Editing Simon Callow (section)

===Acting===
Callow's immersion in the theatre began after he wrote a fan letter to [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]], the artistic director of the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]], and received a response suggesting he join their box-office staff. While watching actors rehearse, he realised he wanted to act.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jonathanfryer.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/simon-callow-laid-bare/ |title=Simon Callow Laid Bare |date=24 March 2010 |first=Jonathan |last=Fryer |work=Jonathan Fryer |publisher=[[WordPress]]}}</ref>

Callow made his stage debut in 1973, appearing in ''[[A Satire of the Three Estates|The Three Estates]]'' at the [[Assembly Rooms (Edinburgh)|Assembly Rooms Theatre]], Edinburgh. In the early 1970s, he joined the Gay Sweatshop theatre company and performed in [[Martin Sherman (dramatist)|Martin Sherman]]'s critically acclaimed ''Passing By''.<ref>{{Cite news|work=[[The Times]]|date=20 June 1975|page=13|first=Michael|last=Church|title=Passing By}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sexual healing: From The Boys in the Band to Brokeback Mountain, gay roles in cinema have come a long way from their tortured beginnings. |last=Callow |first=Simon |date=31 October 2008 |newspaper=The Observer |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/oct/31/gay-roles}}</ref> In 1977, he took various parts in the [[Joint Stock Theatre Company]]'s production of ''[[Epsom Downs (play)|Epsom Downs]]'' and in 1979, he starred in [[Snoo Wilson]]'s ''The Soul of the White Ant'' at the [[Soho Theatre|Soho Poly]].<ref>''Snoo Wilson, Plays 1'', Methuen 1999</ref>

Callow appeared as [[Paul Verlaine|Verlaine]] in ''Total Eclipse'' (1982), Lord Foppington in ''[[The Relapse]]'' (1983) and the title role in ''[[Goethe's Faust|Faust]]'' (1988) at the [[Lyric Hammersmith]], where he also directed ''[[The Infernal Machine (play)|The Infernal Machine]]'' (with Dame [[Maggie Smith]]) in 1986.<ref name="lyricfaust">Biographical note for Simon Callow in programme book for Faust at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, London, 2 July 1988.</ref> In 1985, he played Molina in ''[[Kiss of the Spider Woman (play)|Kiss of the Spiderwoman]]'' at the [[Bush Theatre]], London.<ref name="lyricfaust"/> He played [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] in the premiere of [[Peter Shaffer]]'s ''[[Amadeus (play)|Amadeus]]'' at the National Theatre (1979), also appearing in the 1983 BBC original cast radio production.<ref name="lyricfaust"/> He later wrote of having "discovered Mozart quite early: the operas, the symphonies, the concertos, the wind serenades were all very much part of my musical landscape when I was asked to play the part of the composer in Peter Shaffer's ''Amadeus''; possibly this was one of the reasons I got the job."<ref>My Mozart : Simon Callow. ''Opera'', January 2006, Vol. 57, No.1, pg. 35.</ref> He appeared at the National Theatre as Orlando in ''[[As You Like It]]'' (1979) and Fulganzio in ''[[Life of Galileo]]'' (1980).<ref name="lyricfaust"/>

Callow appeared with [[Saeed Jaffrey]] in the 1994 British television drama series ''[[Little Napoleons]]'', playing a scheming [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[councillor]] in [[Local government in England|local government]]. He voice-acted the sly and traitorous Wolfgang in ''[[Shoebox Zoo]]''. In 2004, he appeared on a [[Comic Relief]] episode of ''[[Little Britain (sketch show)|Little Britain]]'' for charity causes. In 2006, he wrote a piece for the BBC1 programme ''[[This Week (BBC One TV series)|This Week]]'' bemoaning the lack of characters in modern politics. He has starred as Count Fosco, the villain of [[Wilkie Collins]]'s novel ''[[The Woman in White (novel)|The Woman in White]]'', in film (1997) and on stage (2005, in the [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] ''[[The Woman in White (musical)|musical]]'' in the West End).

Callow starred in the three-part original [[Gold (UK TV channel)|Gold]] comedy ''[[The Rebel (2016 TV series)|The Rebel]]'' in 2016.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/the_rebel/|title=The Rebel – Gold Sitcom – British Comedy Guide|first=British Comedy|last=Guide|website=British Comedy Guide}}</ref>

In 2022, he joined the cast of the UK revival of Cole Porter's ''[[Anything Goes]]'' replacing [[Gary Wilmot]] as Elisha Whitney. The production would complete a UK tour before finishing with a run at the [[Barbican Centre]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Anything Goes announces further casting for tour and London run|url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/anything-goes-announces-further-casting-tour_56142.html|access-date=15 April 2022}}</ref>
From 11 July to 3 August 2008, Callow appeared at the [[Stratford Festival of Canada|Stratford Shakespeare Festival]] in Canada in ''There Reigns Love'', a performance of the sonnets of [[William Shakespeare]].<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/plays/reigns.cfm
 |title       = Stratford Shakespeare Festival – There Reigns Love
 |publisher   = Stratford Festival
 |access-date  = 5 February 2008
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080125072109/http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/plays/reigns.cfm
 |archive-date = 25 January 2008
}}
</ref> The same year, he appeared at the [[Edinburgh Festival]], performing "Dr. Marigold" and "Mr. Chops" by [[Charles Dickens]], adapted and directed by [[Patrick Garland]]; repeating them from December 2009 to January 2010 at the [[Riverside Studios]] and on tour in 2011.

In February 2008, he played the psychiatrist in the [[Chichester Festival Theatre]]'s production of [[Peter Shaffer]]'s ''[[Equus (play)|Equus]]''.

Between March and August 2009, he played Pozzo in [[Sean Mathias]]'s production of ''[[Waiting for Godot]]'' by [[Samuel Beckett]] with [[Ian McKellen]] as Estragon, [[Patrick Stewart]] as Vladimir, and [[Ronald Pickup]] as Lucky. The production toured Britain before a run at the [[Theatre Royal, Haymarket]], in London

From June to November 2010, he appeared in a national tour of a new one-man play, ''Shakespeare: the Man from Stratford'', written by [[Jonathan Bate]], directed by Tom Cairns, and produced by the [[Ambassador Theatre Group]]. The play was renamed ''Being Shakespeare'' for its West End debut at the [[Trafalgar Studios]], where it opened on 15 June 2011. It was revived at the same theatre in March 2012, prior to a run in New York City and Chicago. In March 2014, it returned to the West End, this time at the [[Harold Pinter Theatre]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Being Shakespeare Official Website | url=http://www.beingshakespeare.com | access-date=27 May 2011}}</ref>

In October 2014, Callow appeared in a comedy sketch made for Channel 4's'' [[The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night]]'' to raise awareness of testicular cancer. The same year, he played the recurring role of the fictional Duke of Sandringham in the [[Starz (TV network)|Starz]] period TV series, ''[[Outlander (TV series)|Outlander]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/film/scots-based-outlander-tv-show-casts-simon-callow-1-3223695|title=Scots-based Outlander TV show casts Simon Callow|work=[[The Scotsman]]|date=7 December 2013|access-date=26 April 2015}}</ref>

In December 2022, Callow appeared as Dick in the Christmas special of BBC dark comedy ''[[Inside No. 9]]'', "[[Inside No. 9#Series 8 (2022–23)|The Bones of St Nicholas]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/inside-no-9-bones-st-nicholas-review-unexpected-ghost-macabre/|title=Inside No 9, review: there was an unexpected ghost at this macabre Christmas feast|website=The Telegraph|last=Rees|first=Jasper|date=22 December 2022|access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gdv9|title=Inside No. 9: The Bones of St Nicholas|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 April 2023}}</ref>