This red-haired boy soprano and child actor on radio in the 1940s and early 50s became a gawky, gangly romantic lead with an eager, ingenuous charm in British film comedies of the 60s and 70s. Crawford starred in two children's films in the mid-50s, before essaying his first teenage lead in the comedy "Two Left Feet" (1963), as an awkward young man who attempts to seduce a waitress. He followed with a series of charming performances as clumsy, callow young men learning about love in the Richard Lester comedies "The Knack . . . and How to Get It" (1966) and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1966). As Barnaby Tucker, he was tutored in romance by matchmaker Dolly Levi (Barbra Streisand) in the splashy musical "Hello, Dolly!" (1969) and reteamed with Richard Lester to star as an inept British Army officer, who inadvertently kills off all of the members of his unit one by one, in "How I Won the War" (1967).
After starring in the lackluster Olympics film "The Games" and the abysmal love triangle story "Hello-Goodbye" (both 1970), Crawford concentrated on British TV and the London stage where he made a name for himself in the sex farce "No Sex Please, We're British" (1971), the short-lived musicals "Billy" (based on "Billy Liar") and "Flowers for Algernon" (based on the novel of the same name that was the basis of the 1968 feature "Charly"). His energetic, exuberant performance in the boisterous Cy Coleman musical "Barnum" (1981 in London; filmed for the BBC and later aired on PBS in the US) transformed Crawford into a popular musical theater star. His sensitive, archly-romantic portrayal of the tormented, masked antihero of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "The Phantom of the Opera" (1987 in London; 1988 on Broadway) turned him into a musical theater superstar and latter-day matinee idol.
- Also Credited As:
Michael Patrick Dumble-Smith
- Born:
January 19, 1942 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom
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Job Titles:
Actor, Radio performer, Recording artist
Family
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Daughter: Emma Crawford. born c. 1967
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Daughter: Lucy Crawford. born c. 1968
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Father: Arthur Dumble-Smith. shot down during WWII and died six months before Crawford s birth
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Mother: Doris Dumble-Smith. remarried after Arthur Dumble-Smith s death; deceased
Education
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Oakfield School, Dulwich, England
Milestones
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1956 Film debut as star of Blow Your Own Trumpet for the Children s Film Foundation
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1958 Starred in Soap Box Derby made by the Children s Film Foundation
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1961 First adult film role in Two Living One Dead
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1962 American TV acting debut, The Adventures of Sir Francis Drake
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1962 Made West End debut in Come Blow Your Horn at the Prince of Wales Theater
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1963 First adult starring role in Two Left Feet
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1965 Major role in feature, The Knack . . . and How to Get It
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1967 Broadway debut in the double-bill of Peter Shaffer comedies, White Lies and Black Comedy at the Barrymore Theater
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1971 Returned to London stage in sex farce, No Sex Please, We re British
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1974 Played title character in London musical, Billy based on play, Billy Liar
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1979 Starred in London musical, Flowers for Algernon , based on film Charley
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1981 Played title character in the Cy Coleman musical, Barnum in the West End
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1987 Had greatest stage success originating the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber s The Phantom of the Opera in the West End; repeated performance on Broadway the following year
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1988 Song performer ( The Music of the Night ), guest star on TV special, America s Tribute to Bob Hope
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1995 Signed three-year contract to star in EFX at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas; production was recorded
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1996 Left production of EFX after injuring hip (August)
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2002 Returned to Broadway as the star of Dance of the Vampires , a musical based on Roman Polanski s film The Fearless Vampire Killers ; reportedly received a salary of $180,000 per week
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Appeared in the productions Noye s Fiddle and Benjamin Britton s Let s Make an Opera
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Began career as boy soprano
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Had own British TV series, Some Mothers Do Ave Em
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Opened foam cushion business with his wife
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Performed on TV and in over 500 radio broadcasts as a child
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Was a choirboy at St Paul s Cathedral