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Ronald Lewis (actor)

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Ronald Lewis
Born(1928-12-11)11 December 1928
Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales
Died11 January 1982(1982-01-11) (aged 53)
Pimlico, London, England
OccupationActor
Years active1953–1978
Spouse(s)Norah Gorsen (1960)[1]
Elizabeth Marlow (1967)

Ronald Glasfryn Lewis (11 December 1928 – 7 January 1982) was a Welsh actor, best known for his appearances in British films of the 1950s and 1960s.[2]

Early life and career

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Lewis was born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, the son of an accountant. He moved with his family to London when he was seven. During the war he was evacuated back to south Wales, where he attended Bridgend Grammar School. There he played Bassanio in the school production of The Merchant of Venice.

He decided to become an actor after seeing George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff.

Early roles

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Lewis's first professional role was in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1950) in repertory at Worthing. He was in The Square Ring at Hammersmith.[3]

Lewis had an uncredited bit part in Valley of Song, set in Wales. He was credited for the film version of The Square Ring (1953), for Ealing; The Beachcomber (1954), as a native islander; The Face of Love (1954) for the BBC; and Fantastic Summer (1955) for TV. He had a larger part in Helen of Troy (1955) as Aeneas[4] and provided some romantic interest in The Prisoner (1955), with Alec Guinness.[5]

He was also in a play The Bad Samaritan.

Rise to stardom

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Lewis achieved attention with his stage performance in Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill, directed by Peter Hall (1955).[6] This led to Alexander Korda signing Lewis to a contract with London Films and giving him a role in Storm Over the Nile (1956), as one of the main group of friends.[7] He was third billed in the comedy Sailor Beware (1956), one of the ten most popular films at the British box office in 1956.[8] He played the important role of Private Wyatt in A Hill in Korea (1956), a Korean War film.[9]

Lewis was cast opposite Vivien Leigh in the London production of Noël Coward's South Sea Bubble (1956), replacing Peter Finch at the last minute. Lewis reprised this role on British TV.[10][11]

Leading man

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Rank tried to build Lewis into a star, giving him the lead in a thriller, The Secret Place (1957), alongside Belinda Lee.[12] On British TV he was in Salome (1957), El Bandido and the TV series Hour of Mystery in an adaption of Night Must Fall. He appeared regularly in Armchair Theatre over fifteen years and other British anthology dramas.

He had a starring role as the bad brother in Robbery Under Arms (1957) and was a villain in The Wind Cannot Read (1958). He was in Schiller's Mary Stuart and Ibsen's Ghosts on stage in 1958.[13][14]

After a TV production of A Tale of Two Cities he supported Hardy Krüger in the Rank comedy Bachelor of Hearts (1958),[15] and a production of Miss Julie (1959) at the Old Vic.[16] He was Mark Anthony in a production of Julius Caesar at the Old Vic.[17]

Rank did not pick up its option on Lewis's services.[18] However he was still employed by the studio in Conspiracy of Hearts (1960), playing an Italian officer helping some nuns.

He made The Full Treatment (1960) for Hammer, directed by Val Guest. Guest called Lewis and co-star Diane Cilento "two neglected stars... and I shall go all out to un-neglect them both."[19] Hammer kept him on for another thriller, Taste of Fear (1961), which was a big hit. So too was Mr. Sardonicus (1961) made for William Castle.

Lewis had a support role in the comedy Twice Round the Daffodils (1962) and was back in the lead for Jigsaw (1962), a thriller directed by Guest.[20][21]

Lewis had a support role in Billy Budd (1962) and was the romantic lead to star Juliet Mills in the comedy Nurse on Wheels (1963), made by the Carry On team.[22][23] He had the star role in two costume pictures, Siege of the Saxons (1963) and Hammer's The Brigand of Kandahar (1965).[24][25]

On stage he was in Poor Bitos (1963).

Decline

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His image suffered in 1965 when, while he was appearing in Peter Pan on stage (as Hook), his wife alleged he had assaulted her. Lewis failed to turn up at court and a warrant was issued for his arrest.[26] Press reports of the court case at the time[27] described the incident as "2 'Shiners' For A Film Actor" after Lewis received two black eyes, both in retaliation to his aggression: one from a man who had taken his car keys as Lewis was evidently unfit to drive; and another, at his home in Grays, from the arresting police officer whose presence was prompted by Mrs Lewis' visit to a police station in a "distressed" state. At the trial Lewis admitted driving while unfit through drink, assaulting a police officer, and being drunk and disorderly. He was fined £65 and banned from driving for a year, but he was not charged with assaulting his wife.

He focused on stage work in productions such as Raymond and Agnes (1965).

Final years

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Lewis was a regular in the TV series His and Hers (1970–72). Apart from a role in Friends (1971) and its sequel Paul and Michelle (1974), his final credits were in TV: Tales of Unease (1970), Hine (1971), The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1973), Harriet's Back in Town (1973), Nightingale's Boys (1975), Public Eye (1975), and Crown Court ('Do Your Worst' episode, 1974), Big Boy Now! (1976), Warship (1977), The XYY Man (1977), Z Cars (1978), and The John Sullivan Story (1979).[28]

He was meant to be First Voice in a production of Under Milk Wood at Theatre Gwynedd in 1975. He stopped drinking to prepare himself for the role, but wound up having a heart attack on opening night.

Personal life

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Lewis was married twice, both times to actresses: Norah Gorsen (m 1960) and Elizabeth Marlow (m 1967). He had two daughters with Marlow. Once the marriage broke up, he began drinking heavily. In 1979, he collapsed in his dressing room.[29]

In 1981, at the age of 52, he was declared bankrupt with debts of £21,188.[30][31]

Death

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On 11 January 1982, Lewis took his own life by taking a barbiturate overdose at a boarding house in Pimlico.[32] Kenneth Williams recorded in his diary entry for 12 January 1982: "The paper says Ronald Lewis has taken an overdose! He was declared bankrupt last year! Obviously nobody offered him work & he was driven to despair. I remember Ronnie... and that drinking session at the White Horse all those years ago... he was a kind boy & people used him. He was 53."[33]

Partial filmography

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References

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  1. ^ McFarlane, Brian; British Film Institute (2005). The encyclopedia of British film. Methuen. p. 415. ISBN 9780413775269.
  2. ^ "Ronald Lewis". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016.
  3. ^ Wagner, Laura. "Ronald Lewis", Classic Images. October 2021
  4. ^ Pryor, Thomas M (30 April 1954). "Belafonte Signs to Star in Film". The New York Times. ProQuest 112934554.
  5. ^ "The Prisoner (1955) – Peter Glenville | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  6. ^ Hope-Wallace, Philip (11 June 1955). "'Mourning Becomes Electra'". The Manchester Guardian. p. 5. ProQuest 479852000. Retrieved 24 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ S. W. (25 September 1955). "Observations on the British Screen Scene". The New York Times. ProQuest 113205684.
  8. ^ "British Films Made Most Money: Box-Office Survey". The Manchester Guardian. 28 December 1956. p. 3. Retrieved 24 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "A Hill in Korea (1956) – Julian Amyes | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  10. ^ N. S. (20 March 1956). "New Comedy by Noel Coward: 'South Sea Bubble'". The Manchester Guardian. ProQuest 479859334. Retrieved 24 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Two leading men in the life of Miss Leigh", Daily Mail (London, England), February 24, 1956, p. 6
  12. ^ "The Secret Place (1957)". BFI. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016.
  13. ^ Thorns, Anne (3 September 1958). "Polish Film-Makers Turn to Satire". The Manchester Guardian. p. 5. ProQuest 480352785. Retrieved 24 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Hope-Wallace, P. (13 November 1958). "Flora Robson in Ibsen's 'Ghosts'". The Manchester Guardian. ProQuest 480364522.
  15. ^ "A Bachelor of Hearts". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 26, no. 34. 28 January 1959. p. 48. Retrieved 25 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. ^ Bland, A. (28 December 1958). "Snowflakes". The Observer. ProQuest 475401077.
  17. ^ Goring, Edward. "Caesar is muffled in velvet", Daily Mail, October 9, 1958, p. 3
  18. ^ Now Belinda Lee gets the axe Author: Edward Goring Date: October 11, 1958 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 19432 p. 1
  19. ^ Yet again somebody has discovered Miss Cilento Author: Cecil Wilson Date: April 29, 1960 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 19911 p. 8
  20. ^ "Twice Round the Daffodils (1962) – Gerald Thomas | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
  21. ^ Jigsaw (1962) at the British Film Institute[better source needed]
  22. ^ "Billy Budd (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 27 July 2017.
  23. ^ "Nurse on Wheels (1963) – Gerald Thomas | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  24. ^ "Siege of the Saxons (1963) – Nathan Juran | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  25. ^ "The Brigand of Kandahar (1965) – John Gilling | Cast and Crew". AllMovie.
  26. ^ Hope-Wallace, P. (18 December 1965). "Peter Pan at the scala theatre". The Guardian. ProQuest 185123323.
  27. ^ Daily Mirror, 22 May 1965
  28. ^ "Ronald Lewis". www.aveleyman.com.
  29. ^ "TV star collapses as play opens". Birmingham Evening Mail. 14 September 1979. p. 22. Retrieved 24 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "Cinema | The Actors' Crucible". Wales Arts Review. 18 March 2016.
  31. ^ "Obituary". The Guardian. 12 January 1982. p. 2. ProQuest 186370311. Retrieved 24 June 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ Spignesi, Stephen J. (2001). The Hollywood Book of Lists: From Great Performances and Romantic Epics to Bad Remakes and Miscasting Debacles. Kensington Publishing Corporation. p. 127. ISBN 978-0806522128.
  33. ^ The Kenneth Williams Diaries, edited by Russell Davies, published 1993 by Harper Collins
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