Tom Courtenay

Sir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay (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 Dr. Zhivago (1965). Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre; he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in the film adaptation of The Dresser (1983), which he had performed on the West End and on Broadway. Courtenay received a knighthood in February 2001 for forty years' 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 there. Courtenay studied drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. Courtenay made his stage début 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. Courtenay's film debut was in 1962 with Private Potter, directed by Finnish-born director Caspar Wrede, who had first spotted Courtenay while he was still at RADA.