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Simon Callow
Simon Callow is an actor, author and director. He studied at Queen’s University, Belfast, and then trained as an actor at the Drama Centre in London. He joined the National Theatre in 1979, where he created the role of Mozart in Peter Shaffer’s ‘Amadeus’. His many one-man shows include ‘The Importance of Being Oscar’, ‘The Mystery of Charles Dickens’, ‘Being Shakespeare’, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘Inside Wagner’s Head’, ‘Juvenalia’, ‘The Man Jesus’, ‘Tuesday at Tesco’s’ and, most recently, Oscar Wilde’s ‘De Profundis’ in the adaptation by Frank McGuinness. His films include ‘A Room with a View’, ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’, ‘Shakespeare in Love’, ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and the title role in ‘The Amazing Mr Blunden’. He recently played The Duke of Sandringham in the television series ‘Outlander’. He directed ‘Shirley Valentine’ in the West End and on Broadway, ‘Single Spies’ at the NT, ‘Les Enfants du Paradis’ at the RSC, ‘Carmen Jones’ at the Old Vic, as well as the film of ‘The Ballad of the Sad Café’. He has written biographies of Oscar Wilde, Charles Laughton, and Charles Dickens and three autobiographical books: Being an Actor, Love Is Where It Falls, and My Life in Pieces. The third volume of his massive Orson Welles biography, ‘One Man Band’, appeared in 2016; ‘Inside Wagner’s Head’, a short biography of Wagner, was published in 2018, and his most recent book, with the photographer Derry Moore, was ‘London’s Great Theatres’ (2020). Music is his great passion. He has directed a number of operas and has made many appearances with the LPO, the LSO and the London Mozart Players.