title: Brian Bedford
text: Brian Bedford (16 February 1935 – 13 January 2016) was an English actor. He appeared in film and on stage, and was an actor-director of Shakespeare productions. Bedford was nominated for seven Tony Awards for his theatrical work, winning once.
  
  He served as the voice of Disney's Robin Hood from the 1973 animated film of the same name.
  
  Early life
  Brian Bedford was born in Morley, West Yorkshire on 16 February 1935, the son of Ellen (née O'Donnell) and Arthur Bedford, a postman. He attended St Bede's Grammar School in Bradford, leaving at the age of 15. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from 1952 to 1955. At RADA, he was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Peter O'Toole.
  
  Career
  Primarily a stage actor, he appeared in English-speaking interpretations of the French playwright Molière, including Tony Award nominated performances in Tartuffe, The Molière Comedies (a double bill of the short plays The School for Husbands and The Imaginary Cuckold) and The School for Wives, for which he received the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.
  
  He performed Shakespearean work, such as Ariel in The Tempest opposite John Gielgud's Prospero in 1958, and at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada including Angelo in Measure for Measure, Malvolio in Twelfth Night and the title role in Richard III directed by Robin Phillips, and The Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It (as Jacques), and Timon of Athens (as Timon) on Broadway, with the National Actors Theatre in 1993. Bedford's additional Broadway credits include The Seven Descents of Myrtle, Private Lives, Two Shakespearean Actors, London Assurance and Jumpers.
  
  Bedford appeared with James Garner in the 1966 film Grand Prix, and in 1967 he was a regular on the CBS series Coronet Blue. He provided the voice of the title character in the 1973 Disney film Robin Hood, which director Byron Howard credits as a major inspiration for the Academy Award-winning animated film, Zootopia. In 1988, he appeared as Mr. Stone, the head of the consortium that owns Cheers, and would later appear (as a different character) in its spin-off, Frasier, in 2000. In 1997 Bedford was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Other honours include the Obie Award, the Outer Circle Critics Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the L.A. Drama Critics Award.
  
  In 2009, Bedford starred as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, marking 27 seasons of acting and/or directing, at the Stratford Festival in Canada.
  
  He repeated the role in 2010 (in a double role as both actor and director) for the Roundabout Theatre in New York, which earned him a 2011 Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.
  
  Personal life
  Bedford shared homes in Stratford, Ontario and in Santa Barbara, California with fellow actor Tim MacDonald, his partner after 1985 and husband from 2013.
  
  Death
  Bedford died of cancer on January 13, 2016 in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 80; his remains were cremated.
  
  Stratford Shakespeare Festival
  
  Actor
  
   Twelfth Night (1975) by William Shakespeare  — Malvolio
   Measure for Measure (1975) by William Shakespeare  — Angelo
   Richard III (1977) by William Shakespeare — Richard III
   The Guardsman (1977) by Ferenc Molnár — The Actor
   As You Like It (1977,1978) by William Shakespeare — Jacques
   Private Lives (1978) by Noël Coward — Elyot
   The Winter's Tale (1978) by William Shakespeare — Leontes
   Uncle Vanya (1978) by Anton Chekhov — Dr Astrov
   Much Ado About Nothing (1980) by William Shakespeare — Benedick
   Twelfth Night (1980) by William Shakespeare — Malvolio
   The Seagull (1980) by Anton Chekhov  — Trigorin
   The Misanthrope (1981) by Molière — Alceste
   Arms and the Man (1982) by George Bernard Shaw — Bluntschli
   Blithe Spirit (1982) by Noël Coward  — Charles
   Richard II (1983) by William Shakespeare — Richard II
   Tartuffe (1983, 1984) by Molière  — Tartuffe
   A Midsummer Night's Dream (1984) by William Shakespeare — Bottom
   Waiting for Godot (1984) by Samuel Beckett — Vladimir
   The Relapse (1989) by John Vanbrugh — Lord Foppington
   The Merchant of Venice (1989) by William Shakespeare — Shylock
   The Lunatic, the Lover & the Poet (1989) by Brian Bedford — adapted Shakespeare texts
   Macbeth (1990) by William Shakespeare — Macbeth
   Julius Caesar (1990) by William Shakespeare — Brutus
   The Lunatic, the Lover & the Poet (1990) by Brian Bedford — adapted Shakespeare texts
   Timon of Athens (1991) by William Shakespeare — Timon
   Much Ado About Nothing (1991) by William Shakespeare — Dogberry
   The School for Wives (1991) by Molière  — Arnolphe
   Measure for Measure (1992) by William Shakespeare — Duke
   Twelfth Night (1994) by William Shakespeare — Feste
   The School for Husbands & The Imaginary Cuckold (1994) by Molière  — Sganarelle
   Amadeus (1995, 1996) by Peter Shaffer — Salieri
   The Little Foxes (1996) by Lillian Hellman — Horace
   Equus (1997) by Peter Shaffer  — Dysart
   Much Ado About Nothing (1998) by William Shakespeare — Benedick
   A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) by William Shakespeare — Bottom
   The School for Scandal (1999) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan — Sir Peter Teazle
   Tartuffe (2000) by Molière  — Tartuffe
   Private Lives (2001) by Noël Coward  — Elyot
   The Seagull (2001) by Anton Chekhov  — Sorin
   The Lunatic, the Lover & the Poet (2002) by Brian Bedford — adapted Shakespeare texts
   Present Laughter (2003) by Noël Coward  — Garry Essendine
   Love's Labour's Lost (2003) by William Shakespeare — Don Armado 
   London Assurance (2006) by Dion Boucicault — Sir Harcourt Courtly
   Twelfth Night (2006) by William Shakespeare — Malvolio
   King Lear (2007) by William Shakespeare — King Lear
   The Importance of Being Earnest (2009) by Oscar Wilde — Lady Bracknell
  
  Director
   Titus Andronicus (1978, 1980) by William Shakespeare
   Coriolanus (1981) by William Shakespeare
   The Rivals (1981) by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
   Blithe Spirit (1982) by Noël Coward
   The Lunatic, the Lover & the Poet (1989, 1990, 2002) by Brian Bedford
   Phaedra (1990) by Racine
   Othello (1994) by William Shakespeare
   Waiting for Godot (1996, 1998) by Samuel Beckett
   Equus (1997) by Peter Shaffer
   The Winter's Tale (1998) by William Shakespeare
   Private Lives (2001) by Noël Coward
   Present Laughter (2003) by Noël Coward
   Noises Off (2004) by Michael Frayn 
   Fallen Angels (2005) by Noël Coward
   London Assurance (2006) by Dion Boucicault
   King Lear (2007) by William Shakespeare
   The Importance of Being Earnest (2009) by Oscar Wilde
   Blithe Spirit (2013) by Noël Coward
  
  Filmography
  
  Film
  
  Television
  
  Awards and nominations
  Tony Awards
  1971 Best Leading Actor in Play – The School for Wives (winner)
  1992 Best Leading Actor in Play – Two Shakespearean Actors (nominee)
  1994 Best Leading Actor in Play – Timon of Athens (nominee)
  1995 Best Leading Actor in Play – The Molière Comedies (nominee)
  1997 Best Leading Actor in Play – London Assurance (nominee)
  2003 Best Leading Actor in Play – Tartuffe (nominee)
  2011 Best Leading Actor in Play – The Importance of Being Earnest (nominee)
  
  Drama Desk Awards
  1969 Outstanding Performance – The Misanthrope (winner)
  1970 Outstanding Performance – Private Lives (winner)
  1971 Outstanding Performance – The School for Wives (winner)
  1974 Outstanding Performance – Jumpers (winner)
  1992 Outstanding Actor in a Play – Two Shakespearean Actors (winner)
  1994 Outstanding Actor in a Play – Timon of Athens (nominee)
  2011 Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play – The Importance of Being Earnest (winner)
  
  Obie Awards 
   1965 Outstanding Performance – The Knack (winner)
  
  References
  
  External links
  
  Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia entry
  
  1935 births
  2016 deaths
  20th-century English male actors
  21st-century English male actors
  20th-century English LGBT people
  21st-century English LGBT people
  Alumni of RADA
  British expatriate male actors in the United States
  Deaths from cancer in California
  Drama Desk Award winners
  English expatriates in Canada
  English expatriates in the United States
  English male film actors
  English male Shakespearean actors
  English male stage actors
  English male television actors
  English male voice actors
  English people of Irish descent
  English gay actors
  English LGBT actors
  LGBT theatre directors
  Male actors from Yorkshire
  People from Morley, West Yorkshire
  Tony Award winners
  People educated at St. Bede's Grammar School