Biography
Martyn Sanderson (1938–2009) was a New Zealand actor, writer and director. He co-founded Wellington’s Downstage Theatre in 1964 and was a member of the Blerta theatre and music collective in the 1970s. He appeared in 26 feature films and numerous television productions over three decades.
Sanderson played the Vicar in Geoff Murphy’s Utu (1983). His other screen credits include Frank Sargeson in An Angel at My Table (1990), the Gate Keeper in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), and roles in the Hercules television series. He also directed the feature Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree (1990).
In 2005 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and theatre. He received a New Zealand Film Award for best supporting actor for An Angel at My Table and a Tokyo International Film Festival screenplay award for Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree.
