Actor Michael York has thrilled audiences since his debut film, The Taming of the Shrew, with the illustrious Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as his co-stars in 1967. He was only 25 years old at the time, but that film set hearts aflame across the world and won him instant stardom.
Michael York first appeared on March 27, 1942 in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, England where he was born. As a lad at Bromley Grammar School, he showed an interest in theatre and appeared in a production of Yellow Jacket in 1956. This led to his getting a small part in the big West End production of Hamlet as a member of the Youth Theatre. As a youngster he toured with the National Youth Theatre prior to his receiving a degree in English from University of Oxford in 1964.
The following year York joined the National Theatre under the direction of film and stage star Laurence Olivier. It was there he first met Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, who cast him in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in 1965. Then, it was Zeffirelli’s fateful casting in the Taylor-Burton Taming of the Shrew in 1967 which changed York from an unknown stage actor to an international film star. He followed that hit with another box-office smash of Paramount’s, Romeo and Juliet (1968), co-starring with Leonard Whiting as Romeo, Olivia Hussey as Juliet, and he as Tybalt.
By the time we interviewed the very pleasant Mr. York a few years ago, he had already starred with musical icon Liza Minnelli in the Oscar®-winning Cabaret (1972), the trilogy The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1975), and The Return of the Musketeers (1989), as well as the sci-fi smash Logan’s Run (1976). In 1997 he starred as Basil Exposition in Mike Myers’ hilarious comedy Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and in the sequels Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and won new fans.
As he told this reviewer, the distinguished actor loves doing comedies.
“Oh, yes, I love comedy. It gives me a change of pace. It makes it very grand to have this ‘trilogy’ of Austin Powers films behind me!”
Obviously, young people love these movies and it gives York a whole new audience. “Yes, it does,” he admits. “It’s quite astounding when some little kid comes up tome at an airport quoting lines from my films. And he says them better than I do!”
One of York’s favorite films was Borstal Boy (2000). The World War II-era story focuses on a 16-year-old IRA soldier who gets sent to jail for attempting to set off a bomb in Liverpool. Once he’s in prison, he learns to love his English enemies by having a romantic fling with the warden’s daughter and a gay inmate named Danny.
“Borstal Boy is a film made in Ireland based on the life of Irish author Brendan Behan,” explained York. “It’s about his rough and tumble youth. It was in the borstal that Behan encountered a very enlightened school director who encouraged him to write. Out of this very unpromising beginning a great writer was born.”
“I play the director of the borstal,” said York. “ I loved the film and it’s charming. American actor Shawn Hatosy played Behan as a youngster. He did a fantastic job.”
We couldn’t let York get away without saying a few words about Cabaret, his most famous film, and his co-star Liza Minnelli. He played the part of a sexually-confused man in 1930s Berlin.
“He was sort of bisexual and didn’t go all the way,” York explained. “It was quite risque for those times. I think, in retrospect, it was daring. It didn’t seem to me to be at the time. It was only afterwards people asked me if I had concerns about playing a gay man. I said, ’Well no, this is my job.’ As an actor you play humanity, every sort of character. Later I thought it was a bit of an advance at such a time.”
He enjoys playing different characters totally unlike himself.
“I have always hated to be pigeonholed,” he continued. “I think that’s one thing I an say about my career: I’ve always tried to bring the changes and not get identified with any one type.”
He was nominated for an Emmy in 2001 for his guest-starring role on the television series The Lot, a spoof about Hollywood in 1937.
What does an Emmy nomination do for an actor’s career?
“I have no idea,” he said with a laugh. “I suppose it’s a mark of distinction. I think a lot of people on the show were pleased because they didn’t have the benefit of taking out huge ads in the trade papers. It was very nice. Alas, I didn’t get it.”
York has no qualms about moving into more mature roles.
“Well, we go on and we mature. That’s the great thing about it,” he said. “You look forward to what comes next. Doors close behind you—maybe such as the juvenile roles on which I had a good run, let it be said— now more mature roles are coming my way.”
