Editing Robert Shaw (actor) (section)

==Career==
===Early career===
[[File:Robert Shaw - Radio TV Mirror, July 1957.jpg|thumb|upright|Shaw in ''[[The Buccaneers (1956 TV series)|The Buccaneers]]'' (1957)]]
Shaw began his acting career in theatre, appearing in regional theatre throughout England. He played Angus in a production of ''[[Macbeth]]'' at [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford]] in 1946.<ref name="post"/> He played at Stratford for two seasons.

In 1947, he appeared in ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'' on British TV; also for that medium, he performed scenes from ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' and ''Macbeth''.

He had a small part in ''[[The Lavender Hill Mob]]'' (1951), playing a police laboratory technician towards the end of the film; the following year he made his London debut, in the [[West End theatre|West End]], at the [[Embassy Theatre (London)|Embassy Theatre]] in ''[[Caro William]]''. That year he appeared on TV in ''A Time to Be Born'' (1952). He returned to Stratford in 1953.<ref name="post"/>

Shaw had small roles in ''[[The Dam Busters (1955 film)|The Dam Busters]]'' (1955), a TV version of ''[[The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel|The Scarlet Pimpernel]]'' (1956), the films ''[[Doublecross (1956 film)|Doublecross]]'' (1956) and ''[[A Hill in Korea]]'' (1956) (alongside other young actors like [[Michael Caine]]), and a TV version of ''[[Hindle Wakes (play)|Hindle Wakes]]'' (1957).

===''The Buccaneers''===
Shaw became a TV star in the UK when he starred as Captain Dan Tempest in ''[[The Buccaneers (1956 TV series)|The Buccaneers]]'' (1956–57) which ran for 39 episodes.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1131436/ |title=The Buccaneers |website=BFI Screenonline}}</ref>

He was by this time a TV leading man, having lead roles in TV films such as ''Success'' (1957) and a TV version of ''[[Rupert of Hentzau]]'' (1957). He had a big stage success with ''[[The Long and the Short and the Tall (play)|The Long and the Short and the Tall]]'' on the West End in 1959, directed by [[Lindsay Anderson]], a performance that was filmed for television (though Shaw did not appear in the feature film version).<ref name="guard">{{cite news |title=Actor-author Robert Shaw dies |work=The Guardian |date=29 August 1978 |page=1}}</ref>

Shaw had small roles in ''[[Sea Fury (1958 film)|Sea Fury]]'' (1958) and ''[[Libel (film)|Libel]]'' (1959) and guest-starred on ''[[William Tell (TV series)|William Tell]]'', ''[[ITV Television Playhouse]]'', ''[[The Four Just Men (TV series)|The Four Just Men]]'', and ''[[Danger Man]]''. He also appeared in TV plays including ''The Dark Man'', ''Misfire'' and ''The Train Set''.

In 1961, he appeared in a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production of [[Harold Pinter]]'s ''[[The Caretaker (play)|The Caretaker]]'' alongside [[Donald Pleasence]] and [[Alan Bates]]. Shaw replaced [[Peter Woodthorpe]], who had performed with the others on stage in London. It ran for 165 performances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/443431/index.html |title=The Caretaker |website=BFI Screenonline}}</ref> He had good roles in ''[[The Valiant (1962 film)|The Valiant]]'', a war film, and ''[[Tomorrow at Ten]]'' (both 1962), a thriller. Shaw played the leads in TV versions of ''[[The Winter's Tale]]'' and ''[[The Father (Strindberg play)|The Father]]'' (both 1962). He, Pleasence, and Bates reprised their performances in a film version of ''[[The Caretaker (film)|The Caretaker]]'' (1963); Shaw was part of the consortium who helped finance the latter.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr Shaw likes to play the winner |first=Hugh |last=McIlvanney |work=The Observer |date=21 April 1968 |page=22}}</ref>

===Writing===
Shaw's first novel, ''The Hiding Place'', published in 1960, received positive reviews.<ref>{{cite news |title=Heart attack kills Robert Shaw in Mayo |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=29 August 1978 |page=1}}</ref> His second novel ''[[The Sun Doctor]]'' (1961), was awarded the [[Hawthornden Prize]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zuo9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA273 |title=Framing Europe: Attitudes to European Integration in Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom |first=Juan |last=Díez Medrano |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |date=24 January 2010 |page=273 |isbn=9780691146508}}</ref>

===Film fame===
Shaw became well known as a film actor when cast as assassin Donald "Red" Grant in the second [[James Bond]] film, ''[[From Russia with Love (film)|From Russia with Love]]'' (1963). For TV he adapted and appeared in a production of ''[[A Florentine Tragedy]]'' (1963), and was Claudius in ''[[Hamlet at Elsinore]]'' (1964) with [[Christopher Plummer]]. He played the title role in ''[[The Luck of Ginger Coffey (film)|The Luck of Ginger Coffey]]'' (1964), shot in Canada alongside [[Mary Ure]], who became his second wife. He had a role in ''[[A Carol for Another Christmas]]'' (1964). Shaw later said of his early career, "I could have been a straight leading man but that struck me as a boring life."<ref name="post">{{cite news |title=Robert Shaw: Actor, Author, Egotist |first=Clarke |last=Taylor |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=3 February 1976 |page=D2}}</ref>

In 1964, Shaw returned to Broadway in a production of ''[[The Physicists]]'' directed by [[Peter Brook]] but it ran for only 55 performances. "I want very much to avoid doing bad commercial pictures for lots of money", he said. "It's difficult to avoid with six kids and two wives."<ref name="gantry">{{cite news |title=Robert Shaw: Actor, Novelist, Playwright Singer? |first=Mel |last=Gussow |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=5 January 1970 |page=48}}</ref> Shaw then embarked on a trilogy of novels – ''[[The Flag (novel)|The Flag]]'' (1965), ''[[The Man in the Glass Booth]]'' (1967) and ''[[A Card from Morocco]]'' (1969). He also adapted ''The Hiding Place'' into a screenplay for the film ''[[Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious|Situation Hopeless{{nbsp}}... But Not Serious]]'' starring Sir [[Alec Guinness]].

Shaw was the relentless [[Wehrmacht]] [[Panzer division|panzer]] commander Colonel Hessler in ''[[Battle of the Bulge (1965 film)|Battle of the Bulge]]'' (1965), produced by [[Philip Yordan]]; a young [[Henry VIII]] in ''[[A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)|A Man for All Seasons]]'' (1966), which earned him a nomination for the [[Golden Globe Award]] and the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor]]; General [[George Armstrong Custer]] in ''[[Custer of the West]]'' (1967), again for Yordan;<ref name="custer">{{cite web |url=https://contrappassomag.wordpress.com/tag/phillip-yordan/ |website=Contrapasso |title=Writers at the Movies: 'Custer of the West' |first=Clive |last=Sinclair |date=4 May 2015}}</ref> [[Martin Luther]] in ''Luther'' (a 1968 film made for television); he was top billed in another film version of Pinter's ''[[The Birthday Party (1968 film)|The Birthday Party]]'' (1968), directed by [[William Friedkin]].<ref name="variety">{{cite news |title=ABC's 5 Years of Film Production Profits & Losses |work=Variety |date=31 May 1973 |page=3}}</ref>

===''The Man in the Glass Booth''===
His play ''[[The Man in the Glass Booth]]'' was a success in London in 1967. It transferred to Broadway the following year and was a hit, running for 264 performances.<ref>{{cite news |title=Robert Shaw Play Staged in London: Actor's First Effort, 'Glass Booth,' Grips Audience |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 July 1967 |page=12}}</ref> His adaptation for the stage of ''The Man in the Glass Booth'' gained him the most attention for his writing. The book and play present a complex and morally ambiguous tale of a man who, at various times in the story, is either a Jewish businessman pretending to be a Nazi war criminal, or a Nazi war criminal pretending to be a Jewish businessman. The play was quite controversial when performed in the UK and the US, some critics praising Shaw's "sly, deft and complex examination of the moral issues of nationality and identity", others sharply critical of Shaw's treatment of such a sensitive subject.<ref name="auto">{{cite book|url=http://www.withnailbooks.com/2014/01/the-forgotten-novels-of-robert-shaw.html|title=The Forgotten Novels of Robert Shaw|publisher=Withnail Books|accessdate=14 July 2023}}</ref>  The play, but not the movie, presents the question: "Given the chance, would Jews behave like Nazis?"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/off-the-wall-cant-shatter-clunky-finale-of-man-in-the-glass-booth-tn93p8i-198497681.html|title=Off the Wall can't shatter clunky finale of 'Man in the Glass Booth'|website=www.jsonline.com|accessdate=14 July 2023}}</ref>

Shaw was one of many stars in ''[[Battle of Britain (film)|Battle of Britain]]'' (1969), with the role of [[Sailor Malan]] written specifically for him.<ref>{{cite book |first=S.&nbsp;P. |last=Mackenzie |title=The Battle of Britain on Screen: 'The Few' in British Film and Television Drama |date=2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781474228466 |page=139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0sU7CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT71}}</ref> He had the lead in ''[[The Royal Hunt of the Sun (film)|The Royal Hunt of the Sun]]'' (1969) where he played Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, alongside Christopher Plummer who played Incan Emperor Atahualpa, and ''[[Figures in a Landscape (film)|Figures in a Landscape]]'' (1970); his fee for the latter was reportedly $500,000.<ref>{{cite news |title=Shaw: Cash crunch adds up to misery |last=Dangaard |first=Colin |work=Chicago Tribune |date=29 January 1978 |page=e20}}</ref> In 1970, Shaw returned to Broadway playing the title role in ''[[Gantry (musical)|Gantry]]'', a musical adaptation of ''[[Elmer Gantry]],'' which ran for just one performance, despite co-starring [[Rita Moreno]].<ref name="gantry"/> His play ''[[Cato Street]]'', about the 1820 [[Cato Street Conspiracy]], was produced for the first time in 1971 in London. He appeared in ''[[Old Times]]'' on Broadway in 1971.<ref>{{cite news |title=Robert Shaw, 51, Hunter of 'Jaws,' Dies |work=Los Angeles Times |date=29 August 1978 |page=5}}</ref>

As an actor he appeared in ''[[A Town Called Bastard]]'' (1971), a spaghetti Western; ''[[Young Winston]]'' (1972), as [[Lord Randolph Churchill]]; ''[[A Reflection of Fear]]'' (1972); ''[[The Hireling]]'' (1973); he had a cameo in ''[[The Golden Voyage of Sinbad]]'' (1973); played mobster Doyle Lonnegan in ''[[The Sting]]'' (1973), a huge hit; was the subway-hijacker and hostage-taker "Mr. Blue" in ''[[The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974 film)|The Taking of Pelham One Two Three]]'' (1974). 

He made his final appearance on Broadway, in a production of ''[[The Dance of Death (Strindberg play)|Dance of Death]]'', in 1974.

''The Man in the Glass Booth'' was further developed for the screen, but Shaw disapproved of the resulting screenplay and had his name removed from the credits. However, he viewed the completed film before its release and asked to have his name reinstated. In 2002, director [[Arthur Hiller]] related Shaw's initial objection to the screenplay and his subsequent change of heart:<blockquote>When we decided that we needed more emotions in the film and leaned it towards that, we tried, obviously, to be honest to Robert Shaw, to keep that intellectual game-playing, but to create more of an emotional environment. And Robert Shaw became very disturbed. He did not like the idea and indeed, if you will watch the film, you will see that his name does not appear in the credits, nor does it even say, "based on the play, ''The Man in the Glass Booth''<nowiki/>" because he wouldn't let us do it. He just didn't like the idea until he saw the film. Then he phoned Eddie Anhalt, the screenwriter, and congratulated him because he thought it was—just kept the tone he wanted and did it so well. And he phoned Mort Abrahams the Executive Producer to see if he could get his name put on the final credits. But it was too late to restore his name, all the prints were all made.<ref>''The Man In The Glass Booth''; Interview with Arthur Hiller; 2003 DVD release; KINO VIDEO.</ref></blockquote>  Arthur Hiller's account is uncorroborated.<ref name="auto"/>

===Film stardom===
Shaw achieved his greatest film stardom after playing the shark-obsessed fisherman Quint in ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'' (1975), although he was at first reluctant to take the role since he did not like the book, but decided to accept at the urging of both his wife, actress [[Mary Ure]], and his secretary: "The last time they were that enthusiastic was ''[[From Russia with Love (film)|From Russia with Love]]''. And they were right."<ref name=time>{{cite magazine|title=Summer of the Shark |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130202256/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C913189-1%2C00.html |archive-date=30 November 2009 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913189-1,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=23 June 1975 |access-date=9 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Shaw then appeared in ''[[End of the Game]]'' (1975); ''[[Diamonds (1975 film)|Diamonds]]'' (1975), because "I wanted to play a wonderfully elegant Englishman";<ref name="post"/> ''[[Robin and Marian]]'' (1976) as the [[Sheriff of Nottingham#The Robin Hood stories|Sheriff of Nottingham]] opposite [[Audrey Hepburn]] (Maid Marian) and [[Sean Connery]] (Robin Hood); ''[[Swashbuckler (film)|Swashbuckler]]'' (1976); playing the lighthouse keeper and treasure-hunter Romer Treece in ''[[The Deep (1977 film)|The Deep]]'' (1977), for which his fee was $650,000;<ref>{{cite news |title=The Fathomable Film Life in 'The Deep': Film Intrigue of Underwater Life Films Follow Lure of the Deep Fathoming 'The Deep' Film |last=Watters |first=Jim |work=Los Angeles Times |date=12 September 1976 |page=v1}}</ref> and as Israeli [[Mossad]] agent David Kabakov in ''[[Black Sunday (1977 film)|Black Sunday]]'' (1977).

During filming ''[[Force 10 from Navarone (film)|Force 10 from Navarone]]'' (1978) Shaw said "I'm seriously thinking that this might be my last film{{nbsp}}... I no longer have anything real to say. I'm appalled at some of the lines{{nbsp}}... I'm not at ease in film. I can't remember the last film I enjoyed making."<ref>Shaw: Cash crunch adds up to misery Dangaard, Colin. Chicago Tribune 29 January 1978: e20.</ref> He made one more film, ''[[Avalanche Express]]'' (1979).<ref>{{cite news |title=Film Clips: Memories of Robert Shaw: 'A Gallant Man'| last=Lee |first=Grant |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2 September 1978 |page=b5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://haphazardstuff.com/avalanche-express-1979-movie-review/ |title=Avalanche Express (1979) – A Review | date=23 February 2021 | access-date=25 July 2022 }}</ref> Shaw and director/producer Mark Robson both died of heart attacks during post-production within months of each other; Robson in June 1978 and Shaw in August 1978. Shaw said he would use the proceeds from the film to pay off his taxes, then focus on writing and making the "occasional small film".<ref>{{cite news |title=Robert Shaw: Into Other Waters |last=Mann |first=Roderick |work=Los Angeles Times |date=4 April 1978 |page=b20}}</ref>