Stephens's first professional engagement was with the
Caryl Jenner Mobile Theatre, which he followed in 1951 by a year of more challenging parts in
repertory at the Royalty Theatre,
Morecambe, followed by seasons of touring and at the Hippodrome,
Preston. London director
Tony Richardson saw a performance at the Royalty; this led to an offer of a place in the "momentous" first season of
English Stage Company at the
Royal Court in 1956. Stephens appeared in two versions of
Epitaph for George Dillon on Broadway during the 1958-59 season for which he received a nomination for the
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Stephens's early films included
A Taste of Honey (1961), Stephens played
Atahuallpa in the original 1964
National Theatre production of
The Royal Hunt of the Sun. He and Smith appeared together on stage and in film, notably in
The Recruiting Officer at the
Old Vic and the film version of
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969. Although Stephens continued to work on stage (notably in the
National Theatre's
The Mysteries in 1986), film (
The Fruit Machine (1988), and as the Master of an Oxford college in an episode of
Inspector Morse). He was awarded the
Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1993 for Best Actor, for his performance as Falstaff. Stephens provided the voice of
Aragorn in the 1981
BBC Radio serialisation of
The Lord of the Rings. In 1985, he directed the British premiere production of
Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by
John Patrick Shanley at the
Gate Theatre, London. Stephens was
knighted as a
Knight Bachelor in the
1995 New Years Honours List "For services to Drama". ==Personal life and death==