Early career: Repertory One of Neville's first jobs upon leaving drama school was in the
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, where he had been engaged for a summer season by Robert Atkins, lord of Regent's Park. The season included The Ambassador in
King John, the first lord in
As You Like It and Lysander in
The Merchant of Venice. In 1948, Neville's agent found him work at the
Lowestoft Playhouse working in weekly rep where he stayed for three months. However, it was in January 1949 that he soon moved to the prestigious
Birmingham Repertory Company, then located in Station Street, under the pioneering leadership of
Sir Barry Jackson. During his time in the city, Neville lived in the leafy town of
Sutton Coldfield. Amongst the company of actors were
Douglas Campbell,
Eric Porter,
Donald Pleasence and Caroline Hooper. A holiday to France with Hooper soon developed into a relationship, with Neville proposing to Caroline at the end of September and getting married before Christmas at
St Mary's Church, Moseley with
Eric Porter as best man. The couple left in 1950, returning to London and buying a home in the
Wood Green area. Neville was then offered the chance by
Denis Carey to work at the
Bristol Old Vic in their repertory company, where he won acclaim for playing Marlow in
She Stoops to Conquer, the Duke in
Measure for Measure, the title role in
Henry V, Slim in
Of Mice and Men, and PC Tom Blenkinsop in the actor's first stage musical,
Christmas in King Street. He left the Bristol Old Vic in 1952.
The Old Vic in
Romeo and Juliet, 1957 Fortuitously, soon after Neville arrived in 1953,
the Old Vic, under the directorship of Michael Benthall, decided to stage all of Shakespeare's plays in five years. In his first official season, Neville was cast as King Henry V and then not long after, as Fortinbras opposite Richard Burton who was playing Hamlet for the first time. This was soon followed up with Bertram in ''
All's Well That Ends Well and then the Dauphin in King John''. By 1954, having now played Macduff opposite
Paul Rogers's
Macbeth and Berowne in ''
Love's Labour's Lost, Neville took the lead role of King Richard II in an acclaimed production of Richard II'' where, on the first night, he received a record of 23 curtain calls, with
Virginia McKenna as his Queen Anne. By now, Neville had established himself as a
matinee idol and a
West End star of the 1950s, later hailed as "one of the most potent classical actors of the
Richard Burton–
Peter O'Toole generation". In a pre-
Beatles age, Neville, according to
The Times had, "Alongside Richard Burton, achieved a kind of romantic superstardom in Shakespeare unfamiliar since the prewar times of Olivier and (in America)
John Barrymore)". In 1956, he and Burton famously alternated the parts of Othello and Iago in
Othello. Further parts that season included Troilus (and later Thersites) in
Troilus and Cressida directed by
Tyrone Guthrie and as Romeo in
Romeo and Juliet, directed by
Robert Helpmann, with his Juliet being played by
Claire Bloom. He later reprised the role of Romeo on American television for the anthology series ''
Producers' Showcase''). In the final season of the five-year plan at the Old Vic, Neville played the part of Hamlet, with
Judi Dench as his Ophelia, in what was her first professional performance after leaving drama school. This was followed up by Angelo in
Measure for Measure and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in
Twelfth Night. The productions of
Hamlet and
Twelfth Night toured Paris, Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, the United States and Canada. The visit to Canada would be Neville's first introduction to the country he would later call home years later. During his time at the Old Vic, the young Neville was known for his classical good looks and mellifluous voice, and regularly described as
John Gielgud's natural successor; this was a comparison Neville later revealed to Gielgud's biographer
Jonathan Croall he hated. In 1959, for a while, Neville took over the leading role of Nestor Le Fripé from
Keith Michell in the original West End production of the musical
Irma La Douce, with
Elizabeth Seal as Irma. He later played the title role in
Macbeth at the
Nottingham Playhouse, directed by
Peter Dews. He returned to the London stage for a brief period in 1963, playing the title role in
Alfie by
Bill Naughton, but by then his theatrical commitment lay outside London.
Nottingham Playhouse In 1961, with Neville's weekly pay declining from £200 to £50, he joined the
Nottingham Playhouse, becoming joint artistic director with
Frank Dunlop and
Peter Ustinov when the current Playhouse opened in 1963. Neville starred as the
Duke of Marlborough in the
BBC2 serial
The First Churchills (1969), a major television role which also maintained his international profile when the show was broadcast as the very first
Masterpiece Theatre series in the United States in 1971. He received good reviews in the musical adaptation of
Lolita, called
Lolita, My Love, which closed in Boston.
Move to Canada With his family, Neville left Britain for Canada in 1972, becoming a citizen there. He devoted his later career to the Canadian theatre. He took up the post of artistic director at the
Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta (1973–78), and later took similar positions with the
Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1978–83) and other Canadian theatre companies, including as artistic director of the
Stratford Festival of Canada from 1985 to 1989, while continuing his acting career. Director
Terry Gilliam cast Neville as the lead in
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). In the film, Neville plays the character at three different stages of his life; in his 30s, his 50s and his 70s. From 1995 to 1998, Neville had a prominent recurring role in
The X-Files television series as the
Well-Manicured Man, and in 1998, he reprised the role in the feature film,
The X-Files. Although he made numerous other television appearances and occasional film roles, the main focus of Neville's career was always on the theatre. In his later years, Neville had numerous cameo appearances in films, including primate of the Anglican Church in Australia in
The Man Who Sued God and an admiral in the Earth Space Navy in
The Fifth Element. He had a small role as Terrence in
David Cronenberg's
Spider (2002). Around the same time, he appeared with
Vanessa Redgrave in the film adaptation of
Crime and Punishment (also 2002). In 2003, Neville performed a stage reading of
John Milton's
Samson Agonistes, with
Claire Bloom at Bryn Mawr College at the behest of poet
Karl Kirchwey. He appeared in an episode of the soap opera
Train 48 (2005) as the grandfather of Zach Eisler, who was played by his grandson
Joe Dinicol. Neville was appointed a Member of the
Order of Canada in 2006. ==Personal life==