Stardom did not come easily to Michael Pennington, who has died aged 82, but through hard work, persistence and a forensic dedication to his craft, he became a top-drawer classical actor. In his first season with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964-65 he was Fortinbras to David Warner’s groundbreaking Hamlet and took a minor role in Paul Scofield’s great Timon of Athens. He would occupy both main roles for the company, to critical acclaim, in later years.
Between 1973 and 1981, he also played Berowne, Angelo, Mercutio and, significantly, the lead in Sean O’Casey’s The Shadow of a Gunman directed by Michael Bogdanov. These performances were marked with sardonic dash, physical grace and intense concentration that audiences loved. And yet, five years later, with his friend Bogdanov, he co-founded the English Shakespeare Company as a maverick challenger to the RSC, keen to run a company on his own terms and not wait around to be crowned with the sort of laurel wreath the RSC granted Alan Howard or Ian McKellen.
