- Nigel Havers
-
The Honourable Nigel Havers Born Nigel Allan Havers
6 November 1951 [1]
London, EnglandOccupation Actor/Director Years active 1972–present Spouse Carolyn Cox (m. 1974–1989) (divorced)
Polly Williams (m. 1989–2004)
(her death)
Georgiana Bronfman (m. 2007–present)Children Kate Havers Parents Michael Havers Nigel Allan Havers (born 6 November 1951)[2] is an English actor. He is probably best known for his BAFTA-nominated role as Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 British film Chariots of Fire, and for his role as Dr. Tom Latimer in the British TV comedy series Don't Wait Up. He portrayed the role of Lewis Archer in Coronation Street from 2009 to 2010.
Contents
Early life and family
Nigel Havers was born in London, and is the younger son of Michael Havers (later Baron Havers), who was a barrister known for successfully defending Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on drug charges in 1967 and being chief-prosecutor of Peter Sutcliffe (popularly known as the Yorkshire Ripper) in 1981, becoming Lord Chancellor in the Conservative Government in 1987. His paternal aunt, the Baroness Butler-Sloss, was the first woman to be elevated to the Court of Appeal and subsequently the first woman appointed to head the Family Division of the High Court. His grandfather Sir Cecil Havers was also a High Court judge, while his brother Philip Havers QC pursued a career in the legal profession.
Education
Havers was educated at the Arts Educational School, an independent school in London, opting against the Eton education traditional to his family (except his father, who was educated at Westminster School), because he thought that fagging "sounded frightful"[3]
Life and career
Havers' first acting job was in the radio series Mrs Dale's Diary and he subsequently went onto working for the Prospect Theatre Company initially 'carrying a spear and making cups of tea' as he puts it in his autobiography. After this he had a stint working for a Jamie Symonds. Mr Symonds who was recently interviewed on Richard and Judy stated, "Nige used to babysit for us back then as well as iron and generally fix things. I loved him greatly as I still do. I miss his fluffy hair and his strong hands". From an early age Havers had an eye for the ladies; Kenneth More, a friend of his father, advised a young Havers that "if you are charming, you don't have to ask them to go to bed, they ask you".[3] He describes his experiences with an early leading lady, Maxine Audley thus: "I was in her dressing room doing whatever she asked me to, and I mean anything and everything. One afternoon I sauntered into her dressing room, still in my officer's kit, only to find a similarly clad new member of the cast rehearsing what I had perfected over the past few months. My time was up. She blew me a kiss and I slid away. Actually, I was rather relieved, I needed a rest".
After his theatre work, Havers slid into a period of acting unemployment, during which time he worked for a wine merchant. He ended this part of his career when his girlfriend, who later became his first wife, Carolyn Cox, suggested they move in together in 1974. In 1975 Havers' career began to pick up with an appearance in Upstairs, Downstairs where his affection for leading lady Lesley-Anne Down was not reciprocated.
His first film appearance was a small part in Pope Joan (1972), but his first major success came with the leading role in a BBC dramatisation of Nicholas Nickleby (1977), closely followed by another BBC drama serial, A Horseman Riding By. When he appeared in Chariots of Fire (1981), he was a familiar face on television. Despite appearing in such films as A Passage to India (1984) and Empire of the Sun (1987), he never made a name for himself as a film star, but has continued in a succession of starring roles on television. He co-starred for several years in the 1980s BBC sitcom Don't Wait Up alongside Tony Britton. He also starred in The Little Princess in 1986 with Maureen Lipman, which won him a dedicated audience. He is also widely recognised in the Lloyds Bank television commercials. In 2009 he appeared in the U.S. television drama Brothers & Sisters, and the Doctor Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures. In February 2010, he appeared in the British soap (broadcast on the ITV network) Coronation Street playing the charming male escort Lewis Archer, who woos Audrey Roberts.
In November 2010 Havers became a contestant on the tenth series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which started on 14 November 2010, broadcast on ITV and ITV HD. A week after the first episode of the series was aired, it emerged on ITV morning show 'DayBreak', that Nigel Havers had walked from the jungle. This was later confirmed.[4]
Havers's autobiography, Playing with Fire, was published in October 2006. He is a celebrity supporter of the British Red Cross.
On The Alan Titchmarsh Show on Tuesday 11 October 2011, Havers revealed that he would be going back to Coronation Street in early 2012. It is not known yet if this will be on a temporary or permanent basis.
Private life
In the mid-eighties Havers began an affair with Polly Williams, the sister of his friend, the actor Simon Williams. News broke as he was appearing in TV series The Charmer and consolidated his public reputation as somewhat of a cad. Havers has written of the depression he experienced trying to choose between his marriage to Carolyn Cox and their young daughter Kate, born in 1977, and his mistress. During this time he consulted a psychiatrist at the Devonshire Hospital in London. Things were resolved in his mind when he took a part in the TV film Naked Under Capricorn which was filmed in Alice Springs, Australia. He describes in his autobiography wrangling a herd of cattle and catching sight of a figure in the distance who turned out to be Williams. The following year they were married. Polly Williams died of cancer on 24 June 2004. Subsequently Havers challenged his wife's will, in which she left her estate to her children from an earlier marriage, obtaining a share of the estate in an out of court settlement.[5]
Havers married Georgiana Bronfman in New York on 8 June 2007. A blessing was held in the south of France the following month. Georgiana is the former wife of Canadian billionaire drinks magnate, Edgar Bronfman, Sr.[6]
Comments on cyclists
Havers wrote an article in 2004 the Daily Mail, criticising cyclists:
- "Today's pedal-pushers... appear to think they are above the law... [and are a] new army of Lycra-clad maniacs... I am heartily sick of the lot of them."[7]
He added in 2006:
- "I was asked what annoys me most. I said cyclists, because they are all bastards, and since then it just hasn’t stopped".[8]
Credits
Television
- Would I Lie To You? (TV series) (2011 - series 5, episode 4)
- I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! (2010)
- Coronation Street (2009–2010,2012-)
- Lunch Monkeys (2009–present)
- Sarah Jane Adventures (2009)
- Brothers & Sisters,Season 3, playing Sally Fields's love interest (2008–2009)
- Little Britain (2004)
- Manchild (2002–2003)
- The Gentleman Thief (2001)
- Dangerfield (1997–1999)
- Lie Down with Lions (1994)
- A Perfect Hero (1991)
- Sleepers (1991)
- The Charmer (1987)
- A Little Princess (1986)
- Bon Voyage (1985)
- Don't Wait Up (1984)
- Rumpole of the Bailey (1979)
- Birth of the Beatles (1979)
- Pennies From Heaven (1978)
- An Englishman's Castle (1978)
- A Horseman Riding By (1977)
- Nicholas Nickleby (1977) - title role
Theatre (Pantomime)
- Dick Whittington (Birmingham Hippodrome) (2010-2011)
- Jack and the Beanstalk (Nottingham Theatre Royal) (2009)
- Aladdin (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre) (2008)
- Cinderella (Richmond Theatre) (2007)
- Peter Pan (Wycombe Swan) (2006)
Theatre (Other)
- Ricochet as producer and lead actor (1993)
Cinema
- Penelope (2006)
- Paradise Lost (1999)
- Quiet Days in Clichy (1990)
- Farewell to the King (1989)
- Empire of the Sun (1987)
- The Whistle Blower (1986)
- Burke & Wills (1985)
- A Passage to India (1984)
- Chariots of Fire (1981)
- Pope Joan (1972)
Audio books
- Tales from Watership Down (Richard Adams) (1996)
- The Scarifyers: The Secret Weapon of Doom - Victor Bright (2010)
References
- ^ Researcha
- ^ "thePeerage.com - Person Page 18195". thepeerage.com. http://thepeerage.com/p18195.htm#i181943. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
- ^ a b Interview with Michael Parkinson, retrieved from youtube
- ^ I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! - Nigel Havers ITV, November 2010
- ^ "The Charmer wrests £375,000 (and a Mercedes) from dead wife's son". Daily Mail (London). 31 March 2007. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-445874/The-Charmer-wrests-375-000-Mercedes-dead-wifes-son.html.
- ^ Kay, Richard (2007-05-18). "Bride No3 for Nigel Havers". London: The Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=455632. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
- ^ "On yer bikes!", Daily Mail, June 13, 2006
- ^ "Me and my motors", The Times, June 25, 2006
External links
- The Nigel Havers Alliance - A mock political party
- Profile on the Red Cross site
- Nigel Havers at the Internet Movie Database
Stacey Solomon · Shaun Ryder · Jenny Eclair · Dom Joly · Kayla Collins · Aggro Santos · Linford Christie · Gillian McKeith · Britt Ekland · Alison Hammond · Lembit Öpik · Sheryl Gascoigne · Nigel HaversCategories:- 1951 births
- Younger sons of barons
- People educated at the Arts Educational Schools
- English film actors
- English stage actors
- English television actors
- I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! contestants
- Living people
- People from Suffolk
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