'Shakespeare in Love' Actor Antony Sher Dies at 72; Helen Mirren Expresses 'Devastation'

Acclaimed Shakespearean actor Antony Sher died Thursday at 72 following a battle with cancer, THR reports.

Sher's husband, Royal Shakespeare Company artistic director Gregory Doran had taken a leave of absence from that post to care for him after Sher's terminal diagnosis earlier in 2021.

Born June 14, 1949, in Cape Town, South Africa, he moved to the U.K. as a young man to pursue acting as a study and as a career. He had been a Royal Shakespeare Company member since 1982.

Sher's fame as an interpreter of the Bard escalated in 1984 with a production of "Richard III" and achieved mythic proportions with his skilled tackling of "Henry IV," "The Winter's Tale," "The Merchant of Venice," "Othello," "Macbeth," and "King Lear."

He was equally adept at non-Shakespearean stage roles, including everything from "Death of a Salesman" to "Torch Song Trilogy." He was Tony-nominated for "Stanley" in 1997, and again appeared on Broadway in 2005 when he starred in "Primo," which he adapted from Primo Levi's Auschwitz memoir "If This Is a Man."

His last stage work was in 2019's "Kunene and the King," in which he played an actor diagnosed with cancer.

Along with the British series "The History Man" (1981), his film work included "Yanks" (1979), "Superman II" (1980), "Alive and Kicking" (1996), "Mrs. Brown" (1997), and Best Picture Oscar winner "Shakespeare in Love" (1998).

Dame Helen Mirren shared on Friday, "I am devastated to hear of the death of Antony Sher. The theater has lost a bright light." She recalled that in the '70s, prior to his fame, she was in a production with Sher and was awestruck by his talent. "I read the first words of our scene together and he answered. I raised my eyes above the pages to look at him more precisely, as with simply those minimal words I immediately realized I was opposite a great actor."