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| Birth Name(s) : Michael Patrick Dumble-Smith |
Date of Birth: January 19, 1942 |
| Status:
N/A
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Partner:
N/A |
| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Michael Crawford Biography
Crawford won a 1988 Tony for Best Actor in a Musical for "Phantom of the Opera."
He has two daughters, Emma and Lucy, with his first wife, Gabrielle Lewis. |
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Additional Michael Crawford Biography
Michael Crawford, OBE (born as Michael Patrick Dumbell-Smith, 19 January 1942, Salisbury, Wiltshire), is an English actor and singer. He has won critical acclaim and numerous awards during his career, which includes radio, television and stage (including appearing on stage in the West End in London, and on Broadway in New York).
He made his first stage appearance in the role of Sammy the Little Sweep, the lead character, in his school production of Benjamin Britten's Let's Make an Opera, which was then transferred to Brixton Town Hall in London, England. But his professional break did not come until Britten hired him to play Sammy in another production of the opera, this time at the Scala Theatre in London, which he alternated with another boy soprano, David Hemmings.
It was in between his performances of Let's Make an Opera and Noye's Fludde that he was advised that he had to change his name, as another performer in England was using the same surname. While he was riding home on a bus after an audition, he noticed a lorry with the slogan "Crawford's Biscuits Are Best". It was then that he decided to change his name to "Michael Crawford". He went on to perform in a wide repertoire. Among his stagework, he performed in André Birabeau's French comedy Head of the Family, Neil Simon's Come Blow Your Horn, Change for the Angel, Out of the Frying Pan, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, Twelfth Night, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Striplings, The Move After Checkmate and others. At the same time, he also appeared in over 400 radio broadcasts on the BBC and early BBC soap-operas - such as Billy Bunter, Emergency Ward 10, Probation Officer, Two Living, One Dead, and even appearing as cabin boy, John Drake, in the TV series Sir Francis Drake, a twenty-six part adventure series made by ITC, starring Terrence Morgan and Jean Kent. And his film work included leading roles in two children's films, Blow Your Trumpet and Soapbox Derby, for The Childrens' Film Foundation in Britain.
It was this character that attracted British director Richard Lester to hire him for the roles of Colin in The Knack... And How to Get It opposite Rita Tushingham and Ray Brooks in 1965. The film was a huge success in the UK and very soon afterwards, Lester also hired him for the roles in such films as film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Buster Keaton, and Phil Silvers, The Jokers starring Oliver Reed, and How I Won the War with Roy Kinnear and John Lennon. In between he met and fell in love with an actress-disc jockey named Gabrielle Lewis and they married in Paris in 1965. They had two daughters, Emma and Lucy.
In 1967, he made his Broadway debut in Black Comedy/White Lies with Lynn Redgrave (making her debut as well) in which he began to demonstrate his aptitude and daring for extreme physical comedy, such as walking into and through walls in the dark. While working in the show, he was noticed by Gene Kelly and was called to Hollywood to audition for him for a part in the upcoming film adaptation of the musical Hello, Dolly!.
After performing in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and with offers of work greatly reduced, Crawford faced a brief period of unemployment, in which he helped his ex-wife stuff cushions (for her shop) and took up a job as an office clerk in an electric company to pass the time between.
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em soon became one of the BBC's most popular TV series. At first it ran only until 1975 when it was felt that it would be best to stop while still successful. Popular demand saw it revived for a short period from 1977 to 1978, and when it finally closed in 1978, it remained one of the top 10 British TV series of all time.
After the closing of Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em during this time, Michael continued to perform in plays and musicals, starring in the ill-fated Flowers for Algernon in the role of Charly Gurdon, based on the book with the same title and the famous Hollywood film Charly starring Cliff Robertson; Cy Coleman's Barnum (1981) (one of the longest runs by a leading man) and in the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (1986), for which he won an Olivier Award (Best Actor in a Musical), a Tony Award (Best Performance By An Actor in a Lead Role, Musical), an N.Y's Drama Desk Award, and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Achievement in Theatre (Lead Performance).
In 1995, Crawford created the high-profile starring role in EFX, the $70 million production which officially opened MGM's 1700-seat Grand Theatre in Las Vegas. The Atlantic Theater label released the companion album to EFX. But early into the run, Crawford suffered an accident during a performance (which involved him sliding from a wire hanger from the back of the theatre all the way to the stage and then jumping down 12 feet to the stage itself) and left the show to recover from his injury, which resulted in an early-hip replacement.
Crawford was invited to attend the Gala Performance of the stage version of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway at the Majestic Theater to celebrate the show becoming the longest running musical in Broadway history (supplanting Cats). |
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