https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Geoffrey_KendalGeoffrey Kendal - Revision history2026-07-30T21:57:39ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Geoffrey_Kendal&diff=127034&oldid=prev>Monkbot at 20:04, 28 December 20202020-12-28T20:04:57Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}<br />
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{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Geoffrey Kendal<br />
| image = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] --><br />
| alt = <br />
| caption = <br />
| birth_name = Richard Geoffrey Bragg<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|9|17|df=y}} <br />
| birth_place = [[Kendal]], [[Westmorland]], England<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|5|14|1909|9|17|df=y}} <br />
| death_place = <br />
| nationality = <br />
| spouse = Laura Liddell <br /><small>(1933–1992; her death)</small><br />
|children = [[Jennifer Kendal|Jennifer]] and [[Felicity Kendal]] <br />
| occupation = Actor, theatre director<br />
| known_for = Shakespeareana <br />
}}<br />
'''Geoffrey Kendal''' (7 September 1909 &ndash; 14 May 1998) was an [[English (people)|English]] actor and theatre director who delivered Shakespeare performances throughout India in the 1940s and 1950s.<br />
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==Early life and family==<br />
Born Richard Geoffrey Bragg in [[Kendal]], [[Westmorland]], he took the name of his place of birth as his surname.<ref name=inde98>{{cite news|first=Kuldip|last=Singh|title=Obituary: Geoffrey Kendal|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-geoffrey-kendal-1165113.html|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|location=London|date=1998-06-15|access-date=2013-12-11}}</ref> He married the actress Laura Liddell in 1933; she died in England in 1992. The couple's two daughters, [[Jennifer Kendal|Jennifer]] (1934–1984) and [[Felicity Kendal]] (b. 1946), became successful actresses.<ref name=inde98/> His daughter, Jennifer, was married to Indian actor [[Shashi Kapoor]], and had three children, [[Sanjana Kapoor]], [[Kunal Kapoor (Kapoor family)|Kunal Kapoor]] and [[Karan Kapoor]]. His younger daughter, Felicity, was married to actor [[Drewe Henley]] and director [[Michael Rudman]].<br />
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==Career==<br />
After attending theatre classes in [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]], Kendal joined repertory theatre companies which performed across small English towns. During one such tour, while in [[Merseyside]], he met Laura Liddell, also an actress; subsequently they married at [[Gretna Green]] in 1933.<ref name=inde98/> After appearing with [[Entertainments National Service Association]] ([[ENSA]]) during the [[Second World War]] entertaining troops overseas, he along with his troupe performed in [[Hong Kong]], Singapore and the backwaters of Malaya and Borneo, finally arriving in India in 1944.<ref name=inde98/><br />
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Thereafter he made his living as an [[actor-manager]] leading the repertory theatre company "Shakespeareana" on tour throughout [[India]] in the 1940s and 1950s.<ref>[https://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Makeup/2559/jennifer_kendal023.htm&date=2009-10-25+08:09:53 Jennifer Kendal - Biography and images]</ref> They would perform [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] before royalty one day, and in rural villages the next; many of their audiences were schoolchildren.<ref>Kendal, Felicity (1999) ''White Cargo''. Penguin</ref> Their story was loosely told by [[Merchant Ivory]] in their feature film ''[[Shakespeare Wallah]]'' (1965), in which he played the role of his fictionalized self, Tony Buckingham.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shakespeare Wallah (1965) |url=http://www.merchantivory.com/shakespeare.html |publisher=Merchant Ivory Productions |access-date=21 February 2013}}</ref> He also acted in [[Shyam Benegal]]'s ''[[Junoon (1978 film)|Junoon]]'' (1978) and [[Aparna Sen]]'s ''[[36 Chowringhee Lane]]'' (1981), in which Jennifer Kendal was the lead, while he played her elder brother.<br />
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Kendal's life story, ''The Shakespeare Wallah: the Autobiography of Geoffrey Kendal'', co-authored by Clare Colvin, was published in 1986. In 1990, he and Laura Kendal were given a joint [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] in "Theatre - Direction" given by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Theatre.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards: Theatre - Direction|url=http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm#Theatre2004onwardsActing|publisher=[[Sangeet Natak Akademi]] Official website|access-date=21 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217185616/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist.htm#Theatre2004onwardsActing|archive-date=17 February 2012|df=dmy-all}}</ref><br />
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He died on 14 May 1998, aged 88.<br />
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==Works==<br />
* {{cite book |title=Shakespeare Wallah: Autobiography|author=Geoffrey Kendal |author2=Clare Colvin |publisher=Penguin Books |year= 1987|isbn=0140096841 }}<br />
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==References==<br />
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{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
* {{IMDb name|0447556}}<br />
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-geoffrey-kendal-1165113.html Obituary: Geoffrey Kendal]. The Independent. Published 15 June 1998. Author - Kuldip Singh.<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kendal, Geoffrey}}<br />
[[Category:1909 births]]<br />
[[Category:1998 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century English male actors]]<br />
[[Category:Actor-managers]]<br />
[[Category:British theatre managers and producers]]<br />
[[Category:English autobiographers]]<br />
[[Category:English emigrants to India]]<br />
[[Category:English male Shakespearean actors]]<br />
[[Category:English male stage actors]]<br />
[[Category:English theatre directors]]<br />
[[Category:People from Kendal]]<br />
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]</div>>Monkbot