Michael Patrick Higgins Jr. (January 20, 1920 â€" November 5, 2008)
was an American actor who appeared in film and on stage, and was best
known for his role in the original Broadway production of
Equus.Higgins was born in Brooklyn on January 20, 1920, the son of
Mary Katherine (née McGowan) and Michael Peter Higgins, a poet and
grocer who worked in the insurance business. He made efforts as a
teenager to rid himself of his Brooklyn accent, hoping for a future
career in theater. His father gave him an early a love of Shakespeare.
He served in the United States Army in Italy during World War II,
where he earned a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart.After returning
from military service, Higgins made his Broadway debut on February 18,
1946 in a production of Antigone (1946), starring Katharine Cornell
and Sir Cedric Hardwicke in a modern-dress adaptation of the Sophocles
play based on Jean Anouilh's French version. Higgins played the role
of the Third Guard.Higgins appeared in the original Broadway
production of Peter Shaffer's Equus in the role of Frank Strang, the
father of a youth who blinds horses, alongside Peter Firth as the
youth, Frances Sternhagen as Alan’s mother and Anthony Hopkins as
his psychiatrist. As part of cast that Clive Barnes called
"exemplary", Walter Kerr found Higgins "excellent as a father turned
ashen when caught out at a skin flick".
was an American actor who appeared in film and on stage, and was best
known for his role in the original Broadway production of
Equus.Higgins was born in Brooklyn on January 20, 1920, the son of
Mary Katherine (née McGowan) and Michael Peter Higgins, a poet and
grocer who worked in the insurance business. He made efforts as a
teenager to rid himself of his Brooklyn accent, hoping for a future
career in theater. His father gave him an early a love of Shakespeare.
He served in the United States Army in Italy during World War II,
where he earned a Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart.After returning
from military service, Higgins made his Broadway debut on February 18,
1946 in a production of Antigone (1946), starring Katharine Cornell
and Sir Cedric Hardwicke in a modern-dress adaptation of the Sophocles
play based on Jean Anouilh's French version. Higgins played the role
of the Third Guard.Higgins appeared in the original Broadway
production of Peter Shaffer's Equus in the role of Frank Strang, the
father of a youth who blinds horses, alongside Peter Firth as the
youth, Frances Sternhagen as Alan’s mother and Anthony Hopkins as
his psychiatrist. As part of cast that Clive Barnes called
"exemplary", Walter Kerr found Higgins "excellent as a father turned
ashen when caught out at a skin flick".
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