Earwig
Easter
Richard Easton
Eastward Ho!
David Edgar
Educating Rita
Edward II
Edward III
Rob Edwards
Peter Egan
Eh?
Jennifer Ehle
Elective Affinities
Electra
Elgar's Rondo
T.S. Eliot
Michael Elliott
Chris Ellis
Embers
The Empire Builders
Endgame
Enemies
Les enfants du paradis
Susan Engel
Epitaph for the Official Secrets Act
Eric LaRue
Escurial
George Etherege
Euripides
Daniel Evans
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Everyman
Every Man in His Humour
Everything in the Garden
Exiles
Expeditions
A veteran of topflight theatre on both sides of the Atlantic, Richard Easton finally became a Broadway star in his late sixties—his Tony-winning performance as the older Housman in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love (Richard Eyre, 2001) was followed by Mowbray in Michael Frayn's Noises Off (Jeremy Sams, Brooks Atkinson, 2001-02); Pyper in Frank McGuinness's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme (Lincoln Center, 2003); and the title role, alongside Kevin Kline (Falstaff) and Ethan Hawke (Hotspur), in Henry IV (Jack O'Brien, Lincoln Center, 2003).
A native of Montreal, he acted with a children's theatre group before moving, at the age of seventeen, to Ottawa to work in weekly rep. A scholarship took him to London, and during the first English phase of his career he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company at the Palace to play Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (John Gielgud) and Edgar in the Gielgud King Lear (George Devine, 1955). During the 1960s he was a member of the New York troupe APA-Phoenix. The 1970s saw him back in England. He played Fagan in Oliver! on tour, and starred in the BBC's popular drama series The Brothers (1972-76).
For four years from 1984 he was one of the RSC's most authoritative figures. In 1984/85 he played the Constable of France in the Kenneth Branagh Henry V (Adrian Noble, RST, Barbican), the Duke of Venice in The Merchant of Venice (John Caird, RST), the Ghost in the Roger Rees Hamlet (Ron Daniels, RST, Barbican), Don Armado, succeeding Edward Petherbridge, in Love's Labour's Lost (Barry Kyle, Barbican), and Rochfort in Peter Barnes's Red Noses (Terry Hands, Barbican); in 1986/87, Camillo in The Winter's Tale (Hands, RST, Barbican), Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bill Alexander, RST, Barbican), Northumberland in the Jeremy Irons Richard II (Kyle, RST, Barbican), Cecil Sharp in Nigel Williamson's Country Dancing (Alexander, TOP, Pit), Radio Voice in Sarcophagus (Jude Kelly, Pit, Mermaid), and Envoy in The Balcony (Hands, Barbican).
The next few years saw him supporting Kenneth Branagh's new venture, Renaissance. He was the backbone of the season at the Birmingham Rep and the Phoenix, playing Jaques in As You Like It (Geraldine McEwan), Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing (Judi Dench) and Claudius in Hamlet (Derek Jacobi), and appeared in Branagh's first two films, Henry V (1989) and Dead Again (1991).
In 1989 he returned to America and began ten years with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego: Estragon in Waiting for Godot (1989); the Duke in Measure for Measure (1989); the title role in Uncle Vanya (1990); Claudius in Hamlet (Jack O'Brien, 1990); Antonio in The Merchant of Venice (O'Brien, 1991); Prospero in The Tempest (1991); Camillo in The Winter's Tale (O'Brien, 1992); Gloucester in King Lear (O'Brien, 1993); Lafew in All's Well That Ends Well (1993); Someone to Watch Over Me (1994); the title role in Henry IV (O'Brien, 1995, John Goodman as Falstaff); Duncan/Porter in Macbeth (1996); Iago in Othello (O'Brien, 1997); and Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet (1998).
Screen credits include: Duke Frederick in As You Like It (BBC, 1978); Anthony Eden in Churchill and the Generals (BBC, 1979); Frasier (1997); and Finding Forrester (2000).
RSC: Joined 1955
Seasons: 1955 (Lond.); 1984 (Strat.)-85 (Lond.); 1986 (Strat.)-87 (Lond.)
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