Last modified on Tue 27 Apr 2021 07.24 EDT
When he first came to London in 1950, the Australian actor Trader Faulkner, who has died aged 93, was instructed by John Gielgud in rehearsals to “take that dreadful compost out of your mouth, Trader”. He did, sort of, and soon afterwards succeeded Richard Burton in Gielgud’s production of Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning on Broadway, appearing alongside Pamela Brown and Esmé Percy “in the glittering style of artificial comedy.”
That last phrase of the New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson could be as easily applied to Faulkner’s own life in show business. This was an eccentric tapestry of leading and not-so-leading roles, of name-dropping connections, close-up entanglements with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, flamenco dancing, Dorothy Tutin, for whom he reserved an unrequited adoration – they were houseboat neighbours for a time on the Thames at Chelsea Reach – and Maxine Audley.