Name Robert Speaight Siblings George Speaight Spouse Evelyn Bowen (m. ?–1939) | Died 1976 Role Actor | |
Movies The Vision of William Blake Books The companion guide to, The Locomotive of To‑Day, The Very Idea of Acting, The Tradition of Acting ‑ F, Acting: its idea and tradition | ||
Murder In The Cathedral - T. S. Eliot - Verse Recitation - Robert Speaight - 78 rpm
Robert William Speaight (; 1904 – 1976) was a British actor and writer, and the brother of George Speaight, the puppeteer.
Contents
- Murder In The Cathedral T S Eliot Verse Recitation Robert Speaight 78 rpm
- The Hollow Men by TS Eliot Poem animation
- Works
- Recordings
- Filmography
- References
Speaight studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, London. He was an early performer (from 1927) in radio plays. He came to prominence as Becket in the first production of T. S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. He went on to Shakespearean roles, and to direct.
He also wrote criticism and essays, works on the theatre and biography. He was a Roman Catholic convert, and biographer of Hilaire Belloc and Eric Gill. In the case of Gill, a personal friend, he suppressed material about Gill's sexual interests, which would only come out in the 1989 biography by Fiona MacCarthy.
He married the Welsh actress Evelyn Bowen, with whom he had a son; they separated in 1939. Evelyn later married the celebrated Irish writer Frank O'Connor, with whom she had three children.