Derek Jacobi

Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE (born 22 October 1938) is an English actor and stage director.

A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya and Oedipus the King. He has twice been awarded a Laurence Olivier Award, first for his performance of the eponymous hero in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1983 and the second for his Malvolio in Twelfth Nightin 2009. He also received a Tony Award for his performance in Much Ado About Nothing in 1984 and a Primetime Emmy Award in 1988 for The Tenth Man. His stage work includes playing Octavius Caesar, Edward II, Richard III and Thomas Becket.

In addition to being a founder member of the Royal National Theatre and winning several prestigious theatre awards, Jacobi has also enjoyed a successful television career, starring in the critically praised adaptation of Robert Graves's I, Claudius(1976), for which he won a BAFTA; in the titular role in the medieval drama series Cadfael (1994–1998), as Stanley Baldwin in The Gathering Storm (2002), as Stuart Bixby in the ITV comedy Vicious (2013–2016) and as Alan Buttershaw in Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2016). Jacobi also portrayed a version of The Master in the long running science fiction series Doctor Who.

Though principally a stage actor, Jacobi has appeared in a number of films, including The Day of the Jackal (1973), Henry V(1989), Dead Again (1991), Gladiator (2000), Gosford Park (2001), The Riddle (2007), The King's Speech (2010), My Week with Marilyn (2011), Cinderella (2015), and Murder on the Orient Express (2017).

He was knighted in 1994 and has also been made a member of the Danish Order of the Dannebrog.

Early life
Jacobi, an only child, was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England, the son of Daisy Gertrude (née Masters; 1910–1980), a secretary who worked in a drapery store in Leyton High Road, and Alfred George Jacobi (1910–1993), who ran a sweet shop and was a tobacconist in Chingford. His patrilineal great-grandfather had emigrated from Germany to England during the 19th century. His family was working class. Jacobi describes his childhood as happy. In his teens he went to Leyton County High School for Boys, now known as the Leyton Sixth Form College, and became an integral part of the drama club, The Players of Leyton. His family is of Huguenot origin.

While in the sixth form, he starred in a production of Hamlet, which was taken to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and very well regarded. At 18 he won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge, where he read history at St John's College and earned his degree. Younger members of the university at the time included Ian McKellen (who had a crush on him—"a passion that was undeclared and unrequited", as McKellen relates it) and Trevor Nunn. During his studies at Cambridge, Jacobi played many parts including Hamlet, which was taken on a tour to Switzerland, where he met Richard Burton. As a result of his performance of Edward II at Cambridge, Jacobi was invited to become a member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre immediately upon his graduation in 1960.

In March 2006, four months after civil partnerships were introduced in the United Kingdom, Jacobi registered his civil partnership with theatre director Richard Clifford, his partner of 30 years. They live in Primrose Hill, North London. He was a Grand Marshal of the 46th New York City Gay Pride March in 2015.