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MICHAEL CRAWFORD
Born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Crawford began his career as a boy soprano in Benjamin Britten’s Let’s Make an Opera. Numerous television appearances and over 500 radio broadcasts later found him the popular star of television’s Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, which, combined with his screen performance in The Knack, earned him the Variety Club Award for Most Promising Newcomer.
Juggling both film and stage careers, Crawford went on to star in the films A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Zero Mostel, Buster Keaton and Phil Silvers, The Jokers, How I Won the War with John Lennon, The Games, Hello and Goodbye, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Condorman. In 1969, he charmed international filmgoers as the juvenile lead, Cornelius Hackl, in the motion picture version of Hello, Dolly! Starring Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau and directed by Gene Kelly, who remained a lifelong friend.
Crawford became a favorite with international audiences during the long-running comedy, No Sex Please – We’re British, which was one of the London stage’s most popular tourist attractions. He later captured the hearts of television audiences as the star of the long-running BBC-TV comedy series, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, which first aired in the ‘70’s and is still being shown – and receiving top ratings – in countries around the world. For this series, Crawford was voted the Funniest Man on Television by readers of the TV Times, and Television Actor of the Year by The Sun.
The Phantom of the Opera marked Michael’s fourth consecutive starring role in a major West End musical. He set himself apart with his exceptional performance on 1987’s international hit album, The Phantom of the Opera (The Complete Original London Cast Recording), whose worldwide sales tally stands at 12 million copies. The album, the first in British musical history to enter the charts at #1, is certified RIAA quadruple platinum in the United Sates.
The Phantom of the Opera solidified Crawford’s position in the hierarchy of entertainment stars in the United States, earning him an astonishing catalogue of critical recognition including Broadway’s Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award and Drama Critics Award. After opening in Phantom on October 9, 1986, he was made an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen, as well as receiving his second Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
After three and a half years as the toast of London, New York, and Los Angeles in the title role of The Phantom of the Opera? Michael Crawford delighted concert-goers in sold-out houses throughout the United States, Australia and Great Britain as the special guest star of The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Crawford’s solo recording career started soon after the opening of Phantom. Songs from the Stage and Screen? both released in the United Kingdom on the Telstar label (reissued by Atlantic Records in 1992) moved quickly, but his next recording, Michael Crawford Performs Andrew Lloyd Webber, released by Atlantic Records in November 1992, proved to be even more of a runaway success having sold more than two million albums worldwide to date. Two years later, Crawford recorded another hit album, A Touch of Music in the Night, on which he sang duets with Barbra Streisand and Patti LaBelle.
In January 2001, the PBS special An Evening with Michael Crawford in Concert aired in the UK. In mid-April, Crawford released an album of Disney songs aptly titled Michael Crawford: The Disney Album in Australia and New Zealand. The album quickly climbed the charts and was certified Platinum by the Australia Record Industry Association marking the first time in 30 years that a Walt Disney recording had achieved this position on the charts. The album was also certified Gold in New Zealand ranking No. 2 in sales. Later that year, a compilation album The Best of Michael Crawford was released in Australia and later reached the Top 10 in sales.
In 2002, Crawford returned to the Broadway stage in the musical comedy “Dance of the Vampires”. In the musical based on the 1967 Roman Polanski film horror spoof “The Fearless Vampire Killers”, Michael played Count von Krolock.
