Meet the Actors- #3 Roy Kinnear
News item · 13 April 2016
Welcome to the third in our series of ‘Meet the Actors’ in which we introduce the talented actors who voice our lively characters! The Canterbury Tales is soon to be celebrating its 30th birthday, and still uses the incredible voice acting recorded back in the 80s.
Starring as the infamous Miller, Roy Kinnear helps bring Chaucer’s tales to life!
Roy Kinnear is a famous British actor and household name. Roy was born in Lancashire in 1934 to Annie Smith, and shared his first name with his father, international rugby player Roy Muir Kinnear. Sadly, in 1942, at the age of just 38, Roy Muir Kinnear died having collapsed whilst playing rugby.
Young Roy went to school in Edinburgh and developed an interest in dramatic arts, but his education was interrupted by national service, so it was not until the 1950s that he started his career in theatre. He began in repertory theatre, and in 1959 even joined the infamous Theatre Workshop run by Joan Littlewood. Later, he became known nationally as a participant on the television show ‘That Was the Week That Was’.
So popular was he on this show that he was spotted by none other than Stanley Baker! Stanley wanted Roy to appear in Zulu but, not knowing his name, simply told the casting director to get the man who worked on That Was the Week That Was and had a surname beginning with K. Roy was not the only man whose surname began with K on the show, and David Kernan was hired instead!
Source: http://www.tvcream.co.uk/?tag=roy-kinnear
Roy did move into films though, and made a great success of it! He appeared most famously as Veruca Salt’s father in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971), but also in The Informers, The Deadly Affair, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1972), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother and The Boys in Blue.
Tragically, during the filming of The Return of the Musketeers in 1988, Roy fell from a horse and suffered a heart attack as a result of his injuries. He sadly passed away, at the age of just 54. In his name and memory, Roy’s daughter runs a trust which improves the lives of young adults with disabilities. Roy remains to this day a household name and a well-known and much revered actor.
Book your tickets now to hear Roy Kinnear as the Miller, plus many other talented stars, at The Canterbury Tales.