- Born
- Died
- Height1.83 m
- Kenneth Haigh was an English actor who broke new ground with his original interpretation of Jimmy Porter, in John Osborne's 1956 play "Look Back in Anger". The play was to fundamentally change English theatre and coined the phrase used to describe Osborne (and later other contemporary playwrights) by the British Press as an "Angry Young Man". The following year, Haigh took the performance to Broadway, but the already established film credentials of Richard Burton saw the lead role change hands for the 1957 film adaptation. The role of Jimmy Porter came relatively early in Haigh's career and some commentators have argued that what followed in the next 50 years was something of an anti-climax for him. Apart from Porter, one of his best known roles was that of Joe Lampton in the TV series Man at the Top (1970), and the subsequent spin-off film Man at the Top (1973). Sadly, tragedy struck Haigh in 2003 when he swallowed a bone whilst eating in a restaurant in London's Soho. Deprived of oxygen his brain function was damaged and he was confined to a nursing home up until his death in 2018.- IMDb mini biography by: Jon C. Hopwood
- SpouseMyrna Stephens(1974 - 1985) (divorced, 1 child)
- He spent the final 15 years of his life in a care home after suffering brain damage when he choked on a chicken bone in a restaurant which caused oxygen starvation to his brain.
- The son of a coal miner.
- Set the precedent for British "angry young man" roles when he originated the part of "Jimmy Porter" on stage in "Look Back in Anger" in 1956. Richard Burton played the character in the 1959 film.
- Studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London., which during Haigh's time was sited at the Royal Albert Hall.
- Best known on screen for his commanding roles in "Man at the Top" as Joe Lampton, on TV from 1970 to 1972 and the 1973 feature, and the series, "The Search for the Nile" (1971) as explorer Richard Francis Burton.
- You need three things in the theatre--the play, the actors, and the audience--and each must give something.
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