Edward Fox (actor)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Edward Fox, OBE (born 13 April 1937) is an English stage, film and television actor. He is generally associated with the role of an upper-class Englishman. He is known particularly for playing the title role in the film The Day of the Jackal (1973) and for his portrayal of Edward VIII in the television miniseries Edward and Mrs Simpson (1978).
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[edit] Family and early life
Born Edward Charles Morrice Fox in Chelsea, London to the theatrical agent Robin Fox and actress Angela Worthington, he is the elder brother of actor James Fox and film producer Robert Fox. He is also a paternal half-brother of Daniel Chatto and a half-brother-in-law of Lady Sarah Chatto. His maternal grandfather was the dramatist Frederick Lonsdale. He was educated at Harrow and served as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards.
[edit] Career
Fox made his theatre debut in 1958 and his first film appearance in 1963, as an extra in This Sporting Life. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he began to establish himself with roles in major British films such as Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Battle of Britain (1969) and The Go-Between (1970). However, it was as the assassin in 1973's The Day of the Jackal that he made his biggest impression. From then on he was much sought after, appearing in such films as the star-studded A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Force 10 From Navarone (1978), with Robert Shaw and Harrison Ford. He undertook another major role in 1978, playing King Edward VIII in the television drama, Edward and Mrs Simpson. In the 1982 film Gandhi, Fox portrayed the controversial Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, responsible for the Amritsar Massacre in India. He then appeared as M in the 1983 unofficial James Bond film Never Say Never Again.
More recently Fox has appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Nicolas Nickleby (2002), and Stage Beauty (2004). He has consolidated his reputation with regular appearances on stage in London's West End. He has received particular acclaim for his rendition of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets at major festivals at home and abroad accompanied by the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach performed by Christine Croshaw.
He was made an OBE in 2003.
[edit] Personal life
Fox has been married twice, to actresses Tracy Reed (1958-1961) and Joanna David (from July 2004, after a long-standing relationship). He has a daughter, Lucy, Viscountess Gormanston, by Reed, and two children, Emilia Fox and Freddie Fox, with David.
