Valentine Anthony Neil "Tony Van" Bridge CM (28 May 1917 – 20 December 2004) was a British television and theatre actor and director.
Early life
editBridge was born in London, the son of Arthur Stanley Bridge, a lighterage contractor, and his wife Edith Christina Maud Drane.[1] His grandfather, Arthur Bridge, was a coal merchant.[2] He first appeared as a child actor at the age of ten, and enrolled aged 19 at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[3][4]
Career
editBridge worked for fifteen years with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and thirty years with the Shaw Festival.[5] He was interim artistic director at Shaw for the 1974–75 season.[6]
On 27 April 2000, Bridge was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his services to the performing arts.
Personal life
editBridge married Kippe Cammaerts, an actress, just before the Second World War. They had two children, Pieter and Michael. While he was away during World War II, his wife met Jack Morpurgo and started a relationship with him. Bridge returned to England in 1946 and shortly thereafter decided to emigrate to Canada. [7]
Bridge had three further children in Canada – Shona Bridge, David Cheyne and Peter Cheyne.[8]
Bridge died 20 December 2004 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. He was survived by his ex-wife Stacey and predeceased by his second wife Elizabeth Bridge and his first wife Kippe Cammaerts.[9]
Television (partial)
edit- The Quatermass Experiment (1953), producer
- The Avengers (1961), Henry Burge
- Playdate (1961–62)
- "Masterpiece" (1961), Raiyler
- "Love Story 1910" (1962), Inspector Dew
- "Great Expectations" (1962), Magwitch
- "The Old One" (1962) (and writer)
- Mission: Impossible (1969), Erhard Poltzin
- A Population of One (1980)
References
edit- ^ "Arthur Stanley Bridge 1889–1976", ancestry.co.uk, accessed 9 June 2024 (subscription required)
- ^ 1911 United Kingdom Census, 1 Eglantine Road, Wandsworth, accessed 9 June 2024 (subscription required)
- ^ "Tony van Bridge, 87: Actor won stage acclaim". thestar.com. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ van Bridge, Tony (2 August 1998). "Dialogue: Tony van Bridge" (Interview). Interviewed by Richard Ouzounian. TV Ontario. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ "Tony van Bridge acting credits". Stratford Festival Archives. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ Bridge, Tony Van (1995). Also in the Cast: The Memoirs of Tony van Bridge. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press. ISBN 0-9699478-0-1.
- ^ "Michael Morpurgo; Jean Webb". Michaelmorpurgo.org. 23 May 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ "Valentine A. N. "Tony" VAN BRIDGE". ObitsforLife.com. 20 December 2004. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ "MORPURGO Catherine Noel Kippe of 12 Laurence Mews Askew Road London died 16 February 1993" in Probate Calendar (England and Wales) (1993), Grid K14
