We first met in the early 1970s, at the Old Vic. Nick had named parts, I was "as cast". He was quite the most beautiful man I had ever seen, gallingly handsome and awesomely athletic. Olivier's company had hit after hit and Nick was in most of them, notably; Jumpers, The Misanthrope, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Equus.
After the Old Vic Nick went with The Misanthrope to Broadway. The 1980s was a period of sustained and brilliant success. Movie after movie; Zulu Dawn, The Darwin Adventure, Evil Under The Sun, Alexander The Great, Lady Chatterley's Lover and, of course, Excalibur. He wore a lot of armour in this period but that comes with heroic acting and Nick did that with epic braggadocio and elan. He could swash a buckle.
On television he was the Earl of Southampton in Shakespeare and starred inVirtual Murder, Picture Of Dorian Gray, The Three Musketeers and co-starred with Brian Protheroe in Gentlemen And Players; "Brian Protheroe," wrote Nancy Banks-Smith, "looks as if he's been pressed between the leaves of a book. Nicholas Clay looks like he's been hit over the head by a brick." He loved quoting that. Self-deprecation was not a problem.His stage work continued. There was a world tour of She Stoops To Conquer. At Chichester, he played in The Confederacy and A Month In The Country, opposite Dorothy Tutin.
Nick was born in Streatham to Rose and Bill Clay, a Royal Engineers sergeant. After a nomadic army childhood the family settled in Kent. There is a clan of Clays in Kent with no tradition of theatre or the performing arts. Dan Willis, a teacher at Upbury Manor School, kick-started Nick's love of theatre and he was soon performing with the Little Medway Theatre Club. He would later become its patron. But the defining moment was seeing Leo McKern in Peer Gynt at the Old Vic. The dye was cast. He worked as a hod carrier for two years to pay his way through the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and, in later years he would become an associate, active in development and fundraising work.
Nick married Lorna Heilbron in 1980 and they had a daughter, Ella. After the Old Vic we had drifted apart a bit. Our friendship rekindled and developed at about the time of the birth of their second daughter, Madge, 14 years ago. They had been visiting Gillian Barge at her cottage in Suffolk since the Vic days. and now I was there as her partner. Nick loved nature and he loved that place. It suited his spiritual and practical sides. He was a very practical man, a collector of tools that he could use expertly. His favoured charity was The John Muir Trust For The Conservation Of Wild And Open Spaces. Lately he was terrific as Ernest in Design For Living. It transferred from the Donmar to the Gielgud. Last year he appeared in Max Gold's 50 Revolutions at the Whitehall. It was interesting, experimental stuff. He was a regular in Channel 4's Psychos and quite the most interesting drama series of last year. He was doing a lot of teaching at the Actors Centre and the Academy Of Live And Performing Arts.
Nicky, my dear friend, faced his illness with enormous bravery, as I knew he would, withoutself pity, sentimentality or "why me?" anger. He was open and candid about it and he was thrilled when he heard that his old school was naming its new arts facility the Nicholas Clay Centre. He was a lovely man and I am a better person for having known him. At the end of Le Morte D'Arthur, Sir Ector Maris addreses the corpse of his friend and brother, Launcelot: Thou were the courtiest knight that ever bare shield; and thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrode horse. and thou were the kindest man that ever strake with sword; and thou were thegoodliest person ever came among the press of knights. . . Then there wasweeping and dolour out of measure" He is survived by his wife Lorna, daughters Ella and Madge and his mother, Rose.
Clive Merrison
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© 2000 Clive Merrison & Dan Townsend