Jonathan Hardy
New Zealand actor (1940-2012)
Jonathan Hardy (20 September 1940 – 30 July 2012) was a New Zealand-Australian film and television actor, writer and director.
Early life and education
Hardy was born in Wellington, New Zealand on 20 September 1940, to cavalry officer Captain Burnby Hardy and Mary Hardy (nee Philpott). His father was killed by a sniper in Crete that same year, and his mother died when Hardy was only 19.
He began his training at the New Zealand Players' Drama School. He then traveled to Britain, where he studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and was a gold medal student. He also spent time doing vocal study in Spain.
Career
Hardy's acting career lasted for over 40 years, from 1966 to 2012.
Theatre
Hardy preferred to work on the stage. Following his studies in the UK, he attracted interest from the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre where he secured contracts, as well as the Bristol Old Vic and several regional theatres.
He returned to his home in New Zealand in a touring production of The Comedy of Errors with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, and remained to help expand the country's early theatre industry.
The public source identifies “Jonathan Hardy” as new Zealand actor (1940-2012). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Jonathan, Hardy and Zealand.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3087612. VIAF identifies the subject as 230145542732896642071. The Library of Congress control number is nb99092677. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 2012 and 1966.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jonathan Hardy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.