Nicol Williamson Dies at 75

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Nicol Williamson, a Mercurial Actor, Is Dead at 75

By BRUCE WEBER
Published: January 25, 2012

Nicol Williamson, a Scottish-born actor whose large, renegade talent made him a controversial Hamlet, an eccentric Macbeth, an angry, high-strung Vanya and, on the screen, a cocaine-sniffing Sherlock Holmes — and whose querulous temperament could make his antics as commanding as his performances — died on Dec. 16 in Amsterdam, where he had lived for more than 20 years. He was 75.

The cause was esophageal cancer, his son, Luke, said Wednesday on the Web site nicolwilliamson.com. “He didn’t want any fuss made over his passing,” Luke Williamson said in an e-mail, explaining the delay in reporting his father’s death. “He was not interested in publicity.”

Mr. Williamson was rarely described as dull, sometimes as uncooperative, more often as unpredictable or tempestuous.

“You don’t know if he’s going to be nice to you or punch you in the mouth,” a fellow cast member in the doomed, 1976 Broadway musical “Rex” said. A young actress who shared the stage with him in 1965 and who spoke to The New York Times said of him: “Drinking, fighting and wenching — God, he’s fabulous!”

Stories of Mr. Williamson’s mischievous, self-indulgent or destructive misbehavior are legion. He once stormed off the stage in the middle of a “Hamlet” in Boston, throwing a wine pitcher and goblet at the back wall before returning a few minutes later (to applause) and apologizing to the audience.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/theat ... at-75.html