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added Category:20th-century Canadian male actors using HotCat

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{{Short description|Canadian actor (1907–2003)}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Mervyn Blake
|image = Mervyn_Blake.jpg
|alt =
|caption = [[Spotlight (Casting Services Company)|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
| nationality = [[Canadians|Canadian]]
|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 (London)|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 [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]], [[Michael Redgrave|Sir Michael Redgrave]], and [[Peggy Ashcroft|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}}

{{Authority control}}

{{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 colonial India]]
[[Category:British emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian male actors]]

Mervyn Blake - Revision history

imported>Bearcat: added Category:20th-century Canadian male actors using HotCat