Rodney Diak(1924-2007)
- Actor
Rodney Diak, who was once described by Queen Elizabeth II's sister,
Princess Margaret, as "the most handsome actor in Britain", began his
London stage career with Sir Michael Redgrave and the Old Vic Company
in Love's Labours Lost, at the New Theatre, London, in 1949. He
appeared with Redgrave and the Old Vic Company again, also in 1949, in
She Stoops to Conquer, and in 1952 appeared before the Queen and
Princess Margaret as Sebastian in Twelth Night. He made his UK
television debut in 1952 with Donald Pleasence in Arrow to the Heart.
In 1955, he appeared with Rachel Kempson, Ian Bannen and the young and
then unknown John Osborne in Tony Richardson's UK television series,
The Makepeace Family Business, in which he played Oswald Makepeace.
During the 1960s, he played the male leads in a number of long-running
London stage hits, including Goodnight Mrs. Puffin (1961-1963) and
Busybody (1964-1965), both with Irene Handl. He wrote and staged three
of his own plays: Fanfaronade (1955), A Hat Hung on Cupid (1960) and
Mother and Daughter (1992). Diak's dark Latin good looks sometimes
counted against him. Dirk Bogarde vetoed his casting in the pivotal
role of Charles Darnay in Bogarde's 1958 film, A Tale of Two Cities,
allegedly because he considered Diak too good-looking and liable to
deflect attention from the star of the film - himself.
