Mervyn Blake

Mervyn Blake
Spotlight photo by Angus McBean, 1936
Born
Mervyn Alexander Clifford Blake

(1907-11-30)30 November 1907
Dehradun, India
Died9 October 2003(2003-10-09) (aged 95)
NationalityCanadian
Occupationactor
AwardsOrder of Canada

Mervyn Alexander Clifford Blake, CM (30 November 1907 – 9 October 2003) was a Canadian stage actor.

Blake was born in Dehradun India, where his father worked as a railway executive.[1] After his family returned to England, he fell in love with theatre and attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1933.[2] He made his professional theatre debut in 1933 at the Embassy Theatre in London. At the start of World War II, he joined the British Army as a driver, and was present at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberation in April 1945, an experience which haunted him for the rest of his life.[3]

After the War, he was an acting company member at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon from 1952 to 1955.[4] During this time, he worked with prominent actors such as Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Michael Redgrave, and Dame Peggy Ashcroft.[5]

In the mid 1950s, he and his wife Christine Bennett moved their family to Canada, following British acting colleagues Tony Van Bridge and Powys Thomas. He joined the acting company at the Stratford Festival of Canada in 1957, where he stayed to perform in 111 productions over 42 consecutive seasons. In 1988, he performed in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, making him the first company member to perform in the entire canon of Shakespeare's plays.[6][7][8][9]

Blake was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1995.[10][11] He died in 2003 at a nursing home in Toronto following a long illness.[12]


References

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  1. ^ "Mervyn Blake". BFI. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Mervyn Blake — RADA". www.rada.ac.uk.
  3. ^ Lawlor, Allison (16 October 2003), "Father figure to the Canadian stage", The Globe and Mail, p. R11
  4. ^ "Mervyn Blake | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  5. ^ Ashley, Audrey M. (1999). With Love from Butch: A Stratford Actor. AB Collector Publishing. ISBN 9781895466102.
  6. ^ Whittaker, Herbert (3 July 1957), "Twelfth Night scores with Guthrie version", The Globe and Mail, p. 1
  7. ^ McCracken, Melinda (31 May 1969), "Behind the faces at the Stratford Festival", The Globe and Mail, p. 21
  8. ^ Nicholls, Liz (28 November 1992), "The Bard's plays are Blake's thing; Shakespearean veteran slips into disappearing role in 'As You Like It'", Edmonton Journal, p. B2
  9. ^ Kelly, Anne (28 November 1997), "Actor is 90 years young: Mervyn Blake has no plans to retire from a distinguished acting career", The Kitchener Waterloo Record, p. A19
  10. ^ Canadian Press (30 June 1995). "Order of Canada honours announced by Governor General". The Globe and Mail. p. A3.
  11. ^ Kennedy, Janice (18 November 1995), "Order of Canada: At 87, Mervyn Blake may be the oldest working actor in Canada; The grand old man of Canadian theatre", The Ottawa Citizen, p. C1
  12. ^ Jones, Kenneth (13 October 2003). "Mervyn Blake, a Mainstay at Canada's Stratford Festival for 42 Seasons, Dead at 95". Playbill.
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