Robert Stephens (1) (1931–1995)

Robert Stephens was born in Bristol, England. At age 18, he won a scholarship to the Bradford Civic Theatre School in Yorkshire. He made his professional debut with the Caryl Jenner Mobile Theatre, which was followed by a year in repertory at the Royalty Theatre, Morecambe, and several seasons of touring. In 1958, he had his first major success in the play Epitaph for George Dillon by John Osborne and Anthony Creighton.
His early films included A Taste of Honey (1961), Cleopatra (1963), and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) with his then-wife Maggie Smith. He played the title role in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), directed by Billy Wilder. Acclaimed as a brilliant stage actor, the finest of his generation, he become a founding member of Britain's National Theater in the 1960s, and was widely regarded as the natural heir of Laurence Olivier. However, after he left the National Theatre in 1970 and his marriage to Maggie Smith broke up in 1973, he suffered a breakdown and a career slump. He continued to work in both the UK and USA, and at the end of the 1980s was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. He received fresh praise for his performances as Julius Caesar, Falstaff -- for which he won the Olivier Award as Best Actor in 1993 -- and King Lear. He was knighted in 1995, and published his autobiography, Knight Errant: Memoirs of a Vagabond Actor, two weeks before his death at age 64.