Adrian, Max

Adrian, Max [ Max Bor] (1903–73), Irish-born actor who first came into prominence during a season at the Westminster Theatre in 1938, when he played Pandarus in a modern-dress Troilus and Cressida and Sir Ralph Bloomfield Bonnington in Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma. He was then with the Old Vic company, and in 1944 joined Gielgud's repertory company at the Haymarket Theatre, playing, among other roles, Tattle in Congreve's Love for Love. He was however an instinctive revue artist, and appeared successfully in Light and Shade (1942), followed by Tuppence Coloured (1947), Oranges and Lemons (1948), Penny Plain (1951), Airs on a Shoestring (1953), and Fresh Airs (1956). He was seen in Coward's Look after Lulu (1959), and in 1960, as a founder member of Peter Hall's RSC, gave outstanding performances as a malevolent Machiavellian Cardinal in Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, and a hauntingly melancholic Feste in Twelfth Night. One of his finest characterizations was the tetchy, wily, egotistical Serebryakov in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya at the 1963 Chichester Festival. Later the same year he joined the National Theatre company, his roles including the Inquisitor in Shaw's Saint Joan. His one-man shows, on Shaw in 1966 and on Gilbert and Sullivan in 1969, brought him further renown. Adrian was that rare phenomenon in the theatre, a brilliant and fantastic individualist who could nevertheless fit easily into a company.