Obituary: Nick McCarty

BY NICK MCCARTY
Anthony (Tony) Cornish, television producer, radio drama producer, theatre director and Teacher, died on July 5th 2005... Born in Walthamstow in the East End in 1935 his father was a pianist in various dance bands. Wanting to give his son the best start in life and knowing that ‘Standard English’ (Received Pronunciation) was a necessity at that time, Alf took Tony to meet Dick Williams who ran the speech and theatre department at the Walthamstow Educational Settlement. Learning to speak ‘properly’, performing in plays gave Tony the most immense pleasure and all his spare time was spent at The Settlement. He always said that it was his experience there that led him to the professional theatre.

When he left school, he found a job in the BBC Record Library and when his turn came to do National Service he began his radio career as a broadcaster for Forces Broadcasting whilst stationed in Austria.

After demob he looked for a job in the theatre trade paper - The Stage – and went to an interview at The Spotlight Offices in Cranbourn St. where aspiring, importuning actors were given the opportunity to meet Producers from Regional Repertory Theatres who had jobs to bestow. This led to an offer of the job of Stage Manager at Gainsborough Rep in Lincolnshire. The company did a different play every week and had only one set of scenery. After finishing each Saturday’s performance the whole company would dismantle the set, paint it a different colour and erect it in a different formation to be ready for next week’s play. The organisation and direction of this task was in the remit of the Stage Manager’s job and Tony must have been good at it; within four weeks the name of his job was changed to ‘Stage Director’ - the next rung on the ladder! He still supervised the Saturday task, however and his salary remained the same; £4.50 per week.

Two weeks later and he was directing his first play – still for £4.50 – and when he applied for and was appointed to the post of Theatre Director at the Chesterfield Civic Theatre, he was thrilled.

The repertoire he chose in Chesterfield was ambitious, including as it did a lavish, traditional pantomime for three weeks at Christmas, which allowed two weeks to rehearse the Shakespeare play which followed. At that time, two week’s rehearsal was riches indeed and one actor voiced his fear that he wouldn’t know what to do after one week! Most importantly, it was in Chesterfield where he employed an actress, Linda who would become his wife. She recalls that under the generous tutelage of his Directing style, she experienced herself growing into a better, more accomplished actress.

Eventually, he moved into the BBC Radio Drama Department and was Head of Radio Drama in the Midlands which is where we first met. Over forty years ago I had written my first radio play and Tony produced it... Even then I began to learn from him for he was a consummate teacher.

Tony was a man of the theatre and so many actors, writers and directors owe their careers to his enthusiasm, his honesty and his willingness to take time with them in the early days of their professional lives.

He was a teacher who brought to the table an urgent need to feel that those he was dealing with came with equal enthusiasm. He had no time for the lazy or the hucksters. And he brought this rigour not only to the professional casts he worked with but also to the amateurs whose work he adjudicated all over the world, for which he received a prestigious award in Monaco, and to the undergraduates at Tufts University, Massachusetts, where he taught drama over a period of thirty years.

They were lucky indeed to have been taught and directed by a man who was not only a practitioner but also had an academic background that informed his work on stage, in a radio studio and in the classroom. He was always fully informed by his copious research on any play and could answer the actor’s questions with wit and understanding.

His notes to actors on their performances and to writers on their texts were vivid and perspicacious.

Many of his American students, some from as long ago as the1970’s, on hearing of his terrible illness, have e-mailed and telephoned to discover what they can ‘do’.
One designed a web-site to which others have posted beautiful, loving anecdotes and reminiscences of Tony’s classes and productions and others have sent photos – it can be found at www.celebrate-tony.com . Sadly, Tony himself was unable to look at it or even to grasp the concept of a web-site, but it has brought huge comfort and support to Linda and to Simon Cornish, their son.

There were no half measures with Tony. Last time he and I worked together on radio was on a Unique Broadcasting production of ‘Shane’ for the BBC. As it was being recorded in New York, he wanted an authentic American cast and he could arrange that with comparative ease. But he also wanted the very best, most unique voice he could find to play the narrator of the story. He decided on Howard Keel and whilst the NY ‘show-biz’ pundits told him that it was “……. hardly likely that Howard Keel would want to take part in a radio play for the BBC……” he backed his hunch.

They were wrong, Tony was right and Howard Keel played the role to perfection.

Tony’s life with his partner, wife and dearest friend, Linda was extraordinary. They had such a mutual respect one for the other. Often apart but always together, there was such a remarkable closeness between them and their son, Simon, that those of us who knew them were always delighted to spend time in their company. Their deep sense of loyalty and love towards each other and their friends, constantly reminded us of the gifts Tony gave to us all. The rigorous sense of what was right, the elegant ease and essential good manners which were so much a part of him and the infectious passion for his work – all this made us better at what we do.

Even in his last dark days when he was unable to speak and really did not know who his visitors were, he was unfailingly polite and never revealed that he did not know the person sitting with him until they had left. Then he might ask “And who was that person….. so kind…so kind of them to come. Who was that….?” They would never know he did not remember.

There is one image of Tony that sums him up for me. He was visiting us in France and we’d all gone to Biarritz for lunch. We were sitting in a fish restaurant near the harbour. The sun was high and glittering on the huge confection that stood on our table. Fruits de Mer in a glittering profusion; crabs and langoustines, clams, lobster, oysters, mussels hidden in a cascade of seaweed and ice…And behind this mountain of crustaceans Tony; eyes flashing with delight and lifting a glass of wine before we all tucked into the feast. And the smile…so warm, so happy and so obviously affirming that life, at that very moment, was very very good.

Anthony Cornish will be much missed by Linda and Simon, by friends, by colleagues and by those of us who had the good fortune to be taught by him.