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Emerging onto the British show-business scene as a boy soprano, Michael Crawford sang in the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral. Though he made a fleeting film appearance in 1950, Crawford would not become a full-fledged professional until dropping out of high school at age 15. His first important film assignment was the 1958 kiddie-matinee programmer Soap Box Derby. He enjoyed a flurry of film activity in the mid- to late '60s, playing such singing roles as Hero in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and Cornelius Hackel in Hello, Dolly! (1969). The best of his non-musical film appearances during this period was as the fatally ineffectual Goodman in How I Won the War (1967). His British TV-series assignments have included Sir Francis Drake (1962), Some Mothers Do Have 'Em (1974-1979), and Chalk and Cheese (1979). A familiar presence in West End theatrical productions from 1965, Crawford made his musical comedy bow as star of the London production of +Barnum!. In 1988, he won a Tony award for his portrayal of the title character in Andrew Lloyd Webber's +Phantom of the Opera. Michael Crawford has since performed the score of +Phantom, along with selections from other Lloyd Webber hits, as a solo concert artist. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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