Victor Spinetti
Vittorio Giorgio Andre Spinetti (2 September 1929 – 18 June 2012) was a Welsh comedy actor, author, poet and raconteur. He appeared in dozens of films and stage plays throughout his 50-year career, including the three 1960s Beatles films A Hard Day’s Night, Help! and Magical Mystery Tour.
Born in Cwm, Ebbw Vale, Wales, Spinetti was educated at Monmouth School and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, of which he became a Fellow. After various menial jobs, Spinetti pursued a stage career and was closely associated with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop. Among the productions were Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be and Oh! What a Lovely War (1963), which transferred to New York City and for which he won a Tony Award. Spinetti’s film career developed simultaneously; his dozens of film appearances would include Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shrew, Under Milk Wood, The Return of the Pink Panther and Under the Cherry Moon.
During his later career, Spinetti acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company, in such roles as Lord Foppington in The Relapse and the Archbishop in Richard III, at Stratford-upon-Avon; and, in 1990, he appeared in The Krays. In 2008 he appeared in a one-man show, A Very Private Diary, which toured the UK as A Very Private Diary … Revisited!, recounting his life story. Spinetti was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2011 and died of the disease in June 2012.
He was the older brother of session musician Henry Spinetti.
Plays authored
Past productions
- Captain Biggar, Come On, Jeeves, Ian Dickens Productions
- Archbishop, Richard III, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Lord Foppington, The Relapse, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Archbishop, Richard III, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Lord Foppington, The Relapse, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Performer, More Loose Talk with Ned Sherrin, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Performer, The Mothers, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Tour Guide, Father and Son, Son and Father, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Compere, From Bard to Broadway, Royal Shakespeare Company
- The Relapse
- Richard III
- Archbishop, Richard III, Royal Shakespeare Company
- Lord Foppington, The Relapse, Royal Shakespeare Company
- The Pirates of Penzance
- Performer, Victor Spinetti – A Very Private Diary
- Charlie Barnet, One for the Pot, E&B Productions (Theatre) Ltd
- Oliver!
- The Pirates of Penzance, Opera House, Manchester
- Byron Greenwood, Comic Cuts, Frisby and Kemp Ltd
- Cinderella
- Bensinger, Windy City
- Director, The Biograph Girl
- Director, “Yes We Have No Pyjamas”, Barbara Plays Ltd and Mark Furness
- Director, Don’t Bother to Dress, Trip Productions
- Director, Come Into My Bed, Paul Raymond
- Director, Let’s Get Laid, Paul Raymond
- Director, Snatch 69, Paul Raymond
- Director, Deja Revue
- Samuel Sleary, Hard Times, Belgrade Theatre Company
- Braham , The Philanthropist
- Director, The Bed, Paul Raymond
- General Irrugia, Cat Among the Pigeons
- Director and adapter / Sound, In His Own Write, National Theatre
- The Taming of the Shrew
- Director, In His Own Write
- Director, Scene Three Act One, National Theatre
- Felix Ungar, The Odd Couple, H M Tennent Ltd and Saint Subber
- Pierrot, Oh What a Lovely War
- Pierrot, Oh What a Lovely War
- Pierrot, Oh What a Lovely War
- IRA Officer, The Hostage
- Brain-Worm, Every Man in His Humour, Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop
- Sweeting, Make Me an Offer, Theatre Workshop
- Candide
- A Psychiatrist and a Parson / Fleet Street Editor / Head Waiter / Leon, Expresso Bongo, Neil Crawford, Oscar Lewenstein, and Strand Productions