For his role as the dedicated revolutionary leader Pasha Antipov in
Doctor Zhivago (1965), he was nominated for a
Best Supporting Actor award, being beaten out by
Martin Balsam. On the set of that film Courtenay met and befriended
Rod Steiger, the two remaining close friends until the latter's death in 2002.
Despite being catapulted to the verge of stardom by the aforementioned films, Courtenay's star began to wane in the late 1960s, and he reverted primarily to stage work and
character roles. His best known film role after the 1960s is probably in
The Dresser (from
Ronald Harwood's play of the same name, in which he also appeared) with
Albert Finney. He won a nomination for
Best Actor in the 1984
Academy Awards for that role, losing to
Robert Duvall.
He played the father of Derek Bentley (
Christopher Eccleston) in the 1991 film
Let Him Have It.
In 1998 he teamed with
Albert Finney again for the acclaimed BBC drama
A Rather English Marriage.
In 2000 his memoir
Dear Tom: Letters From Home was published to critical acclaim. It comprises a selection of the letters exchanged between Courtnenay and his mother Annie Eliza Courtenay, interspersed with his own recollections of life as a young student actor in London in the early 1960s.
In 2003 he appeared on the
West End stage again in the one-man show
Pretending To Be Me, as
Philip Larkin. Tom Courtenay is the President of
Hull City A.F.C.'s Official Supporters Club. In 1999 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by
Hull University.
He played the title role in
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich 1970 film.
He played the title role in
The Domino Man, a radio play broadcast (and repeated) on
BBC Radio 4. Also for Radio 4, the part of God was played by Courtenay in Ben Steiner's 2003 play "A Brief Interruption".
He was knighted in 2001.
He is the subject of the song "Tom Courtenay" by
Yo La Tengo.
He appears in the 2007 film
Flood, a disaster epic in which
London is overwhelmed by floods.
