Cain
John Caird
Jonathan Cake
David Calder
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Michael Calf
Camille
Camino Real
Cheryl Campbell
Il Candelaio
Can Opener
The Canterbury Tales
Captain Swing
John Carlisle
Jason Carr
Carrie
Nancy Carroll
Elaine Cassidy
The Castle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Changeling
Jan Chappell
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson Awards
Geoffrey Chaucer
Paddy Chayefsky
Anton Chekhov
Nick Chelton
The Cherry Orchard
Children of the Sun
Alison Chitty
A Christmas Carol
Christopher Columbus
Tony Church
Caryl Churchill
The Churchill Play
Clay
Dennis Clinton
A Clockwork Orange
The Collection
Patience Collier
Columbus and the Discovery of Japan
The Comedy of Errors
Complete Works Festival
Comrades
Kerry Condon
William Congreve
Shelley Conn
Paule Constable
The Constant Couple
Nina Conti
Kandis Cook
Ron Cook
Dominic Cooke
Nigel Cooke
Richard Cordery
Coriolanus
Charlotte Cornwell
Oliver Cotton
Yvonne Coulette
Country Dancing
The Country Wife
Courtyard Theatre
Cousin Vladimir
Andrea J. Cox
Brian Cox
Claire Cox
Cries from the Casement
Crimes in Hot Countries
The Criminals
Derbhle Crotty
Bob Crowley
The Crucible
Frances Cuka
Paddy Cunneen
Liam Cunningham
Julian Curry
Curse of the Starving Class
Curtmantle
Cyril Cusack
Niamh Cusack
Sinéad Cusack
The Custom of the Country
Cymbeline
Cyrano de Bergerac
The son of an Edinburgh printer, Ian Charleson grew up in a working-class district of the city. He studied architecture at Edinburgh University, but found his forte as a member of the drama society. He won a place on the acting course at LAMDA and began his career as a member of Frank Dunlop's Young Vic company (1972-74). He played Hamlet at Cambridge (1975) and a Glaswegian thug in Simon Gray's Otherwise Engaged in the West End (Queen's, 1976). He first appeared at the National in 1977, as Octavius in Julius Caesar (John Schlesinger, Olivier) and Peregrine in Volpone (Peter Hall, Olivier). His first film was Derek Jarman's Jubilee (1977).
He had quality, was an actor to watch. He went to the RSC and played disparate roles: a tough, 'human' Ariel in The Tempest (Clifford Williams, RST, 1978); Tranio in The Taming of the Shrew (Michael Bogdanov, RST, 1978, Aldwych, 1979); Longaville in Love's Labour's Lost (John Barton, RST, 1978, Aldwych, 1979); Man at Rehearsal/Pierre in Piaf (Howard Davies, TOP, 1978, Warehouse, 1979, Aldwych, 1979, Piccadilly, 1980); Joe Maguire in The Innocent (Davies, Warehouse, 1979); and Lawrence Vail in Once in a Lifetime (Trevor Nunn, Aldwych, 1979).
He left the RSC to play Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson); the success of the picture, released in 1981, led him to hope for a major career in films. He played supporting roles in Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982), Ascendancy (1982) and Greystoke (Hudson, 1984), and starred in Car Trouble (1986) and Opera (Dario Argento, 1987). He was in three American mini-series broadcast in 1984, The Sun Also Rises, as Mike Campbell, Master of the Game and Louisiana. For the BBC Shakespeare he played Bertram in All's Well That Ends Well (1980), Fortinbras in Hamlet (1980), and Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra (1981).
His final stage performances, all of them memorable, were at the National: Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls (Richard Eyre, Olivier, 1982); Eddie in Sam Shepard's Fool for Love (Peter Gill, Cottesloe, 1984); Brick in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Davies, Lyttelton, 1988); and the title role, succeeding Daniel Day-Lewis, in Hamlet (Eyre, Olivier, 1989). The latter performance stilled the vast auditorium with its sadness and rage. It was not known at the time, but he had AIDS. He died a few months later in January 1990.
The Ian Charleson Awards, established by the National and The Sunday Times, are awarded annually to the best actors under thirty.
Education: Royal High School, Edinburgh; Edinburgh University; London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
RSC: Joined 1978
Seasons: 1978 (Strat.)-79/80 (Lond.)
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