James Laurenson dead: Coronation Street & The Crown star dies aged 84 as tributes pour in for ‘something special’ actor
A CORONATION Street star has died aged 84 after a stellar five-decade career - including gay kiss scene with Ian McKellen.
James Laurenson, who moved to Britain from his native New Zealand in the early 1960s, worked in theatre, television and film.
He made his film debut in 1969 with a small part in Ken Russell's Women In Love.
In 1970 he made television history in Christopher Marlowe's Edward II as Piers Gaveston, performing tele's first gay kiss with Sir Ian McKellen.
Sir Ian once said kissing James, who was not gay, “was a bonus throughout the run”.
He appeared on Coronation Street in May 1968 as the Reverend Peter Hope of St Mary's Church.
Read More On Coronation Street
THE CROWN
In The Crown he appeared as Doctor Weir - a Scottish physician and homeopath who served as Physician Royal.
James became a regular in productions by the Peter Hall Company after it was created in 1998.
Hall said he was "a great actor, because he had that Everyman quality. All great actors carry with them this quality: when they walk on the stage they do it for us."
In 2011 he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his appearance as the Ghost and the Player King in Nicholas Hytner’s production of Hamlet.
Normally a speech-heavy role, one reviewer said James helped make "the play-within-a-play into a moving tragedy-within-the-tragedy”.
And Stephen Sondheim sent an ecstatic email singling out James' performance.
He wrote: "When I found myself crying at the Ghost scene, I knew that something special was happening to me (Mr Laurenson gets my gold medal).”
EARLY LIFE
James was born at Marton on New Zealand's North Island on February 17, 1940.
He once told how his earliest memory was "seeing a Lockheed Hudson flying over our house and being told that my father was in it".
His dad was also a keen amateur actor.
When James first arrived in London, after attending Canterbury University College in Christchurch, James said "the first thing I learnt is that it is really hard to find work and be offered scripts".
He added: "You have to have a passion for acting – Hollywood might come knocking but on the other hand you may spend vast amounts of the time unemployed.”
