George Alexander Cassady Devine was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death.
19 Facts About George Devine
1.
2.
Ruth George Devine became mentally unstable after her son's birth, and his parents' marriage, deeply unhappy throughout his early childhood, had broken down by the time he was in his early teens.
3.
Around this time he was sent to Clayesmore School, an independent boys' boarding school founded by his uncle Alexander "Lex" George Devine, who took his nephew under his wing hoping that he would take over the running of the school.
4.
In 1929, George Devine went to Oxford University to read for a degree in history at Wadham College.
5.
Jocelyn Herbert, who was later to become part of George Devine's life, was a student on the course.
6.
George Devine's first professional production was an adaptation by Alec Guinness of Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations, which played at the Queen's Theatre in 1939, with Guinness as Herbert Pocket and Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham; David Lean saw this and later acknowledged that it "exerted a tremendous influence" on his celebrated 1946 film.
7.
George Devine directed a successful production of a stage version of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca at the Queen's Theatre in 1939.
8.
George Devine did pass his army medical and went into basic training with the Royal Artillery at the end of 1941.
9.
George Devine attained the rank of captain and was twice mentioned in despatches.
10.
In 1952, the three directors were forced to resign following a dispute with the Old Vic governors, and George Devine embarked on a free-lance career as a director and actor.
11.
Byam Shaw had moved to Stratford-upon-Avon to run the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and George Devine directed several successful Shakespeare productions there in the early 1950s, including a notorious version of King Lear, which starred John Gielgud and was designed by the experimental Japanese American artist and sculptor Isamu Noguchi.
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George Devine directed several operas at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London, and appeared in several films.
13.
The Royal Court opened in April 1956 with a production of Angus Wilson's play The Mulberry Bush, followed by Arthur Miller's The Crucible, in which George Devine played Governor Danforth as well as directing.
14.
George Devine staged several plays by Eugene Ionesco, including a celebrated production of The Chairs, in which he appeared with Joan Plowright.
15.
George Devine greatly admired Samuel Beckett, several of whose plays were produced at the Royal Court, including Endgame in which Devine played Hamm.
16.
Several more of John Osborne's plays were staged at the Royal Court and George Devine appeared in one, the historical drama A Patriot for Me, when he suffered a second heart attack followed soon afterwards by a stroke that eventually led to his death at the age of 55.
17.
George Devine had begun to draft an autobiography, which included these words:.
18.
The marriage ended in the late 1950s, when George Devine began living with Jocelyn Herbert, with whom he remained until his death.
19.
George Devine was appearing in A Patriot for Me when he suffered the heart attack that led to his death on 20 January 1966 at age 55.