34 Facts About Paul Scofield

Paul Scofield established a reputation as one of the greatest Shakespearean performers.

Paul Scofield declined the honour of a knighthood, but was appointed CBE in 1956 and became a CH in 2001.

Paul Scofield received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for portraying Sir Thomas More in the Broadway production of A Man for All Seasons.

Paul Scofield received the Primetime Emmy Award for Male of the Species.

Paul Scofield garnered acclaim for his roles in films such as The Train, King Lear, A Delicate Balance, Henry V, and Hamlet.

Paul Scofield portrayed Mark Van Doren in the historical drama Quiz Show, for which he earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Paul Scofield was born on 21 January 1922 in Edgbaston, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, the son of Mary and Edward Harry Scofield.

When Paul Scofield was a few weeks old, his family moved to Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, where his father became headmaster at the Hurstpierpoint Church of England School.

Paul Scofield told his biographer, Garry O'Connor, that his upbringing was divided.

Paul Scofield's father was an Anglican and his mother a Roman Catholic.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, Paul Scofield arrived for a physical examination and was ruled unfit for service in the British Army.

Paul Scofield began his stage career in 1940 with a debut performance in American playwright Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms at the Westminster Theatre, and was being compared to Laurence Olivier.

In 1948, Paul Scofield appeared as Hamlet at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford alongside a then unknown Claire Bloom as Ophelia.

Paul Scofield was ever a prisoner within its bounds: the world had many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one of the worst.

Paul Scofield was wearing a black suit, steel-rimmed glasses and holding a suitcase.

In 1964, Paul Scofield acted in the John Frankenheimer war film The Train alongside Burt Lancaster.

Paul Scofield appeared as Charles Dyer in Dyer's play Staircase, staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966; Laurie in John Osborne's A Hotel in Amsterdam ; and Antonio Salieri in the original stage production of Peter Shaffer's Amadeus.

Paul Scofield was the voice of the Dragon in another play by Robert Bolt, a children's drama The Thwarting of Baron Bolligrew.

Expresso Bongo, Staircase and Amadeus were filmed with other actors, but Paul Scofield starred in the screen version of King Lear.

Paul Scofield was cast in the lead role of Sir Randolph Nettleby in the 1985 film The Shooting Party, but was forced to withdraw due to an injury he suffered on set.

Paul Scofield was struck by a horse's hoof and concussed.

Paul Scofield looked across to see Edward Fox stand up, "turn completely green and collapse in a heap", having broken five ribs and his shoulder blade.

Paul Scofield noticed that Scofield was lying very still on the ground "and I saw that his shin-bone was sticking out through his trousers".

Paul Scofield's broken leg deprived him of the part of O'Brien in Nineteen Eighty-Four, in which he was replaced by Richard Burton.

Paul Scofield married actress Joy Mary Parker on 15 May 1943.

Paul Scofield died from leukaemia on 19 March 2008 at the age of 86 at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, East Sussex, England.

Paul Scofield declined the honour of a knighthood on three occasions, but was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 New Year Honours, and became a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2001.

When Paul Scofield was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for A Man for All Seasons, he declined to travel to Los Angeles to attend the ceremony.

When Paul Scofield won the award, his leading lady Wendy Hiller, whom Fred Zinnemann had cast as Lady Alice More for being "particularly marvelous at doing a 'slow burn'", went up on stage to receive the Award Statue on Paul Scofield's behalf.

In 1969, Paul Scofield became the sixth performer to win the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Male of the Species.

Paul Scofield accomplished this in only seven years, which is still a record.

Paul Scofield was one of only eleven actors to win both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role on stage and film, for A Man for All Seasons.

Paul Scofield appeared in many radio dramas for BBC Radio 4, including in later years plays by Peter Tinniswood: On the Train to Chemnitz and Anton in Eastbourne.

Paul Scofield led the cast in several dramas issued by Caedmon Records:.