Nigel Davenport: Biography, Movies & Photos

Nigel Davenport: Biography, Movies & Photos — RecapFlicks

Trivia

1Father of author Hugo Davenport and actress Laura Davenport with his first wife, Helena Margaret White, and actor Jack Davenport with his second, Maria Aitken.
2His father was a bursar of Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England.
3Was educated at St. Peter's School, Seaford; Cheltenham College and read English at Trinity College, Oxford, where he received his Master of Arts degree.
4He grew up in Cambridge but went to Trinity College, Oxford.
5At Oxford University, his talent was for Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

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6He switched to studying English after his moral tutor told him his future was as an actor, which he claims he hadn't realised for himself at the time.
7It was during his time at Oxford University that he met his first wife, Helena Margaret White, with whom he had two children.
8During production of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Davenport read the lines of HAL 9000 off-camera during the computer's dialogues with actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. However, Kubrick thought that Davenport's English accent was too distracting, and after a few weeks he dismissed him, so Canadian actor Douglas Rain, who was ultimately chosen for the role, quickly recorded his lines for the final film in post-production.
9Retired from acting in the early 21st century because he could no longer remember dialogue.
10Worked as a British Army disc jockey in Hamburg, Germany while doing military service.
11Was president of the British Actors' Equity Association, from 1986-1992.
12Was one of the first members of the English Stage Company at the Royal Court.
13What Davenport referred to as his "dodgy eyes" was the consequence of a botched childhood operation to correct a squint. The vision in his right eye remained blurred for the rest of his life.
14Had appeared with Susannah York in four films: Sands of the Kalahari (1965), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Sebastian (1968) and A Christmas Carol (1984).
15Was among the actors in the running for Dr. Hans Fallada in the science fiction horror film Lifeforce (1985). Frank Finlay was cast instead.
16He appeared in two Best Picture Academy Award winners: A Man for All Seasons (1966) and Chariots of Fire (1981).
17He has two roles in common with Peter Cushing, Frank Finlay and David Warner: (1) Cushing played Professor Van Helsing in Horror of Dracula (1958), The Brides of Dracula (1960), Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974), Davenport played him in Dracula (1973), Finlay played him in Count Dracula (1977) and Warner played him in Penny Dreadful (2014) and (2) Davenport played Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Conan Doyle (1972), Cushing played him in The Great Houdini (1976), Finlay played him in The Other Side (1992) and Warner played him in Houdini (1998).
18Took his son Jack Davenport to see Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) but fell asleep and snored loudly through it, saying afterwards "it just couldn't hold his interest".
19He was a member of the Oxford University Dramatic Society.
20In 1975, he started filming 'Trick or Treat' produced by David Puttnam, directed by Michael Apted and starring Bianca Jagger. However, about 6 weeks into the shoot Bianca refused to do the nude shots, which she'd originally agreed to, resulting in the film being abandoned.

Nigel Davenport

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