Renowned actor and theatre director Raymond Hawthorne dies aged 88

By RNZ Actor and theatre director Raymond Hawthorne has died aged 88. Hawthorne became a member of the country’s first major professional theatre company – the New Zealand Players – in 1955, and two years later he was granted a bursary to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He founded Auckland’s Theatre Corporate in 1974, and was appointed director of Mercury Theatre in 1985, where he directed many plays, operas and musicals .

He subsequently acted in and directed several Auckland Theatre Company productions..