Michael Bradshaw (18 April 1933 – 13 December 2001) was an English actor. Early life in England Born in Plumstead, London, he grew up in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire to the north west of London. While growing up there he sang as a boy soprano in the Choir of St John's Church, Boxmoor and began working in non-professional theatre at the Hemel Hempstead Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, now known as the Hemel Hempstead Theatre Company. Once he left school he would train as a type setter and printer for most of his teen years at John Dickinson Stationery Limited's Apsley Mill. In 1950, when he turned 18, he suspended his apprenticeship at John Dickinson's for mandatory service in the British armed forces ("National Service") which he served in the Royal Air Force. Over the next four years he would be stationed at both RAF Ternhill near Market Drayton, Shropshire as well as RAF Little Rissington, Gloucestershire and would reach the rank of Senior Aircraftsman. He would remain a member of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve until 1964. He finished his formal apprenticeship at John Dickinson in August 1956. Canada Bradshaw left Britain for Canada in 1956, initially living in Hamilton and then Burlington, Ontario where he found work as a school supplies salesman before he started working in local theatre, primarily with the Players' Guild of Hamilton. Notable productions there included "Murder in the Cathedral" as Thomas Becket, "The Heiress", "Arms and the Man", "Auntie Mame", "Separate Tables" "Pygmalion" as Henry Higgins, for which he won the Western Ontario Drama Festival Phelps Award for Best Actor in 1958 and Sir Thomas More in "A Man for All Seasons" for which he won the Henry Osborne Trophy for Best Actor in the Dominion of Canada Award at the Dominion Drama Festival in 1965. He also appeared in notable productions for the London Little Theatre in 1964, including My Fair Lady as Henry Higgins and as the title character in "Ross". Bradshaw appeared at the Shaw Festival during its early years, most notably in the 1966 season with Artistic Director Barry Morse. He appeared that year, alongside actors such as Zoe Caldwell, Paxton Whitehead and Susan Clark, in productions of "The Apple Cart" as Pamphilius and "Misalliance" as the pilot, Joey Percival. United States In 1967 he began performing as part of the resident company at the Studio Arena Theater