Patrick Tull
Encyclopedia
Patrick Tull was a British
stage
, film
and television actor
.
, England
.
television series in the 1960s, including Z-Cars
, and its spin-off Softly, Softly
, the soap opera
Crossroads and the comedy Dad's Army
. He also was heard but not seen in an episode of Doctor Who
.
Tull acted in three films including Parting Glances
(1986), directed by Bill Sherwood
.
, he was a founding member of Tony Randall
's National Actors Theatre
, and appeared in the Getting Married
by George Bernard Shaw
.
Tull's off-Broadway
credits include What the Butler Saw
and The Art of Success at the Manhattan Theatre Club
, and the critically acclaimed Some Voices
at the Greenwich Street Theatre.
He was a part of many productions in regional theaters throughout the U.S.
Tull received high praise for his work in the one-man play "The Hero of the Slocum", based on the Eric Blau
's account of the greatest U.S. maritime disaster of the 20th century.
s by Patrick O'Brian
in complete and unabridged form. O’Brian once expressed disapproval of a dramatic rendition of recorded novels (“To revert to my ideal reader: he would avoid obvious emotion, italics and exclamation marks like the plague – trying to put life into flat prose is as useful as flogging a dead horse”http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/features/intv1003a.cfm). Many of Tull's listeners disagree. His lively dramatization of the characters, especially Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and his comprehensive command of the dialects and tenor of the novels endeared him to many O’Brian fans.
He also narrated a number of television and documentary films including the seventeen-part series Sea Tales for the A&E
television channel, some of which are available on DVD. He was also one of the most prolific narrators of recorded books in the U.S., featured on 104 productions.
In 2003, Tull performed in the world premiere of "Sydney the Sea Squid" for orchestra and narrator with music by Paul Stuart and text by Barbara Stewart with the Equinox Symphony Orchestra (with Stuart conducting) at the Rochester Institute of Technology
, located in Rochester
, New York
.
In May 2005, Tull narrated the debut performance of jazz composer and trombonist Ron Westray
's Chivalrous Misdemeanors (based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
) with Wynton Marsalis
and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
, New York, where he passed away on the morning on September 23, 2006 following a lengthy illness.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
, 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 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...
.
Early life and education
Tull was born in SussexSussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, 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...
.
Film and television work
Although never a regular cast member, Tull performed in a number of episodes of well-known BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television series in the 1960s, including Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
, and its spin-off Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly (TV series)
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...
, the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Crossroads and the comedy Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
. He also was heard but not seen in an episode of 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...
.
Tull acted in three films including Parting Glances
Parting Glances
thumb|Parting Glances released on VHS format in 1998Parting Glances is an American film shot in 1984 and released in 1986. With its realistic look at urban gay life in the Ronald Reagan era and at the height of the AIDS crisis, many film critics consider it an important movie in the history of gay...
(1986), directed by Bill Sherwood
Bill Sherwood
William Charles Patrick Sherwood, better known as Bill Sherwood was an American musician, screenwriter and film director.Sherwood was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan...
.
Theatre work
On BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, he was a founding member of Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
's National Actors Theatre
National Actors Theatre
The National Actors Theatre was a theater company founded in 1991 by Tony Randall, whose dream it was to create such an organization. He was chairman until his death in 2004. At first the company was housed at the Belasco Theatre New York, then at the nearby Lyceum Theatre, and in 2002 was based...
, and appeared in the Getting Married
Getting Married
Getting Married is a play by George Bernard Shaw. First performed in 1908, it features a cast of family members who gather together for a marriage. The play analyses and satirises the status of marriage in Shaw's day, with a particular focus on the necessity of liberalising divorce laws.- External...
by George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
.
Tull's off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
credits include What the Butler Saw
What the Butler Saw (play)
What the Butler Saw is a farce written by English playwright Joe Orton. It premièred at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1969. It was Orton's final play and the second to be performed after his death, following Funeral Games the year before....
and The Art of Success at the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, and the critically acclaimed Some Voices
Some Voices
Some Voices is an EP by indie rock band Pinback.-Track listing:# "Some Voices" – 3:16# "Trainer" – 2:43# "Manchuria" – 2:41# "June" – 7:17...
at the Greenwich Street Theatre.
He was a part of many productions in regional theaters throughout the U.S.
Tull received high praise for his work in the one-man play "The Hero of the Slocum", based on the Eric Blau
Eric Blau
Milton Eric Blau was the creator of the Off Broadway show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.-Biography:...
's account of the greatest U.S. maritime disaster of the 20th century.
Narrator and reader
Tull is the first of only two people – the other being Simon Vance – to have recorded the entire Aubrey-Maturin series of nautical historical novelHistorical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
s by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centred on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician Stephen...
in complete and unabridged form. O’Brian once expressed disapproval of a dramatic rendition of recorded novels (“To revert to my ideal reader: he would avoid obvious emotion, italics and exclamation marks like the plague – trying to put life into flat prose is as useful as flogging a dead horse”http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/features/intv1003a.cfm). Many of Tull's listeners disagree. His lively dramatization of the characters, especially Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, and his comprehensive command of the dialects and tenor of the novels endeared him to many O’Brian fans.
He also narrated a number of television and documentary films including the seventeen-part series Sea Tales for the A&E
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
television channel, some of which are available on DVD. He was also one of the most prolific narrators of recorded books in the U.S., featured on 104 productions.
In 2003, Tull performed in the world premiere of "Sydney the Sea Squid" for orchestra and narrator with music by Paul Stuart and text by Barbara Stewart with the Equinox Symphony Orchestra (with Stuart conducting) at the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
, located in Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, New York
New 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...
.
In May 2005, Tull narrated the debut performance of jazz composer and trombonist Ron Westray
Ron Westray
Ronald Kenneth Westray, Jr. is an American jazz trombonist, composer, and educator. He holds a B.A. from South Carolina State University and a Master of Arts degree from Eastern Illinois University...
's Chivalrous Misdemeanors (based on the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, considered the first modern novel, is a classic of Western literature, and is regarded amongst the best works of fiction ever written...
) with Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
Personal life
He was a long-term resident of New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York, where he passed away on the morning on September 23, 2006 following a lengthy illness.
See also
- List of British actors and actresses
- List of people from New York City
- List of voice actors