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Letters: Trader Faulkner obituary theguardian.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theguardian.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Died: April 14, 2021. ON and off stage, Trader Faulkner, who has died aged 93, conveyed an element of panache. Actor, flamenco dancer, translator, broadcaster, stage director and journalist, when he was acting his unblinking eyes could blaze intensely. Never slow to share recollections of those he knew and acted with, including John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and his own mentor, Peter Finch, he made his mark. Born and raised in Australia, and making his career in Britain, Faulkner became an authority on aspects of Spain. Overlooking Olivier’s admonishment that “British actors don’t dance, baby”, he learned flamenco because he believed that “how an actor moves is as important as his voice in establishing a character”.
Last modified on Tue 27 Apr 2021 07.24 EDT
When he first came to London in 1950, the Australian actor Trader Faulkner, who has died aged 93, was instructed by John Gielgud in rehearsals to “take that dreadful compost out of your mouth, Trader”. He did, sort of, and soon afterwards succeeded Richard Burton in Gielgud’s production of Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning on Broadway, appearing alongside Pamela Brown and Esmé Percy “in the glittering style of artificial comedy.”
That last phrase of the New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson could be as easily applied to Faulkner’s own life in show business. This was an eccentric tapestry of leading and not-so-leading roles, of name-dropping connections, close-up entanglements with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, flamenco dancing, Dorothy Tutin, for whom he reserved an unrequited adoration – they were houseboat neighbours for a time on the Thames at Chelsea Reach – and Maxine Audley.