Gary Bond

Biography

Bond was born in Liss, Hampshire, England.

Although he was probably best known as a theatrical actor in his native England, he also played a number of roles in feature films and on television. Having appeared in Zulu in 1964, he went on to star in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) and the classic Australian film Wake in Fright, filmed in 1970 and released the following year. His television roles include Pip in the 1967 television production of Great Expectations and Antonio in BBC Television's 1972 production of The Duchess of Malfi. Bond also had cameos in Z-Cars, The Avengers, The Main Chance, Hart to Hart and Bergerac.

On stage, he most famously played Joseph in the 1972 London production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Later, he succeeded David Essex as Che Guevara in the London production of Rice and Lloyd Webber's Evita, initially opposite Elaine Paige and, subsequently, Marti Webb.

Personal life

Bond was the partner of actor Jeremy Brett from 1969 to 1976. From 1979 he lived with American artist and illustrator E.J. Taylor, first in Barnes and then in Ealing, London, following their initial meeting in Fire Island, New York, USA. Bond died of AIDS on 12 October 1995 at the age of 55, exactly one month after Jeremy Brett's death.