Murray Melvin, ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘A Taste of Honey’ Actor, Dies at 90
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Murray Melvin, a British actor known for his roles in The Phantom of the Opera, A Taste of Honey, Torchwood and Barry Lyndon, died Friday. He was 90.
His rep Thomas Bowington confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Melvin died at St. Thomas’ hospital in London.
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“He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him,” Kerry Kyriacos Michael, a London-bade creative director and producer, wrote on Twitter Saturday.
Born on Aug. 10, 1932, in London, Melvin made his acting debut in 1957 with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop Company in a production of Macbeth at the Theatre Royal Stratford.
After he made his film debut in 1960 in The Risk, he went on to land roles in The Phantom of the Opera, Torchwood and Barry Lyndon. But it was his role as gay textile design student Geoffrey Ingham in A Taste of Honey, where he starred opposite Rita Tushingham, that earned him the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. He also was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for most promising newcomer in a leading role for his performance in the Tony Richardson-director movie.
Then in 1964, he made his way to Broadway for Oh, What a Lovely War! and The Solider’s Tale.
While the theater was still a large part of his life, he also appeared in numerous films and TV shows throughout his career, including Starhunter, Kaleidoscope, H.M.S Defiant, Ghost Story, Smashing Time, Sparrows Can’t Sing, Joseph Andrews, The Fool, The Lost City of Z, The Devils, Ghost in the Noonday Sun, Christopher Columbus and The Avengers TV series.
Melvin’s rep said he completed filming his last film The Undertaker in November and was set to start filming The Ghost of Harold Wilson in May.
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