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Nigel Hawthorne

ACTOR

Nigel Hawthorne

Known for
The Black Cauldron (1985), Yes, Prime Minister (1986), The Plague Dogs (1982), Madeline (1998)

18 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026

Nigel Hawthorne is an actor best known for The Black Cauldron, Yes, Prime Minister and The Plague Dogs.

  1. #001

    Derek Fowlds, his co-star on Yes Minister (1980), said of him: "With Paul Eddington, the three of us were together for seven or eight years. We were really good friends. We spent many happy hours on those shows… they were very special times."

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  2. #002

    He lived quietly in a manor house dating from the 15th century.

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  3. #003

    During the production of Demolition Man (1993), he did not get along well with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.

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  4. #004

    Although he played Dame Maggie Smith's son in Richard III (1995), in real life he was more than five years her senior.

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  5. #005

    He was appointed CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1987 Queen's New Year Honours for services to drama, and was knighted in the 1999 Queen's New Year Honours.

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  6. #006

    He battled a recurrence of pancreatic cancer that was believed to have regressed after surgical treatment.

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  7. #007

    He was educated by Christian Brothers in South Africa.

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  8. #008

    One of his last major projects was a British-Japanese stage adaptation of "King Lear" in Japan.

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  9. #009

    He is generally regarded as the first openly gay actor to be nominated for an Oscar (for The Madness of King George (1994)).

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  10. #010

    His performance in "Shadowlands" on Broadway won him the 1991 Tony Award for Best Actor (Play) and the 1991 New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.

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  11. #011

    He had a small, uncredited role in Terry Gilliam's Crimson Insurance short film, part of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) — he was the man walking past the building as the anchors are raised.

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  12. #012

    He was offered the role of Captain Striker (played by Keith Barron) in the Doctor Who (1963) serial "Enlightenment".

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  13. #013

    He was survived by his partner, the writer Trevor Bentham.

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  14. #014

    He played a former King of England (George III in The Madness of King George (1994)) and a former President of the United States (Martin Van Buren in Amistad (1997)).

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  15. #015

    He worked alongside Leslie Phillips in London for 19 months but never went on stage for even a single performance, so he returned to South Africa and then came back to the United Kingdom in 1963.

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  16. #016

    He was Honorary Patron of the independent film production company Incognita Enterprises, chaired by actress and writer Sally McLean.

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  17. #017

    At one point his family emigrated to Cape Town, South Africa, when he was three years old.

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  18. #018

    His Oscar-nominated performance in The Madness of King George (1994) turned him into an international star.

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