Valk, Frederick
Valk, Frederick (1901–56),German actor. Born in Hamburg of Portuguese-Jewish extraction, he became leading man of the German-speaking theatre in Prague, where he played many of Shakespeare's protagonists. An actor of great emotional and physical power, he arrived in 1939 as a refugee in England, where on account of his guttural accent he was allowed to play only two of his Shakespearian roles—the outsiders Shylock and Othello. In 1955 he was invited to play Shylock at Stratford, Ontario, by Tyrone Guthrie, who always regretted Valk never played Lear in Britain. He died suddenly at 55 shortly after playing his last Othello in Toronto.
Michael Jamieson
Bibliography
Valk, Diana, Shylock for a Summer (1958)
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