Patrick George McGee (31 March 1922 â€" 14 August 1982), known
professionally as Patrick Magee, was a Northern Irish actor and
director of stage and screen. He was known for his collaborations with
Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as creating the role of the
Marquis de Sade in the original stage and screen productions of
Marat/Sade. He also appeared in numerous horror films and in two
Stanley Kubrick films, A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.McGee (he
changed the spelling of his surname to Magee when he began performing,
most likely to avoid confusion with another actor) was born into a
middle-class family at 2 Edward Street, Armagh, County Armagh. The
eldest of five children, he was educated at St. Patrick's Grammar
School, Armagh.His first stage experience in Ireland was with Anew
McMaster's touring company, performing the works of Shakespeare. It
was here that he first worked with Pinter. He was then brought to
London by Tyrone Guthrie for a series of Irish plays. He met Beckett
in 1957 and soon recorded passages from the novel, Molloy, and the
short story, From an Abandoned Work, for BBC radio. Impressed by "the
cracked quality of Magee's distinctly Irish voice," Beckett requested
copies of the tapes and wrote Krapp's Last Tape especially for the
actor. First produced at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 28
October 1958, the play starred Magee directed by Donald McWhinnie. A
televised version with Magee directed by McWhinnie was later broadcast
by BBC2 on 29 November 1972. Beckett's biographer Anthony Cronin wrote
that "there was a sense in which, as an actor, he had been waiting for
Beckett as Beckett had been waiting for him."In 1964, he joined the
Royal Shakespeare Company, after Pinter, directing his own play The
Birthday Party, specifically requested him for the role of McCann, and
stated he was the strongest in the cast. In 1965 he appeared in Peter
Weiss's Marat/Sade, and when the play transferred to Broadway he won a
Tony Award. He also appeared in the 1966 RSC production of Staircase
opposite Paul Scofield.
professionally as Patrick Magee, was a Northern Irish actor and
director of stage and screen. He was known for his collaborations with
Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, as well as creating the role of the
Marquis de Sade in the original stage and screen productions of
Marat/Sade. He also appeared in numerous horror films and in two
Stanley Kubrick films, A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon.McGee (he
changed the spelling of his surname to Magee when he began performing,
most likely to avoid confusion with another actor) was born into a
middle-class family at 2 Edward Street, Armagh, County Armagh. The
eldest of five children, he was educated at St. Patrick's Grammar
School, Armagh.His first stage experience in Ireland was with Anew
McMaster's touring company, performing the works of Shakespeare. It
was here that he first worked with Pinter. He was then brought to
London by Tyrone Guthrie for a series of Irish plays. He met Beckett
in 1957 and soon recorded passages from the novel, Molloy, and the
short story, From an Abandoned Work, for BBC radio. Impressed by "the
cracked quality of Magee's distinctly Irish voice," Beckett requested
copies of the tapes and wrote Krapp's Last Tape especially for the
actor. First produced at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 28
October 1958, the play starred Magee directed by Donald McWhinnie. A
televised version with Magee directed by McWhinnie was later broadcast
by BBC2 on 29 November 1972. Beckett's biographer Anthony Cronin wrote
that "there was a sense in which, as an actor, he had been waiting for
Beckett as Beckett had been waiting for him."In 1964, he joined the
Royal Shakespeare Company, after Pinter, directing his own play The
Birthday Party, specifically requested him for the role of McCann, and
stated he was the strongest in the cast. In 1965 he appeared in Peter
Weiss's Marat/Sade, and when the play transferred to Broadway he won a
Tony Award. He also appeared in the 1966 RSC production of Staircase
opposite Paul Scofield.
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