Thane Bettany
| Thane Bettany | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 May 1929 Sarawak, Borneo, Kingdom of Sarawak |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Partner(s) |
|
| Children | Sarah, Paul, Matthew |
Thane William Howard Hardcastle Christopher Bettany (born 28 May 1929) is an English actor and former dancer. He is the father of film actor Paul Bettany and father-in-law of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Connelly.
Thane Bettany was born in Sarawak, an independent state on the island of Borneo, which was then a British protectorate governed by the White Rajahs. Thane's elder brother was Peter Bettany. His godmother was the American memoirist Agnes Newton Keith, author of Three Came Home. The Bettanys also knew the Rhys-Jones family from Sarawak. Years later, when both had been widowed, Howard John Bettany, Thane's father, married Margaret Patricia Newall Molesworth Rhys-Jones (1904-1985), who had a granddaughter, Sophie, born the same year (1965). Thane Bettany stood godfather to the daughter of his new stepbrother: Sophie Rhys-Jones, later Countess of Wessex and wife of Prince Edward.
Bettany had become enamoured with ballet after seeing a performance as a child. Once he left school he took the money given to him by his father to go to engineering school to study ballet. After National Service, when he served in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm as a mechanic, he entered Sadler's Wells Ballet School (which later became the Royal Ballet School). He began dancing in musical theatre, but after an accident on stage when he broke his back he had to give up professional dance. Acting was an obvious career move, but he had a bad stammer. He went to study mime in Paris with Charles Antonetti, who helped him overcome the problem. Bettany returned to England and joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company, which would later become the Royal Shakespeare Company. He played Osric to Sir Michael Redgrave's Hamlet. In The Tempest, he was the understudy for the role of Ferdinand; he then took over the part when the play transferred to Drury Lane with Sir John Gielgud.
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