Background

Reginald McKern was born on March 16, 1920, in Sydney, Australia. He was from a family of engineers. He was a son of Vera McKern, maiden name Martin, and Norman Walton McKern.

Education

Reginald McKern's childhood ended somewhat tragically when, at the age of fifteen, he lost an eye while working at a refrigerator factory to help support his family during the Great Depression: a piece of metal flew into his left eye; though the injury was not, at first, considered serious, the sight deteriorated and eventually the eye had to be removed. With his portion of the compensation - his parents sued the surgeon who had first attended him - McKern bought an old boat, the first of several he owned, and wrecked it in Sydney harbor. He failed to complete Sydney Technical High School, where he took the name Leo because his classmates made fun of his given name. His interest in engineering prompted him to transfer into the role of engineering apprentice (1935 to 1937). Later he expanded his horizons in a different direction with a two-year stint (1937-1940) at a commercial art college.

Career

When Australia entered World War II, Reginald McKern joined the Corps of Engineers, serving from 1940 to 1942. In the military, he discovered he had a talent for acting when he realized he could get out of trouble with his superior officers by lying to them convincingly. As an actor, he struggled at first to earn a living; his glass eye made it difficult for him to get acting jobs, but he managed to make his stage debut in Sydney in 1944.

In 1944, he also sailed away in pursuit of Jane Holland, who was well known on the Australian stage and wanted to try her luck in the United Kingdom. They married, and lived for a time in a Hampstead bedsitter, taking various jobs. McKern was a meat porter, and drew slides for the cinema, though he was also sacked for selling under-the-counter goods to pensioners. As an assistant stage manager, he went on a combined services entertainment tour of Germany; back in London, he became a jeweler's stone-setter, while his wife was a cinema usherette.

In repertory at Bangor, McKern worked long hours painting scenery, stage managing, and acting, before going on an Arts Council tour of Welsh mining villages in The Miser, directed by Tyrone Guthrie, a contact which eventually resulted in his joining the Old Vic Company in 1949. In the first of three seasons there, he played small parts, and, as an understudy, went on as Tony Lumpkin in She Stoops To Conquer. His best part the following season was Feste in Twelfth Night. Despite the impediments of a glass eye and strong Australian accent, he became a regular performer both there and at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford.

In Guthrie's production of Marlowe's Tamburlaine The Great - the first for 300 years - McKern played Bazajeth, Emperor of the Turks and Tamburlaine's chief adversary. This was a part in which he could show his physical skill and energy, but also an unnerving experience as Donald Wolfit (Tamburlaine) was given to distracting the audience's attention from everyone except himself. Before the end of the season, in which he was due to play Lear, Wolfit left - and McKern shone as the Fool. Many years later, he appeared in the play again, this time on television, as Gloucester, with Laurence Olivier as Lear, and, having progressed to leading parts, he went back to Australia with the Stratford company, as Iago to Anthony Quayle's Othello. He also brought his distinctive features to film, marking up some notable credits after his 1952 debut appearance in Murder in the Cathedral.

Back in England at Christmas 1954, Reginald McKern enjoyed playing Toad to large audiences of children at the Prince's Theatre (now the Shaftesbury). His first strong West End part was as Big Daddy in Peter Hall's production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958); two years later, he took the title part in Marcel Achard's Rollo. His next outstanding performance was as the Common Man, in A Man For All Seasons, which created a mild sensation as a Brechtian experiment. Grabbing costumes from a basket on stage, McKern was both commentator and storyteller, though in New York, and in the film, he played Thomas Cromwell.

For Peer Gynt, one of his most taxing - but also most satisfying - roles, McKern returned to the Old Vic in 1962. Although he knew he was too old for the part, he comforted himself in the knowledge that Ibsen never intended the play to be staged. Some years later, he discovered that Guthrie had described it as "brilliant." In Guthrie's modern-dress production of The Alchemist (Old Vic, 1962), he had to make an entrance three feet above the ground. The following year, he was back with Iago, as well as playing the garrulous elder statesman Menenius, in Coriolanus, at the opening of the Nottingham Playhouse. At the Oxford Playhouse and later in London, he was an explosive Volpone - his second Jonson character in the 1960s. He was also part of the swinging 60s to the extent of appearing with the Beatles in Help (1965) and in the cult TV series The Prisoner.

In 1970, McKern returned to Australia to play Bligh in The Man Who Shot The Albatross and Rollo. Back at the Oxford Playhouse, he was Shylock, and Kelemen in Molnar's The Wolf, opposite Judi Dench. There were also film ventures, including Ryan's Daughter (1970), which involved almost a year's stay on the west coast of Ireland - he took along his wife and daughters, and his 32ft sloop. McKern returned to the theatre in 1995, as Old Hobson in Hobson's Choice at Chichester, giving a performance that was a nice blend of pathos and northern humor. Also at Chichester, in 1996, he played the press photographer Henry Ormonroyd, in a revival of Priestley's When We Are Married, with, wrote the Guardian critic Michael Billington, "the stately dignity of a tipsy porpoise."

In 1975, he appeared as Rumpole for the first time in a BBC Play of the Month television production. Author John Mortimer created Horace Rumpole with only one actor in mind, and as the blustering, grumbling barrister, McKern did not disappoint. Rumpole had all the commitment and cynicism people require of television heroes, but with his sidelong looks and interior monologues. With magisterial mock grandeur and imperiousness, McKern brought an intelligent, acerbic style to the character that was applauded by audiences and critics alike. John Mortimer had to continually persuade McKern back into the role after the actor complained that his character was becoming irrevocably intertwined with Rumpole's, and called his television fame an "insatiable monster." McKern appeared as Rumpole in forty-four episodes of Rumpole of the Bailey, making it his most famous role.

In 1983, Reginald McKern published his memoirs, Just Resting. He also wrote a radio play, Chain of Events. His last film role was a small part in 1999's drama The Story of Father Damien, and he last appeared on a West End stage in 2000.

Achievements

• Reginald McKern's career spanned more than 50 years - from acclaimed Shakespeare stage roles to playing Clang in The Beatles' 1965 film Help!. He was one of the finest and most resourceful actors in the United Kingdom. McKern received several awards for his work and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother

    (After spending decades living in the shadow of his more f...)

    1975
  • The Day the Earth Caught Fire

    (When the Americans test a nuclear weapon at the South Pol...)

    1961
  • Molokai

    (The true story of the 19th-century priest who volunteered...)

    1999
  • Ladyhawke

    (In this enchanted swashbuckling tale of two lovers cursed...)

    1985
  • A Man For All Seasons

    (Dramatic depiction of the conflict between Henry VIII and...)

    1966
  • Candleshoe

    (A tomboy scams a nobleman to find a fortune in Spanish do...)

    1977
  • The Shoes of the Fisherman

    (Based on the best-selling book by Morris L. West, this sw...)

    1968
  • The Amorous Adventures Of Moll Flanders 1965

• TV series

  • Rumpole of the Bailey: Season 1

    (Cigar-puffing, whiskey-sipping, insult-generating defense...)

    1975
  • The Prisoner

    (After resigning, a secret agent is abducted and taken to ...)

    1967

Views

Quotations: "I consider my best performance ever was as Peer Gynt, though if I get an obituary, they will say, of course, known to millions as Rumpole."

Personality

Reginald McKern was able to turn his hand to comedy, the classics, and serious contemporary parts with ease, and became famed for his commanding stage presence.

Physical Characteristics: Height: 5ft 6in (1.68m)

Reginald McKern was convinced that being short and stocky made him unattractive to audiences and suffered throughout his life from huge stage fright.

Quotes from others about the person

• Critic Tyrone Guthrie on Reginald McKern's acting versatility wrote: "He can coo like a dove, roar like a lion, sing like an angel and curse like, well, as only Australians can."
  
  Writing in 1994, barrister and dramatist John Mortimer said McKern was "shapeless, lovable and could make you laugh and cry. His acting exists where I always hope my writing will be: about two feet above the ground, a little larger than life, but always taking off from reality."

Interests

• cars, boats

Connections

Reginald McKern married actress Jane Holland in 1946 and had two daughters, actress Abigail and director Harriet.

Father:

Norman Walton McKern

Mother:

Vera McKern

Wife:

Jane Holland

Jane Holland is an actress, known for A Son Is Born (1946), A Hundred Years Old (1946), and Jenny Villiers (1948).

Daughter:

Abigail McKern

Abigail McKern has followed in her father's footsteps and enjoyed more than 40 years in the theatre and TV industry, with huge roles in UK BBC dramas as well as leading parts in some of the biggest stage shows across the world. She famously starred alongside her father, Reginald McKern, in a few episodes of his much-loved TV series Rumpole of the Bailey.

Daughter:

Harriet McKern

Harriet McKern is currently developing projects as an independent director working in drama and documentary. Prior to this, she has had over 20 years of experience across a range of roles including General Manager of the Australian Directors Guild as well as Coordinator of the prestigious feature film development workshop, Aurora run by FTO now Create NSW.