{{Short description|Canadian actor (1907–2003)}} {{Use British English|date=March 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person |name = Mervyn Blake |image = Mervyn_Blake.jpg |alt = |caption = Spotlight photo by Angus McBean, 1936 |birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|11|30|df=y}} |birth_place = Dehradun, India |birth_name = Mervyn Alexander Clifford Blake |death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|10|9|1907|11|30|df=y}} |death_place = |other_names = |known_for = |occupation = actor |awards = Order of Canada }}
'''Mervyn Alexander Clifford Blake''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (30 November 1907 – 9 October 2003) was a Canadian stage actor.
Blake was born in Dehradun India, where his father worked as a railway executive.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bbb22d3a0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213315/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bbb22d3a0|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 June 2021|title=Mervyn Blake|website=BFI}}</ref> After his family returned to England, he fell in love with theatre and attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1933.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/mervyn-blake/|title=Mervyn Blake — RADA|website=www.rada.ac.uk}}</ref> He made his professional theatre debut in 1933 at the Embassy Theatre in London. At the start of World War II, he joined the British Army as a driver, and was present at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp liberation in April 1945, an experience which haunted him for the rest of his life.<ref name=globe20031016>{{Citation|last=Lawlor|first=Allison|title=Father figure to the Canadian stage|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=16 October 2003|page=R11}}</ref>
After the War, he was an acting company member at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon from 1952 to 1955.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/2eq/mervyn-blake|title=Mervyn Blake | Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref> During this time, he worked with prominent actors such as Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir Michael Redgrave, and Dame Peggy Ashcroft.<ref name=ashley1999>{{cite book|last=Ashley|first=Audrey M.|date=1999|title=With Love from Butch: A Stratford Actor|publisher=AB Collector Publishing|isbn=9781895466102}}</ref>
In the mid 1950s, he and his wife Christine Bennett moved their family to Canada, following British acting colleagues Tony Van Bridge and Powys Thomas. He joined the acting company at the Stratford Festival of Canada in 1957, where he stayed to perform in 111 productions over 42 consecutive seasons. In 1988, he performed in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, making him the first company member to perform in the entire canon of Shakespeare's plays.<ref name=globe19570703>{{Citation|last=Whittaker|first=Herbert|title=Twelfth Night scores with Guthrie version|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=3 July 1957|page=1}}</ref><ref name=globe19690531>{{Citation|last=McCracken|first=Melinda|title=Behind the faces at the Stratford Festival|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=31 May 1969|page=21}}</ref><ref name=journal19921128>{{Citation|last=Nicholls|first=Liz|title=The Bard's plays are Blake's thing; Shakespearean veteran slips into disappearing role in 'As You Like It'|newspaper=Edmonton Journal|date=28 November 1992|page=B2}}</ref><ref name=record19971128>{{Citation|last=Kelly|first=Anne|title=Actor is 90 years young: Mervyn Blake has no plans to retire from a distinguished acting career|newspaper=The Kitchener Waterloo Record|date=28 November 1997|page=A19}}</ref>
Blake was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in 1995.<ref name=globe19950630>{{cite news|author=Canadian Press|title=Order of Canada honours announced by Governor General|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=30 June 1995|page=A3}}</ref><ref name=citizen19951118>{{Citation|last=Kennedy|first=Janice|title=Order of Canada: At 87, Mervyn Blake may be the oldest working actor in Canada; The grand old man of Canadian theatre|newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen|date=18 November 1995|page=C1}}</ref> He died in 2003 at a nursing home in Toronto following a long illness.<ref name=playbill20031013>{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Kenneth|title=Mervyn Blake, a Mainstay at Canada's Stratford Festival for 42 Seasons, Dead at 95|newspaper=Playbill|date=13 October 2003|url=https://www.playbill.com/article/mervyn-blake-a-mainstay-at-canadas-stratford-festival-for-42-seasons-dead-at-95-com-115720}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|id=0086656|name=Mervyn Blake}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Mervyn}} Category:1907 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Canadian male stage actors Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Male actors from Dehradun Category:British people in British India Category:British emigrants to Canada Category:20th-century Canadian male actors