John Colicos

Colicos, John

John Colicos, actor (b at Toronto 10 Dec 1928; d 6 Mar 2000). He played classical and contemporary roles on the major stages of England, the US and Canada. His earliest professional work was with the Montreal Repertory Theatre. In 1951 he was selected best actor at the DOMINION DRAMA FESTIVAL. He acted in England as a member of the Old Vic Company before beginning his career in New York in 1956 as Edmund in Orson Welles's production of King Lear at the City Center Theatre and appearing in The Devils at the Broadway Theatre. He joined the American Shakespeare Festival, Stratford, Conn, in 1957 for 2 seasons and played Laertes in Hamlet, Leontes in A Winter's Tale, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice. Between 1961 and 1964, Colicos appeared at the STRATFORD FESTIVAL, playing the title roles in King Lear, Timon of Athens and Cyrano de Bergerac.

Two roles in which Colicos impressed by his intensity and strength as an actor were Musgrave in John Arden's Sergeant Musgrave's Dance and Winston Churchill in Soldiers by Rolf Hochhuth. He appeared in numerous television and film dramas, with much praise for his role of Lord Beaverbrook on CBC in 1976 and as Thomas Cromwell in the film Anne of a Thousand Days (1971). Other films included Drum (1976), The Changeling (1980), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Nowhere to Hide (1987), Shadow Dancing (1988) (which was set behind the scenes of the contemporary dance world and featured the NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA), Thunder Point (1996) and The Last Don (1997), and for Canadian television, Love and Hate: A Marriage Made in Hell (1990).