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Michael York

Audiences have long admired Michael York's versatility. With an impressive body of work over the past 42 years on screen, stage, television and with audio recording, this consummate performer still retains the fire for the actor's life that first blazed when he was a teenager in England.

After joining the National Youth Theatre and playing Shakespeare in London and Europe, York went on to Oxford University (where fellow performers included future Monty Pythons Terry Jones and Michael Palin) from which he graduated with an MA in English.

"Afterwards, I just knew I wouldn't be happy if I didn't give the profession a try," recalls York who, following a traditional stint in ‘rep’, joined Laurence Olivier's new National Theatre Company in 1965 in a production directed by Franco Zeffirelli. "A year later I got a call to audition for his film of "The Taming of the Shrew" with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Luckily, I got the role and with it this other label as a movie actor." York was also Tybalt in Zeffirelli’s award-winning "Romeo and Juliet," and played John the Baptist in his landmark "Jesus of Nazareth."

York's more than 60 other screen credits include memorable roles in such films as Bob Fosse's Oscar-winning "Cabaret" opposite Liza Minnelli; "Something for Everyone" with Angela Lansbury, directed by Hal Prince; the all-star "Murder on the Orient Express," "The Last Remake of Beau Geste" with Marty Feldman; as D'Artagnan in "The Three Musketeers," as the title character in the sci-fi classic "Logan's Run," and opposite Burt Lancaster in "The Island of Dr. Moreau." He even played himself in Billy Wilder's "Fedora."

Recent work includes "Borstal Boy," “Crusader” and all three "Austin Powers" movies. He was also in both “Omega Code" films. In 2005 “Moscow Heat,” filmed in Russia, as well as “Crusader” with Andrew McCarthy and Bo Derek were released. His television work comprises over 80 credits that include "The Forsyte Saga," "Great Expectations," "Space," "The Heat of the Day," "A Knight in Camelot" with Whoopi Goldberg, and "The Lot" for which he was Emmy-nominated. Recently a guest in Larry David's HBO comedy series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," he played D'Artagnan again in "La Femme Musketeer." He was last seen in “Icon,” also for Hallmark, and as a guest on “The Simpsons” and the 100th episode of “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.”

Broadway and regional theater credits include Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Bent, the musical of The Little Prince, The Crucible, the world premiere of Tennessee Williams' Outcry and the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac. In November 2006 his will launch his North American touring debut as King Arthur in Lerner & Loewe’s beloved classic, Camelot.

York's distinctive voice is in constant demand, with over 70 audio book credits as varied as "The Book of Psalms," Carl Jung's "Memories, Dreams, Reflections,""The Vampire Lestat," and his own children's book, "The Magic Paw Paw." Grammy-nominated in 1996 for "Treasure Island," he won an Audie Award for "The Fencing Master,” and a 2000 Listen Up Award for "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and, in 2004, an Audie Award nomination and an AudioFile Earphones Award for “Creating True Peace,” by Thich Nhat Hanh.

He has narrated William Walton's setting of Shakespeare's "Henry V" and played the title role in the world premiere concert performance of Walton's "Christopher Columbus." His recording of "Enoch Arden," the Tennyson/Strauss melodrama, with pianist John Bell Young, was released in 2003 and followed by concert performances in the U.S., England and Sweden.

His numerous travels have enabled York to indulge a hobby: "collecting anything to do with the theater, ballet and opera - costume sketches, scenic designs, the practical things." His wife Pat, the celebrated photographer, is his frequent traveling companion. Pat's photographs have been exhibited all over the world, including Moscow, New York, Belgium, London, Washington, D.C., Cologne and Basel. “Imaging and Imagining: the film world of Pat York” opened at LA’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in September ’03 and traveled to Prague and Mannheim. The two met in 1967 when Pat was assigned to photograph him. Married a year later, they have made their home in Los Angeles since 1976.

York also enjoys writing. "Dispatches from Armageddon: Making the Movie Megiddo" was published in January 2002. Prof. Richard Brown of NYU hailed it as "one of the most readable, literate, and insightful works ever written on the process of making movies." In 2001 he co-authored "A Shakespearean Actor Prepares" (with a longtime colleague, actor/director Adrian Brine) which the ‘Spectator’ magazine reviewed as "A triumph... the most illuminating study of the dramatist since Granville Barker's ‘Prefaces’. It deserves to become a classic." A finalist in the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2001, this book followed his 1991 autobiography "Accidentally on Purpose" (British title: "Travelling Player") of which the Associated Press enthused, "Michael York inherits the mantle of his fellow countryman, David Niven, as a premiere storyteller." His new book is “Are My Blinkers Showing?” about filmmaking in the new Russia (“What a delight” LA Times.)

He also lectures internationally - on Shakespeare, the poetry of Rudyard Kipling and the history and art of acting. His contribution to his profession has been recognized with the award of Britain’s OBE, France's Arts et Lettres and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

York serves as Chairman of the California Youth Theatre that provides a performing arts education for young people. Current plans include developing CYT’s new permanent center in Hollywood and an exchange program with the UK.“It’s all about turning out better citizens, not little starts,” York explains. Recalling that his own life has been shaped and enriched by the theater artists, York enthuses "I just know of his works. It's another kind of ‘gang’ that turns lives around for the better. It’s learning by doing, and obeying that Shakespearean imperative – ‘on your imaginary forces work.’”

Michael York's official Web site is located at www.michaelyork.net.

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