Tributes have been paid to the actor, director and theatre archivist Murray Melvin, who has died aged 90.
Melvin died at St Thomas’ hospital in London on Friday, according to friends.
The actor appeared in the 2004 film The Phantom of the Opera and the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, in which he played Bilis Manger. He enjoyed a distinguished television and film career, working with eminent directors including Ken Russell and Stanley Kubrick.
Melvin rose to prominence as Geoffrey, the gay art student, in Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey, and became an integral member of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop company.
Russell T Davies, the screenwriter, wrote on Instagram: “Murray Melvin (1932-2023), bless him, he played the wonderful villain in Torchwood, Bilis Manger, and he loved it! But what a career!
“He created the great, gay Geoffrey in A Taste of Honey, on stage and on film. Tons of work with Joan Littlewood and Ken Russell. Amazing. Such a gent.”
Davies added: “He lived through a century that saw the understanding of his identity change so profoundly, and he did so with dignity, class and wit.”
The Doctor Who writer also revealed his last communication with Melvin. “His last email to me ended, ‘Take care, we still cannot afford to take chances.’ Oh he was wise,” he penned sweetly, signing off: “Night, Murray.”
Samira Ahmed, the broadcaster, tweeted: “Murray Melvin: actor, director, Theatre Workshop alumnus, archivist and beautiful man, died yesterday. He was 90. I was so lucky to call him my friend. I saw him the day before he died and he was always full of amazing stories from his life. I will miss him so much.”
Kerry Kyriacos Michael, a theatre creative director, wrote on Twitter: “He [Melvin] died at St Thomas’ hospital on Friday, 14 April aged 90. He was one of my closest friends and will be missed by so many of us who had the privilege to know him.”
In 2021, the Guardian reported that the actor had donated the Murray Melvin archive, constituting 136 boxes documenting the story of the Theatre Royal Stratford East from 1884 to 2017, to the British Library.
The vast trove included Joan Littlewood’s cast notes for performances of Oh What a Lovely War! from 1963 and 1964, a doll made by designer Una Collins and used by the actor Fanny Carby in Oh What a Lovely War!, and the programme, script and other material for Clint Dyer’s The Big Life (2005), the first British black musical to transfer to the West End.
Melvin was also the author of The Art of Theatre Workshop (2006) and The Theatre Royal, A History of the Building (2009).
