English-South African actor Nigel Hawthorne was BOTD in 1929. Born in Coventry, he grew up in South Africa during the apartheid regime, studying briefly at the University of Cape Town before returning to England to pursue an acting career. He made his West End debut in 1962, and after years as a jobbing actor, joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1970s. He became a household name on television, playing the devious under-secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister, winning four BAFTA awards for the role. Its success opened the door to film roles in Gandhi and Demolition Man and he earned an Oscar nomination playing King George III in the 1994 film of Alan Bennett’s play The Madness of King George. Discreetly gay, he was horrified when pre-Oscar publicity revealed his long-term relationship with Trevor Bentham. He weathered the storm, attending the ceremony with Bentham, and became one of the very few openly gay actors working in the 1990s. He played the sissy Georgie Pillson to perfection in the 1987 TV adaptation of E. F. Benson’s Mapp and Lucia novels, and had an amusing cameo as a gay sugar daddy in Hollywood rom-com The Object of My Affection, based on Stephen McCauley’s novel. In 1991, he won a Tony Award for playing C. S. Lewis in Shadowlands, though lost the film role to Anthony Hopkins. He died in 2001, aged 72. His memoir Straight Face, detailing his struggles to accept his sexuality, was published posthumously.