Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne was born on April 5, 1929 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England. He was raised in South Africa and returned to England in the 1950s to act. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1992 (1991 season) for Best Actor for his performance in "The Madness of King George III" at the Royal National Theatre. His performance in "Shadowlands" on Broadway won him the 1991 Tony and New York Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor. In 1999 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2001 he battled a recurrence of pancreatic cancer which was thought to be in remission after surgical therapy. On December 26, 2001 he died of a heart attack in Hertfordshire, England.