This page uses content from the Michael Crawford biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Michael Crawford, OBE (born 19 January, 1942 in Salisbury, Wiltshire), is an English actor and singer. He has won critical acclaim and numerous awards during his career, which includes radio, television and stage (including appearing on stage in West End in London, and Broadway in New York).

Although he most often appears on stage, in musicals such as Phantom of the Opera and Barnum, he first became a household name and famous to millions for his role as the hapless Frank Spencer in the British television sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973-78), for which he performed most of his own stunts. The series became one of the BBC's most successful programmes of all time.

Crawford has been awarded the OBE, and has also been named Showbusiness Personality of the Year by the Variety Club of Great Britain.

Awards

Awards won by Michael Crawford in 1988 for his performance in the title role in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.

• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
• Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical

Biography

Born Michael Patrick Dumbell-Smith, Crawford was raised by his widowed mother, Doris. Her husband, Arthur Dumbell-Smith, had been killed during the Battle of Britain and afterwards, Michael was the product of a short-lived relationship. He lived with his grandparents Monty and Edith Kathleen O'Keefe on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, until his mother re-married a grocer named Den Ingram in 1945.

From an early age, it was clear that he demonstrated both an aptitude for comedy and an exceptional singing voice and at the tender age of seven made one of his first (and brief) public appearances as a child as a choirboy at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, but he very quickly soon left that job.

His first stage debut, in front of an audience, was in a school production of Benjamin Britten's, Let's Make an Opera playing the role of Sammy the Little Sweep (who was the leading character in the opera) at Brixton Town Hall in London, England, but his big break didn't come till Benjamin Britten hired him to play Sammy in a professional production of Let's Make an Opera at the Scala Theatre in London, which he alternated with another boy soprano, David Hemmings. It was in between his performances of Let's Make an Opera and Noye's Fludde, that he was told he had to change his name (since another performer in England used the same surname) and it was while he was sitting on a bus on the way home after an audition that he saw a lorry truck with the slogan "Crawford's Biscuits Are Best". It was then that Michael decided to change his name to "Michael Crawford". Soon afterward, the English Opera Group hired him for the role of Japeth in Benjamin Britten's opera Noye's Fludde, based on the story of Noah and the Great Flood. Michael said that it was during that production that realized he wanted to be on the stage.

He began his stage career in such plays as - André Birabeau's French comedy Head of the Family, Change for the Angel, Out of the Frying Pan, Come Blow Your Horn, but very quickly went onto playing in William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Twelfth Night and other famous plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest, The Striplings, The Move After Checkmate, among others. At the same time, he also appeared in over 400 radio broadcasts on the BBC and early BBC soap-operas - such as Billy Bunter, Emergency Ward 10, Probation Officer, Two Living, One Dead, and even appearing as cabin boy, John Drake, in the TV series Sir Francis Drake , a twenty-six part adventure series made by ITC, starring Terrence Morgan and Jean Kent.

After appearing in several British children's films,Blow Your Trumpet and Soapbox Derby, he was approached to play an American, Junior Sailen, in The War Lover opposite Steve McQueen in 1962. To prepare for the role, he spent hours listening to Woody Woodbury, a famous comedian of the time, to help perfect his "American" accent.

In 1964, he first struck stardom in the British television series, Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life playing Byron and it was this role that attracted director, Richard Lester to hire him for the role of Colin in The Knack... And How to Get It opposite Rita Tushingham and later on for the role of "Hero" in the film adapation of Stephen Sondheim's musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Buster Keaton, and Phil Silvers; The Jokers starring Oliver Reed; How I Won The War with Roy Kinnear and John Lennon.

During this time, he continued with his stagework and made his Broadway debut in an adaption of Black Comedy, White Lies starring Lynn Redgrave, but it was while working in the show, he had been called to Hollywood to audition for the role for Cornelius Hackl in the upcoming film adaption of Hello, Dolly. He later went onto play the role, sharing top billing with Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau. Sadly, his success in Hello, Dolly was short-lived, as his subsequent films proved to be either mediocre or complete failures at the box-office, and he returned to the West End.

For a while, his career seemed to be at a stand-still, until he was asked to star in a BBC television comedy, in the role of child-like but eternally haphazard, Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em with Michele Dotrice cast in the role of his long-suffering wife Betty in 1973. At the same time, he was approached to star in the musical "Billy" (based on the novel, Billy Liar) in (1974) at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. Having not professionally sung in quite some time, since "Hello, Dolly", Michael went back to studying singing seriously with vocal coach, Ian Adam and practiced for hours perfecting his dancing capabilities.

Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em soon became one of the BBC's most popular TV series and ran, at first, until 1975 when it was felt that rather than continuing to run the show until it failed in the ratings, it would be best to close while it was still a success. But it was revived for a short period from 1977 to 1978, when it remained one of the top-10 British TV series.

Crawford continued working on stage during this time, and after "Billy" went onto star in the ill-fated "Flowers for Algernon" in the role of Charly Gurdon, based on the book with the same title and the famous Hollywood film starring Cliff Robertson; Cy Coleman's Barnum (1981) (one of the longest runs by a leading man) and, most notably, in the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (1986), for which he won an Olivier Award (Best Actor in a Musical), a Tony Award (Best Performance By An Actor in a Lead Role, Musical), an N.Y's Drama Desk Award, and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Distinguished Achievement in Theatre (Lead Performance). Many view Crawford as the quintessential Phantom; in fact, there was a grassroots movement in the early years of the 21st century to get Crawford cast in the motion picture version of the show in place of such stars as Antonio Banderas and John Travolta; however, he later lost the role to Gerard Butler.

After the run of [[The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)|The Phantom of the Opera) in Los Angeles ended, Michael left acting for a while to concentrate more on his singing - by starting up a concert tour called (The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber|The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber), in which he performed round the United States and Europe with a full orchestra, selected special guest singers to perform with him, and an entire choir.

He also performed "Music of the Night" at the Inaugural Gala for President George Bush in Washington, D.C., on 19 January, 1989. At the gala, Crawford was presented with a birthday cake (it was his own 47th birthday).

In 1995, Crawford created the high-profile starring role in EFX, the $70 million production which officially opened MGM's 1700-seat Grand Theatre in Las Vegas. The Atlantic Theater label released the companion album to EFX, which was hailed as among the most spectacular and ambitious shows ever produced on the American Stage.

He also had a short comeback to Broadway as the Count von Krolock in the short-lived commercial and financial flop musical Dance of the Vampires during late 2002 and early 2003. Later, he went on to originate the role of Count Fosco in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Woman in White which opened at the Palace Theatre, London, in September 2004. However, he was forced to leave the show in December 2004 due to ill health.

Crawford was invited to attend the Gala Performance of the stage version of The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway at the Majestic Theater to celebrate the show becoming the longest running musical in Broadway history (supplanting Cats).

He will also participate in a special, as of yet unknown, presentation to celebrate. After that, he will continue to do concerts in Australia and New Zealand.

Crawford was ranked #17 in the 100 Greatest Britons (2002) poll sponsored by the BBC. The Michael Crawford International Fan Association ([[1]]) makes large contributions to many charities.

He married the actress Gabrielle Lewis in 1965, but they divorced in 1975; they have two daughters. He has never remarried.

Trivia

• Crawford is also known to be a bit of a prankster, including planting fake mice around mouse-phobic co-star Dale Christensen's dressing room and wearing a sign pinned to the back of his Red Death costume in Phantom of the Opera (he never turns around during the scene so the sign wouldn't show to anyone but cast members as he passed them).

• He told the audience of one show that he opened with Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Gethsemane" because if he can hold the long note in the middle without popping an eyeball or his trousers falling down the rest of the evening was sure to go fine.

• His daughter Lucy sings with him on the track "First Man You Remember" on one of his albums.

• Originally thought he was going to be chosen for the role of Raoul in Phantom, even perfecting a debonair "Nelson Eddy" walk in preparation, only to find out he was going to be the "grotesque, old, and ugly" Phantom.

• Once said he had a odd make-up issue during a Phantom show; he kisses Sarah Brightman at the end of the show... only to find that part of his make-up had come off and stuck to her face! He says he quickly pulled her back in "as if I wanted seconds and took my lip back."

Selected filmography

• Once Upon a Forest (1993) (voice) — Cornelius
• Barnum (1986) — P.T. Barnum
• Condorman (1981) — Woody Wilkins
• Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (1972) — White Rabbit
• Hello-Goodbye (1970) - Harry England
• The Games (1970) — Harry Hayes
• Hello, Dolly! (film) (1969) — Cornelius Hackl
• How I Won the War (1967) — Goodbody
• The Jokers (1967) - Michael Tremayne
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) — Hero
• The Knack...and How to Get It (1965) - Colin
• Two Left Feet (1963) - Alan Crabbe
• The War Lover (1962) — Sgt. Junior Sailen
• Two Living, One Dead (1961) - Nils Lindwall
• Soapbox Derby (1958) - Peter Toms
• Blow Your Own Trumpet (1958) - Jim Fenn

Discography

Solo Albums

• Songs from the Stage and Screen (1987)
• Michael Crawford Performs Andrew Lloyd Webber (1991)
• With Love/The Phantom Unmasked (1992)
• A Touch of Music in the Night (1993)
• Favorite Love Songs (1994)
• On Eagle's Wings (1998)
• In Concert (1998)
• A Christmas Album (1999)
• The Disney Album (2001)
• The Early Years - MCIFA Members Only Exclusive (2001)
• The Best of Michael Crawford - Australian Release (2002)
• The Very Best of Michael Crawford (2005)

Cast Albums

• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
• Hello Dolly! (1969)
• Billy (1974)
• Flowers for Algernon (1980)
• Barnum (1981)
• Phantom of the Opera (1986)
• Highlights from Phantom of the Opera (1986)
• Once Upon a Forest (1993)
• EFX (1995)
• Woman In White (2004 London Cast) (2004)

External links

• Michael Crawford International Fan Association
• Michael Crawford - BBC Guide to Comedy
• Michael Crawford at the Internet Broadway Database
• Information about Condorman - the 1981 Disney film starring Michael Crawford

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.