Sheridan Morley
| Sheridan Morley | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Sheridan Morley 5 December 1941 Ascot, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 16 February 2007 (aged 65) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | broadcaster, author, biographer, critic and stage director |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Gudejko, (1965–90) (divorced) Ruth Leon (1995–2007) (his death) |
Sheridan Morley (5 December 1941, Ascot, Berkshire − 16 February 2007, London) was an English author, biographer, critic and broadcaster. He was the official biographer of Sir John Gielgud and wrote biographies of many other theatrical figures he had known, including Noël Coward. Nicholas Kenyon called him a "cultural omnivore" who was "genuinely popular with people".
Sheridan Morley was born in Ascot, Berkshire, in a nursing home opposite Ascot Racecourse, the eldest son of actor Robert Morley and grandson via his mother Joan, of the actress Dame Gladys Cooper. He was named after Sheridan Whiteside, the title role his father was playing in a long-running production of The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Savoy Theatre in London.
He had close family connections with stars of the stage: in addition to his father and his maternal grandmother, his aunt married actor Robert Hardy, and Joanna Lumley was a cousin. His godparents were dramatist Sewell Stokes and actor Peter Bull; Morley's son Hugo was one of Noël Coward's many godchildren.
Morley grew up in Wargrave in Berkshire, and in Hollywood and New York, where his father was working. His father placed an advertisement in The Times, seeking a suitable school for his son: "Father with horrible memories of own schooldays at Wellington is searching for a school for his son, where the food matters as much as the education and the standards are those of a good three-star seaside hotel."
The successful reply came from Sizewell Hall in Suffolk, a coeducational preparatory school. This was owned and run in laissez-faire style by a Dutch Quaker, Harry Tuyn, although the story told in Morley's obituaries that subjects such as maths and Latin were not taught at Sizewell Hall on the grounds that they were too boring is untrue. Morley was well taught there in the full range of subjects and followed the Tuyns to Château-d'Œx, Switzerland, as a private pupil after the school closed. Having attended a crammer in Kensington High Street, Morley went on to read modern languages at Merton College, Oxford, from 1960, and became involved in student drama alongside Michael York, David Wood, Sam Walters, and Oliver Ford Davies. He graduated with third-class honours, and then spent a year teaching drama at the University of Hawaii.
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