{{Short description|British writer (1916–2007)}} {{about|the English poet|the Irish hurler|Paul Roche (hurler)|the American football coach|Paul Roach}} {{Use British English|date=August 2011}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} '''Donald Robert Paul Roche''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɔː|ʃ}};<ref>Margalit Fox, Paul Roche - Obituaries - The New York Times, November 25 2007</ref> 26 September 1916 – 30 October 2007) was a British poet, novelist, and professor of English, a critically acclaimed translator of Greek and Latin classics, notably the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Sappho, and Plautus. Born in Mussoorie, India, Roche was an associate of the Bloomsbury group, especially of painter Duncan Grant, whom he met in the summer of 1946 and who lived with Roche and his family until Grant's death in 1978.
He used his translation of Sophocles', ''Oedipus Rex'', to write a screenplay for a film version of the work released in 1967 with Christopher Plummer in the title role. Roche played a small role in the Greek chorus.<ref>{{IMDb name|0733972}}</ref>
==Personal life== Roche was educated at Ushaw College.<ref name="auto">Sophocles (1958), ''The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles'', trans. Paul Roche, New York: New American Library, back cover.</ref> He was ordained as a priest in 1943. He earned his PhB and his PhL (Licentiate in Philosophy) at the Gregorianum,<ref name="auto"/> but left the priesthood in the 1950s. Married twice, he was a father of four children with his wife, Clarissa Tanner, whom he divorced in 1983, and one son from a prior relationship with Mary Blundell.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1568663/Paul-Roche.html|title=Paul Roche|website=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref><ref name="auto1">Spalding, Frances. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/paul-roche-399419.html Paul Roche]. The Independent. 8 November 2007.</ref>
Significantly, he also had a long relationship with Duncan Grant. He did not get along with Grant's companion (and the mother of Grant's child) Vanessa Bell. Roche returned to England from New York to be with Grant after Bell's death, eventually joined by his entire family. Tanner came to accept Grant's role in Roche's life, although sexual relations between Roche and Grant cooled off out of respect for Tanner.<ref name="auto1"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/arts/25roche.html ''New York Times'' obituary] *[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1568663/Paul-Roche.html Obituary of Paul Roche, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 8 November 2007] *[https://findingaids.smith.edu/repositories/3/resources/1326 Michael and Betsy Kraft collection of Paul Roche papers] at the Mortimer Rare Book Collection, Smith College Special Collections
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Paul}} Category:1916 births Category:2007 deaths Category:20th-century British poets Category:20th-century British novelists Category:20th-century British translators Category:20th-century British male writers Category:Bisexual male writers Category:British LGBTQ poets Category:British LGBTQ novelists Category:British male poets Category:British male novelists Category:British LGBTQ academics Category:Translators from Ancient Greek Category:20th-century British LGBTQ people