Murray Melvin obit

Torchwood actor Murray Melvin tragically dies as stars flock to send tribute

Torchwood and Phantom of the Opera star Murray Melvin has tragically died.

 

He was not on the list.

It has been confirmed that Murray Melvin died at the age of 90.

The beloved actor was well known for his roles in the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, as well as Monsieur Reyer in the 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera.

Murray was also a famous author, publishing books on the craft of acting including The Theatre Royal, A History of the Building and The Art of Theatre Workshop.

Over his illustrious career in acting Murray earned a plethora of A-list friends, all of which shared their messages of support for each other and tributes to their late friend over social media.

Kerry Kyriacos Michael, creative director at Theatro Technis, said on Twitter: “It's with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Murray Melvin - actor, director and theatre archivist.

“He had a fall in December, from which he never fully recovered. He died at St Thomas' Hospital on Friday, 14th April, aged 90. He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him.”

Doctor Who boss Russel T Davies wrote on Instagram: "Murray Melvin, bless him, he played the wonderful villain in Torchwood, Bilis Manger, and he loved it! But what a career!

"He created the great, gay Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey, on stage and on film. Tons of work with Joan Littlewood and Ken Russell. Amazing. Such a gent.

"He lived through a century that saw the understanding of his identity change so profoundly, and he did so with dignity, class and wit."

Writer Matthew Sweet penned: "Icon, gentleman. RIP Murray Melvin, actor, archivist, fragment of the pre-Baroque, Geoff from Salford. Utterly unique."

Journalist Samira Ahmed added: “Murray Melvin: actor, director, Theatre Workshop alumnus, archivist and beautiful man, died yesterday. He was 90. I was so lucky to call him my friend. I saw him the day before he died and he was always full of amazing stories from his life. I will miss him so much.”

Arguably one of the most tear-jerking messages came from Theatre Stratford East as it was revealed just how much of an impact Murray had had on the venue.

The theatre’s Twitter account shared: “From 1957, he was a member of Joan Littlewood’s company Theatre Workshop where he acted in numerous roles, including in A Taste of Honey and Oh What a Lovely War.

"Murray continued to be a passionate advocate of our theatre, he was on the Board for 20 years, and dedicated much of his time in the last 30 years to the development and organisation of a rich theatre archive, which he painstakingly completed in early 2020."

The tribute finished: "He will be greatly missed, although never forgotten."

Many shared memories from fans echoed the sentiments of Jonathan Harvey who wrote on Twitter: “RIP the brilliant Murray Melvin. When I first saw him as Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey it was the first time I’d seen a gay character portrayed so truthfully in a film. A pioneer! On whose shoulders we stand x

His breakout film role in 1961’s A Taste of Honey earned Murray a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer and Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award.

Selected filmography

 

The Criminal (1960) - Antlers

Suspect (1960) - Teddy Boy

A Taste of Honey (1961) - Geoffrey Ingham

Petticoat Pirates (1961) - Kenneth

Solo for Sparrow (1962) - Larkin

H.M.S. Defiant (1962) - Wagstaffe

Sparrows Can't Sing (1963) - Georgie

The Ceremony (1963) - First Gendaime

Alfie (1966) - Nat

Kaleidoscope (1966) - Aimes

Smashing Time (1967) - 1st Exquisite

The Fixer (1968) - Priest

Start the Revolution Without Me (1970) - Blind Man

The Devils (1971) - Mignon

The Boy Friend (1971) - Alphonse

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972) - Doctor

Gawain and the Green Knight (1973) - Seneschal

Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973) - Hamidos

Ghost Story (1974) - Mc Fayden

Lisztomania (1975) - Hector Berlioz

Barry Lyndon (1975) - Rev. Samuel Runt

Shout at the Devil (1976) - Lt. Phipps

The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones (1976) - Blifil

The Ballad of Salomon Pavey (1977)

Gulliver's Travels (voice, 1977)

Joseph Andrews (1977) - Beau Didapper

The Prince and the Pauper (1977) - Prince's Dresser

Stories from a Flying Trunk (1979) - Hans Christian Andersen

Nutcracker (1982) - Leopold

Sacred Hearts (1985) - Father Power

Christopher Columbus (1985) - Father Linares

Comrades (1986) - Clerk

Funny Boy (1987) - Arthur

Little Dorrit (1988) - Dancing Master

Testimony (1988) - Film Editor

Slipstream (1989) - Man on Stairs

The Krays (1990) - Newsagent

The Fool (1990) - Jeremy Ruttle

Let Him Have It (1991) - Secondary School Teacher

Prisoner of Honour (1991) - Bertillon

As You Like It (1992) - Sir Oliver Martext

Princess Caraboo (1994) - Lord Motley

England, My England (1995) - Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury

Alice in Wonderland (1999) - Chief Executioner

The Emperor's New Clothes (2001) - Antommarchi

The Phantom of the Opera (2004) - Reyer

The Grey Mile (2012) - Professor Worth

The Lost City of Z (2016) - Lord James Bernard

Selected theatre performances (as an actor)

Queen's Messenger in Shakespeare's Macbeth (1957)

Calisto in De Roja's La Celestina (1958)

Jodie in Paul Green's Unto Such Glory (1958)

Scrooge's Nephew in Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1958)

Geoffrey in Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey (1958)

Leslie in Brendan Behan's The Hostage (1958)

Sam in William Saroyan's Sam, The Highest Jumper of Them All

Brainworm in Ben Johnson's Every Man in His Humour (1960)

Gadshill, Shallow, Earl of March and Vernon in Shakespeare's Henry IV (Pts 1 & 2) (1960)

Knocker in Stephen Lewis's Sparrers Can't Sing (1960)

Theatre Workshop's Company musical Oh, What a Lovely War (1963)

Waterhouse and Hall's revue England Our England (1963)

Adolphus in Bernard Shaw's Trifles and Tomfooleries (1967)

Boy in Arthur Kopit's Oh Dad. Poor Dad (1965)

Bouzin in Georges Feydeau's Cat Among the Pigeons (adapted by John Mortimer) (1969)

Dufausset in Georges Feydeau's The Pig in a Poke

Gilbert in Willis Hall's Kidnapped at Christmas (1975)

Dorset in Rosemary Anne Sisson's The Dark Horse (1978)

Arthur Deakin in Ridley's The Ghost Train

The Dauphin in Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan

Charlie Boy in Iain Blair's Mulligan's Last Case

Etienne in Georges Feydeau's French Dressing

The Spirits of Christmas in Musgrave's Opera A Christmas Carol

Ko-Ko in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado

Fiddler in Henry Living's Don't Touch Him He Might Resent It

Backbite in Sheridan's A School For Scandal

Ephraim Smooth in O'Keefe's Wild Oats

Jacopone in Peter Barnes's Sunsets and Glories (1990)

Anton Zagorestky in Griboyedov/Anthony Burgess' Chatsky (or The Importance of Being Stupid) (1993)

Konrad in Ludwig Holberg/Kenneth McLeish's Jeppe of the Hill (1994)

Father Domingo in Schiller's Don Carlos

Ratty in Willis Hall's Musical version of The Wind In The Willows

Hopkins in Patrick Prior's The Lodger

Oliver Nashwick in Rodney Ackland's After October (1997)

The Priest in Schiller's The Robbers (1998)

Coupler in John Vanburgh's The Relapse (1998)

Don Perlimpin in Lorca's The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden

Burrus in Racine's Brittanicus

Cool in Boucicault's London Assurance

Tireseas and Chorus in Seamus Heaney's The Burial at Thebes (2008)

Selected music theatre performances

Narrator, Walton's Facade

Narrator, The Poetry And Songs of Leo Aylen

Narrator, Geoffrey King's King Arthur's Dream

Devil, Stravinsky's The Soldiers Tale

Narrator, Stravinsky's The Soldiers Tale

Performer, Maxwell Davies's Missa super l'homme armé

Virgin, Maxwell Davies's Notre Dame Des Fleur

Da Ponte Rennison & Melvins Roses and Laurels

Selected theatre and opera performances as a director

Miss Donnithorne's Magot (1976)

The Martydom of St. Magnus (1977)

The Raft of the Medusa (1977)

The Mime of Nick, Mick and the Maggies (1978)

Cinderella (1979)

Aladdin (1980)

Quack Quack (1980)

The Sleeping Beauty (1984)

Don't Touch Him, He Might Resent It (1982)

Jack The Giant Killer (1985)

Puss in Boots (1986)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1987)

Sinbad The Sailor (1987)

Brotherly Love (1988)

Selected television performances

Salesman in Small Fish Are Sweet (1959)

Lupin in The Diary of a Nobody (1964)

Dauphin in St. Joan (Shaw)

Turgis in Angel Pavement

Teddy Boy in Paradise Street Series

Reporter in Isadora Duncan (1966)

Bertold in Henry IV (Pirandello, 1967)

Thumb in The Memorandum (1967)

Hoopdriver in The Wheels of Chance

Robert Lovell in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Nathaniel Giles in The Ballad of Salomon Pavey (1977)

Don Pietro in The Little World of Dom Camillo

The Devil in The Soldier's Tale

Spirits of Christmas in A Christmas Carol

Jack Spratt in Bulman

Hermit in William Tell (1992)

Ignatius in T. Bag and the Sunstones Of Montezuma (episode One Million Years B.C.)

Clerk in Doomsday Gun (1994)

Roger Parry in Cone Zones (episode One for the Money, 1985)

Lord Shaftesbury in England, My England

Lucius in Oscar's Orchestra

Architect in The Village

Delamere in Bugs

Lionel in Jonathan Creek

Caravaggio in Starhunter Series

Da Ponte in The Genius of Mozart

King of the Knight in Tom's Christmas Tree (2006)

Librarian in The Village

Bilis Manger in Torchwood (2006)

Caravaggio in Starhunter Redux Series (2017)