page_title: Michael Hordern
section_title: Theatre Royal, Brighton
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Hordern / Life and career / 1950–70 / Theatre Royal, Brighton
caption_attribution_description: English: The American/Australian stage actress Coral Browne, pictured for the front cover of Table Talk newspaper in 1931.
context_page_description: Sir Michael Murray Hordern, CBE was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 60 years. He is best known for his Shakespearean roles, especially that of King Lear, which he played to much acclaim on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1969 and London in 1970. He then successfully assumed the role on television five years later. He often appeared in film, rising from a bit part actor in the late 1930s to a member of the main cast; by the time of his death he had appeared in nearly 140 cinema roles. His later work was predominantly in television and radio.
  Born in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, into a family with no theatrical connections, Hordern was educated at Windlesham House School where he became interested in drama. He went on to Brighton College where his interest in the theatre developed. After leaving the college he joined an amateur dramatics company, and came to the notice of several influential Shakespearean directors who cast him in minor roles in Othello and Macbeth. During the Second World War he served on HMS Illustrious where he reached the rank of lieutenant commander.
context_section_description: In early 1955 Hordern was asked by the British theatre manager and producer Binkie Beaumont to take the lead in André Roussin's comedy Nina, directed by Rex Harrison. The play, which starred Edith Evans, Lockwood West, and James Hayter, transferred from Oxford to the Theatre Royal in Brighton. Beaumont's request came at short notice because Hordern's predecessor had proved inadequate. The play was cursed with bad luck: Evans fell ill and was replaced midway by an understudy who neglected to learn her lines; Harrison frequently upset the cast, which resulted in reduced morale. When Evans did return, she walked off stage and left after seeing empty seats in the front row.
  Hordern regretted his decision to take part in Roussin's Nina, but admitted that the allure of appearing alongside Evans had got the better of him. Harrison held auditions to replace his leading lady and settled on the Australian-American actress Coral Browne. Hordern and Browne grew close, aided by their mutual dislike of their disciplinarian director. They fell in love and had an affair which lasted for the duration of the run. Years later Hordern confessed: "I kept falling in love. It is a common complaint among actors. You cannot be at such close quarters, mind and body, without being sorely tempted."
  Hordern and Harrison's dislike for one another was evident to the rest of the cast. One night, after a performance of Nina in Eastbourne, and having felt that he had "acted [his] socks off", Hordern, along with the rest of the cast, were berated by Harrison who accused them of producing a piece "not fit for the end of a pier". Nina transferred to the Haymarket Theatre, London, not long after the incident but it was unsuccessful and closed after five weeks. "The play was fine", opined Hordern, "it was a disaster because of Rex Harrison." Hordern and Browne's relationship ended shortly after the play closed and Hordern set about rebuilding his marriage with Eve, who had long known of the affair.
caption: Coral Browne, with whom Hordern had an affair during Nina
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