Alan Russell Dobie (born 2 June 1932) is a retired English stage, television and film actor and a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Early life and career
Dobie was born in
Wombwell, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to George Russell and Sarah Kate (née Charlesworth) Dobie. His father was a
mining engineer and his mother's family were farmers. After attending Wath Grammar School,
Dobie trained at the
London Old Vic Theatre School
and has performed in more than 117 productions during his 50+ year acting career.
Dobie made his stage debut when he played the Page to Paris, in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet at the Old Vic Theatre, London, in 1952.
In 1963 he played both God and Jesus in the open air, mainly amateur-cast York Mystery Plays, produced at that point triennially in the Yorkshire Museum Gardens.
He made his
Broadway theatre debut as Corporal Hill in
Chips with Everything, at the Plymouth Theatre in 1963.
Later career
Dobie's stage roles in London's West End include:
No Concern of Mine,
Rosmersholm,
The Complaisant Lover,
The Tiger and the Horse,
The Affair,
Curtmantle,
The Devils,
Inadmissible Evidence,
The Hallelujah Boy,
The Wild Duck,
Dancing at Lughnasa,
Rough Justice,
Hamlet and
Waiting for Godot. At the Old Vic Theatre he performed in
Romeo and Juliet,
Italian Straw,
Julius Caesar,
Murder in the Cathedral,
Henry VIII,
Merchant of Venice,
Macbeth,
Love's Labours Lost,
Taming of the Shrew,
As You Like It,
Richard II,
Henry IV parts 1,
& 2,
Major Barbara,
The Lonely Road,
Waste and
King Lear. At the Royal Court Theatre Dobie starred in
Look Back in Anger,
Live Like Pigs,
Major Barbara,
Serjeant Musgrave's Dance,
One Leg Over the Wrong Wall,
Chips with Everything,
The London Cuckolds and
Famine.
In 1963 he played the role of Jesus Christ in the famous
York Cycle of Mystery Plays.
Dobie has directed
The Merry Wives of Windsor,
Season's Greetings and
Wedding in White.
[
]
Dobie has an extensive list of television roles to his credit, including major parts in War and Peace (1972) for the BBC, Kessler (1981), The Troubleshooters and Hard Times (1977), among many others.[ Dobie on the Internet Movie Database] In (1986) Dobie took a leading role in Channel 4's The Disputation, playing Rabbi Nachmanides, with Christopher Lee as King James I of Aragon, based on a true story.
He was married to actress Rachel Roberts from 1955 to 1961, then married Maureen Scott in 1963. He appeared with his daughter, Natasha, in the TVTimes Star Challenge show, made by ITV Central in 1984.
Partial filmography
-
The Firm of Girdlestone (1958, TV series) - Ezra Girdlestone
-
Captured (1959)
-
Seven Keys (1961) - Russell
-
Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963) - Mr. Frank Fragg - Prosecutor
-
The Comedy Man (1964) - Jack Lavery
-
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968) - Riding Master Mogg
-
The Long Day's Dying (1968) - Helmut
-
The Chairman (1969) - Benson
-
Alfred the Great (1969) - Ethelred
-
Danton (1970) - Robespierre
-
Madame Sin (1972) - White
-
War and Peace (1972–73, TV) - Andrei Bolkonsky
-
Hard Times (1977, TV) - Stephen Blackpool
-
Hedda Gabler (1981, TV) - Judge Brack
-
Master of the Game (1984, TV)
-
Men and Wild Horses (1986, TV docudrama) – Charles Clement
-
The Disputation (1986, TV film) - Nachmanides
-
White Mischief (1987) - Harragin
External links
-
Dobie with the Royal Shakespeare Company
