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Letters about Roger Livesey

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Dear Lynn,
I worked with Roger in 1970 in a production of Hamlet at the Roundhouse directed by Tony Richardson. I played Reynaldo and the player queen and Roger played the Player King and the gravedigger. It was a very exciting production to be in, the Roundhouse being a very atmospheric venue and the cast being a very distinguished one. Nicol Williamson was a wonderfully dynamic Prince, Anthony Hopkins played Claudius, Judy Parfitt played gertrude, Marianne Faithful Ophelia, Angelica Huston understudied her! Mark Dignam played Polonius, Michael Pennington played Laertes. Roger was, of course, known to me from the many films he had made and was somewhat of an iconic figure to me. I was rather in awe of him but he was very kind to me and rather tolerant of the buch of high spirited young actors who were in the play with me, including Michael Elphick. I became very fond of him. I remember being struck by his powerful, husky voice and I can vividly recall his long speech as the Player King about Priam. He had a great presence and was very moving. I think it was possibly the last thing he did on stage and I remember my feelings of sadness when he died a few years later. It was a bit of a volatile production but Roger was an oasis of calm. On more than one occasion Nicol Williamson stopped the play because the behavious of some members of the audience didn't meet with his approval. We made a film of the production which, I believe, is still available.

I hope these flimsy memories are of some use. I wish i could remember more but it was a long time ago and things were a bit hazy then even at the time, it being the end of the sixties. Its very heartwarming that you are working on this tribute to him.

Best Wishes

Roger Lloyd Pack

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