Paul Scofield, the towering British stage actor who won international fame and an Academy Award for the film “A Man for All Seasons,” died Wednesday of leukemia, his agent said. He was 86.
Scofield made few films even after the Oscar for his 1966 portrayal of Tudor statesman Sir Thomas More. He was a stage actor by inclination and by his gifts — a dramatic, craggy face and an unforgettable voice that was likened to a Rolls Royce starting up or the rumbling sound of low organ pipes.
Even his greatest screen role was a follow up to a play — the London stage production of “A Man for All Seasons,” in which he starred for nine months.
Scofield also turned in a performance in the 1961 New York production that won him extraordinary reviews and a Tony Award. He also was in a stage adaptation of Graham Greene’s “The Power and the Glory” in 1956.
Scofield’s huge success with “A Man for All Seasons” was followed in 1979 by another great historical stage role, as Salieri in “Amadeus.” His later stage roles included “Heartbreak House” in 1992 and the 1996 National Theatre production of Ibsen’s “John Gabriel Borkman.”
Scofield’s rare films included Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance” in 1974, Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 production of “Henry V,” in which he played the king of France; “Quiz Show,” Robert Redford’s film about the 1950s TV scandal in which Scofield played poet Mark Van Doren; and the 1996 adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible.”
