Alan Stanford (born 1949) is an English-Irish actor, director and writer.[1] He has worked in the theatre for many years, including a 30 year association with the Gate Theatre as both actor and director. He is well known for playing George Manning in the popular Irish drama series Glenroe.
Though originally from Liverpool, Alan Stanford's childhood was spent on the Isle of Wight in the South of England. He was an only child.
He trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Stanford moved to Ireland in 1969 after touring there and eventually became an Irish citizen. As of 2011 became resident in the USA and is based in Pittsburgh.
Stanford's parents were John Stanford and Anne Kirkpatrick who raised him for most of his childhood in the Isle of Wight, however in 2010, aged 61, Stanford discovered that he had been adopted and that he shared a biological mother with six younger children. He has been married twice and has two sons from his second marriage.
He directed for the Irish Theatre Company and many other independent companies. For Storytellers (a theatre company), he directed both The Mayor of Casterbridge and Oedipus.
His work as an actor includes roles from Shaw to Wilde, from Ibsen to Ayckbourn. He received a Harveys Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance as Salieri in Amadeus and was nominated for three further performances – Astrov in Uncle Vanya, Higgins in Pygmalion and Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Stanford's association with PICT Classic Theatre began in 2008 when Andrew S. Paul hired him to direct Salome.[9] Paul later sponsored Stanford's green card and he moved to Pittsburgh.[9] In 2013 he succeeded Paul as executive director and artistic director of PICT.[9] In 2022 he was removed by the board of PICT after the Pittsburgh City Paper published allegations of sexual harassment of actresses,[9][10] which Stanford described as "libellous".[11]