Renowned Shakespearean actor, author and playwright Sir Antony Sher dies of cancer at 72

Acclaimed Shakespearean actor Sir Antony Sher has shuffled off this mortal coil at the age of 72. The cause was cancer.

One of the leading actors of his generation, the Capetown, South Africa, native was an honorary associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which confirmed his passing on Friday.

“Antony was deeply loved and hugely admired by so many colleagues,” the Stratford-upon-Avon-based organization said in a statement. “He was a ground-breaking role model for many young actors, and it is impossible to comprehend that he is no longer with us. We will ensure friends far and wide have the chance to share tributes and memories in the days to come.”

Gregory Doran, Sher’s husband since 2005, took leave from his role as the Royal Shakespeare Company’s artistic director in September to care for him. Sher was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier this year.

Sher, who moved from South Africa to Britain in the late 1960s to study drama, joined the RSC in 1982 and had a breakthrough role in the 1984 production of “Richard III.”

He went on to earn praise for his portrayal of Shakespeare’s most meaty male roles, including Leontes in “The Winter’s Tale,” Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice,” Iago in “Othello,” Falstaff in the “Henry IV” plays, and the title characters in “Macbeth” and “King Lear.”

Considered a pillar of British theater, Sher also performed his first West End starring role as a drag artist in Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy,” which won him the 1985 best actor Olivier Award jointly for “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Richard III.”

He won his second Olivier for playing artist Stanley Spencer in Pam Gems’ “Stanley” at the National Theatre. The production’s 1997 Broadway run gained him as a Tony Award nomination and a Theater World Award.

Sher last appeared on The Great White Way in 2005′s “Primo,” which he adapted from Primo Levi’s Auschwitz memoir “If This is a Man” into a one-man stage show.

Knighted in 2000 for his services to the arts, Sher wasn’t only recognized for his acting prowess.

Offstage, he was a painter and author. His multiple books include the theatre journals “Year of the King,” and “Woza Shakespeare!” (co-written with Doran), four novels including the 1988 international bestseller “Middlepost,” three plays, a television screenplay and his memoir “Beside Myself.”

His film and television appearances include “Mrs Brown,” “Alive and Kicking,” “The History Man” and J.G. Ballard’s “Home.”

Sher’s final starring role for the Royal Shakespeare Company was 2019′s “Kunene and The King” by South African actor and playwright John Kani.

The critically acclaimed play‘s plotline revolved around a cantankerous old actor diagnosed with liver cancer, looked after by a Black South African caretaker who comes out of retirement to do the job.

The production transferred to London’s West End in January 2020 before shuttering due to the COVID-19 pandemic two months later.

“Both Tony Sher and I were born when our country South Africa was the worst place a child could be born let alone to be raised by parents who worked very hard to prepare their children for a difficult future — Apartheid South Africa,” Kani said in a statement Friday.

He continued: “By the Grace his God and my Ancestors, like Romeo and Juliet, we found each other in 1973. We travelled together as compatriots, comrades in the struggle for a better South Africa, as fellow artists and we both had the [honor] of celebrating together twenty-five years of South Africa’s Democracy in my latest play Kunene and the King. I am at peace with you my friend and myself. Exit my King.”