Editing Nigel Hawthorne (section)

==Career==
Hawthorne made his professional stage debut in 1950, playing Archie Fellows in a [[Cape Town]] production of ''[[The Shop at Sly Corner (play)|The Shop at Sly Corner]]''.<ref name="TCM"/> Unhappy in South Africa, he decided to move to London, where he performed in various small parts including a 1969 appearance in Series 3 Episode 1 of the classic TV comedy series ''[[Dad's Army]]'' before becoming recognised as a great character actor.

Finding success in London, Hawthorne decided to try his luck in New York City and eventually got a part in a 1974 production of ''[[As You Like It]]'' on Broadway. Around this time, he was persuaded by [[Ian McKellen]] and [[Judi Dench]] to join the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]]. He also supplemented his income by appearing in television advertisements, including one for [[Mackeson Stout]], and in the early 1990s starred alongside [[Tom Conti]] in a long-running series of commercials for [[Vauxhall Motors|Vauxhall]].

He returned to the New York stage in 1990 in ''[[Shadowlands (play)|Shadowlands]]'' and won the 1991 [[Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Staff and agencies |title=Actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne dies |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/dec/26/filmnews |work=The Guardian |date=26 December 2001 |access-date=17 October 2017 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

Although Hawthorne had appeared in small roles in various British television series since the late 1950s, his most famous role was as Sir [[Humphrey Appleby]], the Permanent Secretary of the fictional Department of Administrative Affairs in the television series ''[[Yes Minister]]'' (and Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, ''Yes, Prime Minister''), for which he won four [[BAFTA]] awards during the 1980s. He became a household name throughout the United Kingdom, which finally opened the doors to film roles. In 1982, Hawthorne appeared in [[Richard Attenborough]]'s ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]'', alongside a distinguished international cast including [[Martin Sheen]], [[John Mills]], [[Candice Bergen]], [[John Gielgud]], [[Ian Charleson]] and [[Ben Kingsley]]. That same year, he starred opposite [[Clint Eastwood]] in the [[Cold War]] thriller ''[[Firefox (film)|Firefox]]'', where he played a dissident Russian scientist.

Other film roles during this time included ''[[Demolition Man (film)|Demolition Man]]'', which he detested for being "brainless" and a "cheap picture". This period led into his most famous role: that of [[King George III]] in [[Alan Bennett]]'s stage play ''[[The Madness of George III]]'' (for which he won a Best Actor Olivier Award) and then the film adaptation titled ''[[The Madness of King George]]'', for which he received an [[Academy Award]] nomination for Best Actor and won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor. (The title was changed lest US audiences misunderstand ‘III’.)

After this success his friend Ian McKellen asked him to play his doomed brother, Clarence, in ''[[Richard III (1995 film)|Richard III]]'', and [[Steven Spielberg]] asked him to play lame-duck president [[Martin Van Buren]] in ''[[Amistad (film)|Amistad]]''. He won a sixth BAFTA for the 1996 TV mini-series ''The Fragile Heart''. He also drew praise for his role of Georgie Pillson in the [[London Weekend Television]] series ''[[Mapp and Lucia (1985 TV series)|Mapp and Lucia]]''.

Hawthorne was also a voice actor and lent his voice to two [[Disney]] films: [[Fflewddur Fflam]] in ''[[The Black Cauldron (film)|The Black Cauldron]]'' (1985) and Professor Porter in ''[[Tarzan (1999 film)|Tarzan]]'' (1999). He also voiced Captain Campion in the animated film adaptation of ''[[Watership Down (film)|Watership Down]]'' (1978).