Sebastian Shaw (actor)

Sebastian Shaw
Shaw in a 1979 episode of Rumpole of the Bailey
Born	Sebastian Lewis Shaw (1905-05-29)29 May 1905 Holt, Norfolk, England
Died	23 December 1994(1994-12-23) (aged 89) Brighton, Sussex, England
Education	Slade School of Fine Art
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts
Occupation	Actor director novelist playwright poet
Years active	1914–1991
Spouse(s)	Margaret Delamere (1929–1956)

Sebastian Lewis Shaw (29 May 1905 – 23 December 1994) was an English actor, director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, he appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions.

Shaw was born and brought up in Holt, Norfolk, and made his acting debut at age eight at a London theatre. He studied acting at Gresham's School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Although he worked primarily on the London stage, he made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played one of the two murderers in Rope's End. He appeared in his first film, Caste, in 1930 and quickly began to create a name for himself in films. He described himself as a "rotten actor" as a youth and said his success was primarily due to his good looks. He claimed to mature as a performer only after returning from service in the Royal Air Force during World War II.

Shaw was particularly known for his performances in productions of Shakespeare plays which were considered daring and ahead of their time. In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he remained for a decade and delivered some of his most acclaimed performances. He also wrote several poems and a novel, The Christening, in 1975. He is also known for his brief but important performance in Return of the Jedi, the original third installment in the Star Wars franchise, in which he portrayed an unmasked and redeemed Anakin Skywalker (formerly Darth Vader), and his ghost in the original version of the film.

Shaw was one of three children born to Dr. Geoffrey Shaw, the music master at Gresham's School, a Norfolk independent boarding school, where Shaw began his education. His uncle, Martin Shaw, was a composer of church music, and his family's love of music heavily influenced Shaw's career path. Shaw made his acting debut at age eight on the London stage as one of the juvenile band in The Cockyolly Bird at the Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea on New Year's Day of 1914. During his time at Gresham's, he also played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, his first of many performances from the works of William Shakespeare; schoolmate W. H. Auden, who would go on to become a highly regarded poet, portrayed Katherina in the play opposite him. After Gresham's, Shaw planned to become a painter and spent two years at the Slade School of Fine Art before switching his interests to acting; regarding the change, his father informed him, "I wondered when you would come to your senses." He earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Bloomsbury, London. Actor Charles Laughton enrolled in the Academy at the same time as Shaw, who later said his first impression of Laughton was "a poor fat boy". Although Shaw and his fellow students initially felt pity for Laughton, they were quickly impressed with his talent.