, in Saskatoon
, from 1991 until his retirement from that position in 2001. In 2001 Woolf was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Saskatchewan.
In March 2003, Woolf directed an all-female production of Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare
, at the University of Winnipeg
.
In April 2007, he reprised his roles as Mr. Kidd in a production of Pinter's The Room (1957), marking the 50th anniversary of the original production, and as the Man in Pinter's Monologue (1973), both of which occurred at the University of Leeds
conference Artist and Citizen: 50 Years of Performing Pinter.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, theatre director, and teacher of acting, drama, and theatre who lives in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and a longtime friend and collaborator of 2005 Nobel Laureate
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
, having stimulated Pinter to write his first play, The Room (1957) in 1956. Woolf served as a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...
from 1983 to 1997 and as artistic director of Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan is an annual summer Shakespeare in the park theatre festival founded in 1985, which takes place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada...
from 1991 until 2001.
Personal history and educational background
Born to Jewish parents in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1930, Henry Woolf was educated at Hackney Downs School
Hackney Downs School
Hackney Downs School was a comprehensive secondary school, located near Hackney Downs off the A104 north of Hackney town centre, in the London Borough of Hackney.-Grocers' Company's School:...
, where he met Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
; he and Pinter were friends and collaborators for over 60 years. He earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and then pursued a postgraduate course in directing at the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, 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...
, before going to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, to earn a postgraduate diploma from the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
, in Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
. While doing his directing course at Bristol, he commissioned and directed Harold Pinter's first play, The Room (1957), in which he also originated the role of Mr. Kidd.
In 1978, with his wife, actress/director Susan Williamson, whom he married in 1965, Woolf moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
where he took a teaching position at the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
Drama Department. By 1983 they had settled in Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, where they currently reside. They have four children.
Professional career
Woolf is described as "a living icon of the theatrical avant-garde, an actor who throughout the 1960s would appear (for pitiful pay) in any play that broke new boundaries" (Eyre and Wright 229). During the 60s, he acted in theatre companies in London, leading to various tours in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and elsewhere, working alongside such contemporaries as Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
and Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
.
His film credits include Marat/Sade
Marat/Sade
The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade , almost invariably shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss...
(1967), The Lion in Winter
The Lion in Winter (1968 film)
The Lion in Winter is a 1968 historical drama made by Avco Embassy Pictures, based on the Broadway play by James Goldman. It was directed by Anthony Harvey and produced by Joseph E...
(1968), Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son (film)
Steptoe and Son is a 1972 British comedy drama film and a spin-off from the popular British television comedy series of the same name about a pair of rag and bone men. It starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett as the eponymous characters, Albert and Harold Steptoe respectively...
(1972), Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Steptoe and Son Ride Again
Steptoe and Son Ride Again is the 1973 sequel to the 1972 film Steptoe and Son. Again the film starred Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H. Corbett.-Plot:...
(1973), The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
(1975), Gorky Park
Gorky Park (film)
Gorky Park is a 1983 film based on the novel Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith. It was directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by Dennis Potter ....
(1983), Superman III
Superman III
Superman III is a 1983 superhero film and the third film in the Superman film series based upon the long-running DC Comics superhero. Christopher Reeve, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure and Margot Kidder are joined by new cast members Annette O'Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, Robert Vaughn and...
(1983). He still makes occasional film appearances, in the 2004 short film, Of Note and in the 2007 short film smallfilm. In All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious British rock group called The Rutles...
, a film by The Rutles
The Rutles
The Rutles are a band that are known for their visual and aural pastiches and parodies of The Beatles. Originally created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a fictional band to be featured as part of various 1970s television programming, the group recorded, toured, and released two UK chart hits in...
(a fictional mock-Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
band jointly created by Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
and Neil Innes
Neil Innes
Neil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...
), Woolf played a character named Arthur Sultan, a fictional spoof of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
.
On British television he played the Man in Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's one-man play Monologue (1973); parts in Rutland Weekend Television
Rutland Weekend Television
Rutland Weekend Television was a television sketch show on BBC2, written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series, the first consisting of six episodes, the second of seven, were broadcast, in 1975 and 1976. A Christmas special also aired on Boxing Day 1975.It was Idle's first television...
(1975) and The Sweeney
The Sweeney
The Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
(1975); the Collector in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial The Sun Makers
The Sun Makers
-Cast notes:*Michael Keating also appeared in the audio play The Twilight Kingdom as Major Koth and in Year of the Pig as Inspector Chardalot...
; served as the host of the 1970s pre-school British educational series Words and Pictures; and performed the role of Doctor Cornelius in the BBC adaptation of Prince Caspian (1989).
Woolf joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...
in 1983, was promoted to professor in 1990, also serving as head of its Drama department, and received the University's Master Teacher Award in 1994, before retiring in 1997, at the Canadian mandatory retirement age of 67. Woolf also served as artistic director of the annual summer Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan
Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan is an annual summer Shakespeare in the park theatre festival founded in 1985, which takes place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada...
festival, in Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
, from 1991 until his retirement from that position in 2001. In 2001 Woolf was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Saskatchewan.
In March 2003, Woolf directed an all-female production of Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, at the University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
.
In April 2007, he reprised his roles as Mr. Kidd in a production of Pinter's The Room (1957), marking the 50th anniversary of the original production, and as the Man in Pinter's Monologue (1973), both of which occurred at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
conference Artist and Citizen: 50 Years of Performing Pinter.