Waiting for Godot Ronald Pickup

Ronald Pickup

Lucky

Born in Chester in 1940, Ronald Pickup left RADA in 1964 and, after rep in Leicester, first appeared professionally in London as Octavius in Lyndsay Anderson’s Julius Caesar at the Royal Court.For the next 11 years he worked consistently at both the Royal Court Theatre, under William Gaskill, and at the National Theatre under Laurence Olivier. At the Court he played leading roles in Shelley, Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance and Edward Bond’s Saved. His career at the National Theatre began with walk-on parts and understudies and soon led to lead roles in Much Ado About Nothing, Juno and the Paycock, John Lennon’s In His Own Write, Richard II, The School for Scandal, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Mrs Warren’s Profession, The Madras House, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Three Sisters and in the all-male production of As You Like It, in which he was cast as Rosalind.The variety of parts at the National was matched by the fertile mix of directors: Olivier himself, Franco Zeffirelli, William Gaskill, John Dexter, Peter Brook, Victor Spinetti, Ronald Eyre, Jonathan Miller, Michael Blakemore and Richard Eyre. During the early years at the National, he also worked with Roland Joffe at the newly opened Young Vic, playing Sophocles’ Oedipus and Angelo in Measure for Measure.Thereafter, his theatre work has included spells in the West End in The Norman Conquests, Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard and in David Hare’s Amy’s View with Judi Dench, for which he received an Olivier nomination, and which then transferred to New York. He also appeared in Proof at the Donmar with Gwyneth Paltrow.His most recent theatre work was in Uncle Vanya, Peter Hall’s inaugural production at the Rose Theatre, Kingston.He has appeared on television in a wide variety of series and plays, most notably Jennie, Fortunes of War, Behaving Badly, The Worst Week of My Life and as the voice of Aslan in the BBC’s much loved adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In 1984 he received a BAFTA nomination for his portrayal of George Orwell in Alan Plater’s recreation of Orwell’s final year spent on the island of Jura writing 1984.Films include: Tulse Luper with Peter Greenaway, The Three Sisters, Day of the Jackal, The 39 Steps, The Mission, Eleni, A Dry White Season, The Life of Guiseppe Verdi and the yet to be released Jerry Bruckheimer film Prince of Persia.Waiting for Godot marks a return to Beckett. In 1977 at the Royal Court, he appeared in Play with Beckett himself directing, alongside Donald McWhinnie. Following the Court, he performed in two further Beckett plays: Ghost and …but the clouds…, directed by the same team for BBC Television.

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