Training and early career Tanner graduated from the
Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art with the Douglas Cup, awarded him by
Margaret Rutherford. He spent five years in northern repertory companies, playing everything from Saint Peter to the front end of a cow in a British pantomime.
Acting career Intimate
revues in
West End of London brought Tanner some notoriety, including an appearance in a sketch by then-unknown
Harold Pinter. Later Tanner played the patsy in
The Birthday Party, opposite Pinter himself, by this time known to everybody. In 1964, he starred in
Strictly for the Birds. He made numerous appearances in plays and variety shows on British television, including a stint as
Puck in ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream'', opposite
Benny Hill's
Bottom. All of this culminated in the role of Littlechap in
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off in London's West End, taking over for author
Anthony Newley. He played the same role in
Warner Brothers' film version of the show. Tanner went to America to assume the lead role in
Half a Sixpence on Broadway, and remained in the U.S. Two more starring roles on Broadway followed: in ''
No Sex Please, We're British'' opposite
Maureen O'Sullivan, and
Sherlock Holmes guest starring with the
Royal Shakespeare Company. Tanner played Iago to
Robert Guillaume's Othello at the
National Sylvan Theater. He had many appearances with top opera companies in the comic roles in
Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Tanner's original one-man show
Charlatan, portraying the Ballets Russes founder
Sergei Diaghilev, was the hit of the
New York International Fringe Festival, and went on to the
York Theatre Royal and London's
King's Head Theatre in 2010.
Directing career As a director, Tanner staged and choreographed five shows on Broadway – including
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, for which he received Best Director and Best Choreographer
Tony Award nominations. His 1981 production of
A Taste of Honey starring
Amanda Plummer was nominated for a
Tony Award for Best Revival in the same season. Tanner directed a number of
Off-Broadway plays as well. Tanner had a theatre company in
Los Angeles to present his own written works. ==Personal life==