Derek Jacobi

Derek Jacobi was a British actor best known for his stage roles, but also for many notable big- and small-screen performances. He was born in Leytonstone, London, to a working class family, and attended Leyton Sixth Form College where he joined the drama club, the Players of Leyton. The sixth form's production of Hamlet went to the Edinburgh Fringe, following which Jacobi won a scholarship to the University of Cambridge to read history. He played many roles while at the university, where Ian McKellen and Trevor Nunn were also students at the time. Laurence Olivier noticed the...