Happy Birthday to multiple Tony and Olivier winner Jonathan Pryce, born June 1, 1947, in Carmel, Wales. At 16, he went to art college, before beginning studies at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, England, to become a teacher. While there, he took part in a school theater production. Impressed with Pryce’s talent, a tutor suggested he become an actor and even asked RADA for an application form on his behalf. Pryce was subsequently awarded a scholarship to the academy.
After graduating from RADA, Pryce joined Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre, eventually becoming artistic director. He then left Everyman and joined Nottingham Playhouse, where he starred in the play Comedians, which moved to London and then to Broadway (1976), earning Pryce the Tony and Theatre World awards. Back in London, he earned his first Olivier nomination for Taming of the Shrew (1979) and his first win for Hamlet (1980). Pryce returned to Broadway in 1984 with the play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, earning a Drama Desk nomination.
After a series of other dramatic stage and film roles, Pryce decided to try musicals, after seeing his friend Patti LuPone in the original London production of Les Misérables. He successfully won the role of The Engineer in the West End premiere of Miss Saigon (1989), for which he won his second Olivier. For the show’s Broadway transfer (1991), he won Drama Desk and Tony awards. Below is the Broadway cast at the 1991 Tonys.
Pryce returned to the West End in revivals of Nine (1992) and Oliver! (1994), which earned him another Olivier nomination. Below is Pryce and the Oliver! cast performing “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two” at the 1994 Royal Variety Show in London.
Other highlights of the decade include the HBO film Barbarians at the Gate (1993), which brought Pryce both Emmy and Golden Globe nods, and the films Carrington (1995), for which he earned a BAFTA nomination and a Best Actor Award at Cannes, and Evita (1995). Below is “She Is a Diamond” from Evita.
Pryce’s musical work in the following decade included the 2001 London revival of My Fair Lady, for which he earned his fifth Olivier nod, and the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely (2004). In 2006, Pryce returned to Broadway to replace John Lithgow in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Below is Pryce leading “Blow, Gabriel, Blow” in the Porter film (with Russian dubbed intro dialogue).
Pryce’s dramatic work included the London premiere of The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? (2004), for which he earned his sixth Olivier nomination. In 2009, Pryce was appointed a CBE, and he has concentrated on dramatic work since then, including the TV series Return to Cranford (2009), which brought him an Emmy nomination, as well as the West End and Broadway productions of The Height of the Storm (2018) and the Netflix film The Two Popes (2019), which brought him his first Oscar and second BAFTA nomination.