(Benedict Nightingale’s article appeared in The New York Times, 11/27; via Pam Green. Listen to a BBC interview with Jonathan Miller.)
Known for his radical restagings of classic works, Mr. Miller was also a doctor who periodically left the stage to practice medicine.
LONDON — Jonathan Miller, the British theater and opera director known for his radical restagings of classic works, died on Wednesday at his home in London. He was 85.
His death was confirmed by his son William Miller, who said his father had had Alzheimer’s disease.
Although he was best known as a director, Mr. Miller was a man of many talents and regularly called a Renaissance man, although he disliked the term, which he said was almost invariably used “by people unacquainted with the Renaissance.”
He first achieved fame as an actor in the anti-establishment revue “Beyond the Fringe,” a hit in both London and New York. He went on to win acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic for his productions of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Mikado” and other works. He also produced and hosted television shows.
Most unusually, he was a medical doctor, with a special interest in neurology; he occasionally left the theater to practice medicine. But his absences — as, for instance, a research fellow in neuropsychology at the University of Sussex in 1983 — never lasted long.
Photo: The New York Times
