Simon Callow was born on June 13, 1949 in London, England as Simon Phillip Hugh Callow. He is an actor, known for Amadeus (1984), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
London Oratory School, Queen's University Belfast, Drama Centre London
Nationality
British
Spouse
Sebastian Fox
Parents
Yvonne Mary Guise, Neil Francis Callow
Awards
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Satellite Award for Best Television Ensemble, Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director of a Musical
Nominations
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, WhatsOnStage Award for Best Solo Performance
Movies
Four Weddings and a Funeral, Amadeus, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, A Room with a View, Shakespeare in Love, The Phantom of the Opera, James and the Giant Peach, Postcards from the Edge, Maurice, No Man's Land, Bedrooms and Hallways, Christmas Carol: The Movie, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, Bob the ...
TV Shows
Chance in a Million, David Copperfield (1986)
Star Sign
Gemini
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Trademark
1
His plummy English accent
2
Often plays Charles Dickens or Dickensian characters
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Quote
1
[on William Shakespeare] It's the most melodious words ever written in the English language. It's also in rhythm, you know, like music, and people love that.
2
I love storytelling and I love just relating directly to an audience. That's why we do theatre, it's because we love contact with the audience. We love the fact that the audience will change us. The way the audience responds makes us change our performance.
3
[on receiving the C.B.E. under the Tony Blair government] Being honoured by one's country is even better than winning a Tony Award. But since it comes from Downing Street, I suppose in a sense it is a Tony.
4
[on Alec Guinness] He wrote to tell me he had just seen A Passage to India (1984), and as the lights had come up he had vomited in shame at his own performance as Professor Godbole.
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Fact
1
He's descended from circus performers - his great great grandmother was a bareback rider and his great grandfather was a clown.
2
Has appeared as a character named Kemp in episodes of two different television series, 'Scarecrow and Mrs. King' in 1984 and 'Inspector Morse' in 1987.
He is currently playing "Count Fosco" in "The Woman in White" at the Palace Theatre in London. [September 2005]
5
Performing at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. There Reigns Love - Devised and performed by Simon Callow. July 11 - August 3. [June 2008]
6
Release of his book, "Being An Actor". [1986]
7
His father was of English descent, while his mother was of Danish, French, German, and English ancestry.
8
Has said in interviews, he has not had a television set for a number of decades.
9
The names of George Coulouris and Agnes Moorehead are consistently mis-spelled throughout his book "Orson Welles: The Road To Xanadu", which also refers to "Touch Of Evil" as "A Touch Of Evil"; this latter mistake also occurs in his later book about Welles, "Hello, Americans".
10
His first television role was to have been that of 'First Crew Member' in Carry on Laughing!: Orgy and Bess (1975). His scene was ultimately cut from the episode, although his name remains listed in the closing credits.
11
Callow is the author of numerous books, including a biography of Charles Laughton, a book on acting and, most recently, a multi-volume biography of Orson Welles.
12
In the Independent on Sunday 2006 Pink List - a list of the most influential gay men and women - he came no. 28, down from 26.
Played the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the stage version of "Amadeus" before appearing in the film version, in which he played "Emmanuel Schikaneder", who appeared in the first performance of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and wrote the opera's libretto.
15
Started acting after Sir Laurence Olivier's insistence that if he wanted to act, he should take a job at the box office of the Old Vic Theatre in London.
16
He was awarded the Patricia Rothermel Award at the 1999 London Evening Standard Theatre Awards for his outstanding services to theatre.
17
He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 (1991 season) for Best Director of a Musical for "Carmen Jones".
18
He was awarded C.B.E. (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honors List for his services to drama.
$500,000
