Editing Michael Hordern (section)

===Early acting career (1930–39)===
====Theatrical beginnings====
Hordern left Brighton College in the early 1930s<ref>[http://www.oldbrightonians.com/notable-obs/film-theatre-television/sir-michael-hordern-c.-1925-30.html "Sir Michael Hordern (C. 1925–30)"], Oldbrightonians.com, accessed 31 January 2016.</ref> and secured a job as a teaching assistant in a [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|prep school]] in [[Beaconsfield]]. He joined an [[Amateur theatre|amateur dramatics]] company<ref>Hordern, pp. 29–30.</ref> and in his spare time, rehearsed for the company's only play, ''Ritzio's Boots'', which was entered into a British Drama League competition, with Hordern in the title role. The play did well but conceded the prize, a professional production at a leading London theatre, to ''Not This Man'', a drama written by [[Sydney Box]]. So envious was he of the rival show's success that Hordern supplied a scathing review to ''The Welwyn Times'' calling Box's show a "blasphemous bunk and cheap theatrical claptrap".<ref name="HORDERN30–31">Hordern, pp. 30–31.</ref> The comment infuriated Box, who issued the actor with a writ to attend court on a count of [[slander]]. Hordern won the case and left Box liable for the proceeding's expenses. Years later the two men met on a film set where Box, much to Hordern's surprise, thanked him for helping to kick-start his career in film making, as he had received a lot of publicity as a result of the court case.<ref name="HORDERN30–31" />

With the death of his mother in January 1933,<ref name="HORDERN35"/> Hordern decided to pursue a professional acting career. He briefly took a job at a prep school<ref name="HORDERN40">Hordern, p. 40.</ref> but fell ill with [[poliomyelitis]] and had to leave. Upon his recuperation,<ref name="HORDERN39">Hordern, p. 39.</ref> he was offered a job as a travelling salesman for the [[British Educational Suppliers Association]], a family-run business belonging to a former school friend at Windlesham House.<ref name="HORDERN39" /> As part of his job he spent some time in [[Stevenage]] where he joined an amateur dramatics company and appeared in two plays; ''[[Journey's End]]'', in which he played Raleigh, and ''Diplomacy'', a piece which the actor disliked as he considered it to be "too old-fashioned".<ref name="HORDERN40"/> Both productions provided him with the chance to work with a cue-script,<ref name="HORDERN40"/>{{#tag:ref|A cue-script was a script which featured cue-lines. Each cue-line acted as a prompt for the other performer.<ref name="HORDERN40" />|group= n}} something which he found to be helpful for the rest of his career. That summer he joined a Shakespearean theatre company which toured stately homes throughout the United Kingdom. His first performance was [[Orlando (As You Like It)|Orlando]] in ''[[As You Like It]]'', followed by ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]'', in which he co-starred with Osmond Daltry.{{#tag:ref|Daltry came to serve as an officer in 135th regiment during the Second World War. He was captured in Singapore and held as a [[prisoner of war]], during which he organised camp shows to entertain fellow prisoners. He later made an attempt to escape from the camp, which left him with serious and lasting injuries.<ref>Davies, p. 76.</ref> Despite his disabilities he would later become a successful theatre manager.<ref name="HORDERN41" />|group= n}} Hordern admired Daltry's acting ability and later admitted to him being a constant influence on his Shakespearean career.<ref name="HORDERN41">Hordern, p. 41.</ref>

In addition to his Shakespearean commitments, Hordern joined the St Pancras People's Theatre, a London-based company partly funded by the theatrical manager [[Lilian Baylis]]. Hordern enjoyed his time there, despite the tiresome commute between Sussex and London, and stayed with the company for five years. By the end of 1936 he had left his sales job in Beaconsfield to pursue a full-time acting career.<ref>Hordern, pp. 41–42.</ref> He moved into a small flat at [[Marble Arch]] and became one of the many jobbing actors eager to make a name for themselves on the London stage.<ref>Hordern, p. 42.</ref>

====London debut====
Hordern's London debut came in January 1937, as an [[understudy]] to [[Bernard Lee]] in the play ''Night Sky'' at the [[Savoy Theatre]].<ref name="TELEOBIT" /> On nights when he was not required, Hordern would be called upon to undertake the duties of [[Stage management|assistant stage manager]], for which he was paid £2.10s a week. In March, Daltry, who had since formed his own company, Westminster Productions, cast Hordern as Ludovico in ''[[Othello]]''.<ref>Herbert, p. 745.</ref>
The part became Hordern's first paid role as an actor for a theatre company. The play was an instant hit and ran at the People's Theatre in [[Mile End]] for two weeks.<ref>Hordern, pp. 47–48.</ref> It also starred the English actor [[Stephen Murray (actor)|Stephen Murray]] in the title role, but he became contractually obliged elsewhere towards the end of the run. This allowed Hordern to take his place for which Daltry paid Hordern an extra £1 a week.<ref name="HORDERN48">Hordern, p. 48.</ref>{{refn| £1 a week equates to £{{formatnum:{{Inflation|UK|1|1937}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} (adjusted for inflation).{{inflation-fn|UK}}|group= n}}

After ''Othello'''s closure, Daltry undertook a tour of Scandinavia and the Baltic with two plays,<ref name="TELEOBIT" /> ''[[Outward Bound (play)|Outward Bound]]'', and ''[[Arms and the Man]]''. He employed Hordern in both with the first being the more successful. It was a time that the actor recognised as being a turning point in his professional acting career. On his return to London, and after spending a few weeks in unemployment, he was offered a part in the ill-fated [[Thank You, Mr. Pepys!|''Ninety Sail'']]. The play, about [[Samuel Pepys]] and the [[Royal Navy]], was cancelled on the day Hordern was due to start work, with "unforeseen problems" cited as the reason by its producers.<ref name="HORDERN48" />

====Bristol repertory theatre====
[[File:070522 ukbris ch01.jpg|thumb|left|[[Colston Hall]], Bristol, the former home of the Rapier Players]]

In mid-1937 the theatre proprietor Ronald Russell offered Hordern a part in his [[repertory]] company, the Rapier Players, who were then based at [[Colston Hall]] in Bristol.<ref name="TELEOBIT" /><ref>Hordern, p. 50.</ref> Hordern's first acting role within the company was as Uncle Harry<ref name="HORDERN52-53">Hordern, pp. 52–53.</ref> in the play ''[[Someone at the Door (play)|Someone at the Door]]''.<ref>"New Players in Company", ''Western Daily Press'', 22 July 1937, p. 8.</ref> Because of the play's success, Russell [[Typecasting (acting)|employed him in the same type of role]], the monotony of which frustrated the actor who longed to play the [[leading man]]. It was whilst with the Rapier Players that Hordern fell in love with Eve Mortimer, a [[Minor (law)|juvenile]] actress who appeared in minor roles in many of Russell's productions.<ref name="HORDERN52-53" /> Hordern considered his experience with the Rapier Players to be invaluable; it taught him how a professional theatre company worked under a strict time frame and how it operated with an even stricter budget. He was allowed two minutes to study each page of the script, but because of the frequent mistakes and many stalled lines, rehearsals became long and laborious. Hordern described the company's [[Theatrical property|props]] as being made to a very high standard, despite being bought on a shoe-string budget.<ref>Hordern, p. 54.</ref>

After a brief holiday with Eve in Scotland in 1938,<ref name="HORDERN57">Hordern, p. 57.</ref> Hordern returned to London, where he appeared in ''Quinneys'', a radio play broadcast by the [[BBC]] in June of that year.<ref>"Broadcast of Quinneys", ''Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette'', 10 June 1939, p. 8.</ref> The main part went to [[Henry Ainley]] whom Hordern described as "a great actor, who, sadly, was past his best".<ref name="HORDERN57" />
Hordern then made a return to Bristol to prepare for the following season with the Rapier Players.<ref name="HORDERN57" /> One production singled out in the ''[[Western Daily Press]]'' as particularly good was ''Love in Idleness'', in which Hordern played the lead character. A reporter for the paper thought that the play "had been noticed" among theatrical critics and that the players "filled their respective roles excellently".<ref>"Author Takes Lead In His Own Play", ''Western Daily Press'', 19 October 1938, p. 11.</ref>

By the end of 1938 Hordern's father had sold the family home and had bought a cottage in [[Holt, Wiltshire|Holt]], near [[Bath, Somerset]]. The arrangement was convenient for the young actor, who used the premises as a base while he appeared in shows with the Rapier Players. One such piece was an adaption of [[Stella Gibbons]]'s ''[[Cold Comfort Farm]]'', which starred [[Mabel Constanduros]], who had adapted the book with Gibbons's permission. Hordern was cast in the supporting role of Seth, a part he described as being fun to perform. The modernised script was "adored" by the cast, according to Hordern, but loathed by the audience who expected it to be exactly like the book.<ref name="HORDERN57" />{{refn| Writing in his autobiography, Hordern explained the reason why the play was so unsuccessful: "''Cold Comfort Farm'' horrified Bristol audiences, who imagined they would be in for an evening of pastoral idyll. Instead they were treated to a complete send-up of all pastoral idylls and they left in droves."<ref name="HORDERN57" />| group= n}}