- Born
- Died
- Birth nameArthur Nigel Davenport
- Height5′ 11¾″ (1.82 m)
- Nigel Davenport was born on May 23, 1928 in Shelford, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Man for All Seasons (1966), Chariots of Fire (1981) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977). He was married to Maria Aitken and Helena Margaret White. He died on October 25, 2013 in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, UK.
- SpousesMaria Aitken(May 1, 1972 - November 17, 1980) (divorced, 1 child)Helena Margaret White(1951 - ?) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsArthur Henry DavenportKatherine Lucy Davenport
- Deep smooth voice
- Gleaming blue eyes
- Large moustache
- Towering, imposing build
- If not in the role of a rake or scowling villain, he was often typecast as aristocrats or high-ranking military officers.
- What Davenport referred to as his "dodgy eyes" was the consequence of a botched childhood operation to correct a squint. The vision in his right eye remained blurred for the rest of his life.
- During production of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Davenport read the lines of HAL 9000 off-camera during the computer's dialogues with actors Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood. However, Kubrick thought that Davenport's English accent was too distracting, and after a few weeks he dismissed him, so Canadian actor Douglas Rain, who was ultimately chosen for the role, quickly recorded his lines for the final film in post-production.
- Retired from acting in the early 21st century because he could no longer remember dialogue.
- Took his son Jack Davenport to see Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) but fell asleep and snored loudly through it, saying afterwards "it just couldn't hold his interest".
- He grew up in Cambridge but went to Trinity College, Oxford.
- [In his 2010 Shock Cinema interview with journalist Anthony Petkovich about working with Jack Palance on the Dan Curtis production of Dracula (1974)] I was pretty frightened of that gentleman, because he was so bloody tall! He was six-foot-four and, as he wanted to look like Dracula, he had three-inch lifts in his shoes, so he was like six-foot-seven - and he was a big guy.
- [on tycoons like his character in Howards' Way (1985)] They are not generally very cheerful people. They also tend to dress soberly and conventionally. They may go for the trappings of rich living, but they are rarely flash or even seem to enjoy their money. What I think they do enjoy is the fight, the competition.
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