Ralph Richardson

His career has often been compared with that of Olivier, Alec Guinness and John Gielgud. In late 2004 Shawn published the one-issue-only progressive political magazine Final Edition (http://www.sevenstories.com/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=58322100960730) which features interviews with and articles by Jonathan Schell, Noam Chomsky, Mark Strand, and Deborah Eisenberg. His film appearances included The Heiress, Richard III (playing Buckingham to Laurence Olivier's Richard), O Lucky Man!, Oh! What a Lovely War and Time Bandits. He is the son of William Shawn, longtime editor of The New Yorker, and journalist Cecille Lyon Shawn. After World War II, he became co-director of the Vic, and also appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-on-Avon. Before becoming a writer and actor, Shawn studied history, economics, and philosophy at Harvard and Oxford, where he originally thought he might become a diplomat. Thereafter he became one of the Old Vic's major stars. Shawn's political work has invited controversy, as he often presents the audience with several contradictory points of view: in Aunt Dan and Lemon, which Shawn described as a cautionary tale against fascism, the character Lemon explained her neo-Nazi beliefs with such conviction that some critics called the play effectively pro-fascist.

Richardson was born in Cheltenham and made his West End début in 1926. Among the best-known of these are Aunt Dan and Lemon (1985) and The Designated Mourner (1997), in both of which he appeared off-Broadway; the latter was made into a film by director David Hare. Sir Ralph David Richardson (December 19, 1902 - 1983) was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, did their best to make the transition to film. His later plays became more overtly political, drawing parallels between the psychology of his characters and the behavior of governments and social classes. His early work, such as Marie and Bruce (1978), portrayed emotional and sexual conflicts in an absurdist style. Shawn's career spans all aspects of "low" and "high" culture, and his plays, unlike some of his television appearances, are considered very serious (even if they often have comic aspects).

He is also an accomplished voice actor, appearing especially in animation (including Toy Story and Toy Story 2 where he played "Rex the Green Dinosaur") and commercials. He has had recurring roles as the Ferengi Grand Nagus Zek on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a comic ex-reporter on Murphy Brown, the Cosbys' neighbor on The Bill Cosby Show and on many other shows. Shawn is a widely-used character actor on television, where he has appeared in many genres and series. Other notable appearances include his role as the Masked Avenger in Allen's Radio Days (1987) ("Beware, evildoers! Wherever you are!"), as the evil Vizzini in The Princess Bride (1987), and as Uncle Vanya in Andre Gregory's idiosyncratic Chekhov production filmed by Louis Malle, Vanya on 42nd Street (1994), a reading of the play set in a crumbling theater.

Interviewed by film critic Roger Ebert, Shawn and Gregory denied that they were playing themselves and stated that if they remade the film, they'd swap the two characters to prove their point. The two actors also wrote the script, which contrasted Shawn's modest down-to-earth humanism against Gregory's extravagant New-Age fantasies, leaving the viewer of the film in an ironic suspension between the two viewpoints. His most famous role was as one of the two characters in the film My Dinner with Andre, opposite Andre Gregory. He made his film debut playing Diane Keaton's ex-husband in Woody Allen's Manhattan in 1979, in which Woody's character, a short, balding, bespectacled ectomorph, dismisses the short, balding, bespectacled Shawn as "a homunculus.".

Wallace Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor and writer. ISBN 1566395178. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Writing Wrongs: The Work of Wallace Shawn.

(1997). King, W.D. Woody Allen, 1979; "Jeremiah"). Manhattan (dir.

Louis Malle, 1981; Wally; co-wrote screenplay with Andre Gregory). My Dinner with Andre (dir. Aunt Dan and Lemon (play, 1986, written by Shawn; also starred in productions). The Fever (play, 1990, written and performed by Shawn).

The Princess Bride (1987; Vizzini). Woody Allen, 1987; Masked Avenger). Radio Days (dir. Louis Malle, 1994; Uncle Vanya).

Vanya on 42nd Street (dir. Toy Story (1995; voice of Rex). Hall). Clueless (movie & TV Series, 1996-7; Mr.

The Designated Mourner (play, 1997, written by Shawn; also starred in productions, 1997 and 2001). Toy Story 2 (1999; voice of Rex). Woody Allen, 2001; George Bond). Curse of the Jade Scorpion (dir.

The Incredibles (2004; voice of Gilbert Huph (Bob Parr's Boss)).