Malcolm Morrison obituary

My friend Malcolm Morrison, who has died of cancer aged 73, will be remembered by many former students of the Rose Bruford College, a drama school in Sidcup, south-east London – where he was head of the acting programme for six years – and by amateur performers all over Britain.

One of three children, Malcolm was born in Eastbourne, East Sussex, but stayed with family in Scotland during the second world war, and was raised after the war in Derbyshire. After a brief stint in the Derbyshire constabulary, Malcolm completed the three-year diploma course in theatre at the Rose Bruford College in 1964, after which he led a hectic freelance life teaching and directing at the City Literary Institute, for the British Drama League and many other amateur theatre organisations.

In 1970 he returned to the Rose Bruford College as head of the acting programme, and in 1976 was headhunted by the North Carolina School of the Arts to become their new dean. He had a transformative effect on that institution over the 13 years of his tenure. In 1989, after a brief diversion to the National Theatre Conservatory in Denver, he became chairman of the department of theatre and dance at the University of Wisconsin, where he instituted the professional theatre training programme.

In the mid-1990s, he was asked to advise the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut, on its plans to expand the curriculum into other areas of the performing arts, the school up to that time having been almost exclusively a music conservatoire. In 1998, he was made dean of the Hartt School, where he concentrated on integrating of the music, theatre and dance divisions. He was the prime mover in the creation of the school’s $ 21m (£13m) performing arts centre, which opened in 2008. He stepped down as dean the following year, but continued to teach verse and phonetics at the school as well as directing major productions.

A brilliant and inspirational teacher, he was a gifted director who worked with professional companies throughout the US. His productions of Shakespeare were notable for their clarity and elegance and won him several awards. He directed Michael Frayn’s Noises Off for the Hartford Stage Company and, just before his death, Twelve Angry Men at Northern Stage in Vermont. He was the author of two invaluable books for young actors, Clear Speech (1977) and Classical Acting (1995), which have remained in print since their first publication.

Malcolm was a wonderful raconteur whose stories improved with age and telling, and he inspired great love and loyalty among his friends, colleagues and students. He is survived by his wife, Johanna, a daughter, Niki, and a much-loved granddaughter, Jennifer.

Malcolm Morrison obituary