Tom Courtenay

Sir Tom Courtenay
Courtenay in February 2015
Born	Thomas Daniel Courtenay (1937-02-25) 25 February 1937 (age 80) Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–present
Spouse(s)	Cheryl Kennedy (m. 1973; div. 1982) Isabel Crossley (m. 1988)

Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay (/ˈkɔːrtni/; born 25 February 1937) is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films, including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Billy Liar (1963), and Doctor Zhivago (1965). Since the mid-1960s, he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre, although he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the film adaptation of The Dresser (1983), which he had performed on the West End and on Broadway. He received a knighthood in February 2001 for his service to cinema and theatre.

Courtenay was born in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Annie Eliza (née Quest) and Thomas Henry Courtenay, a boat painter. He attended Kingston High School and studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Courtenay made his stage debut in 1960 with the Old Vic theatre company at the Lyceum, Edinburgh, before taking over from Albert Finney in the title role of Billy Liar at the Cambridge Theatre in 1961. In 1963, he played that same title role in the film version, directed by John Schlesinger. He said of Albert Finney, "We both have the same problem, overcoming the flat harsh speech of the North."