the doctor & the valeyard
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Peter Capaldi was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Nancy (Soutar) and Gerald John Capaldi. His parents owned an ice cream business. He is of Italian (from his paternal grandfather), Scottish, and Irish descent. Capaldi attended drama classes and was accepted into the Glasgow School of Art. After graduating he secured his breakthrough role in Local Hero (1983). Prior to becoming an actor he also worked as a graphic designer for BBC Scotland TV.
Peter was announced as the Twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who (2005) on 4th August 2013 on a BBC special programme. He had to hide it from his daughter who remarked to him why it is his name never came up during the buzz. It was a huge relief not to have to keep the secret anymore. His agent called and said "Hello Doctor" when informing him he had gotten the part.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Soundtrack
Tall, gaunt, and particularly effective in horror and drama films, British actor Julian Sands was born in Otley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, to Brenda and William Sands. He came to the attention of NBC when the network cast him in the TV miniseries The Sun Also Rises (1984) and then with Anthony Hopkins in the television film A Married Man (1983). Sands also got noticed for his very small roles in Privates on Parade (1983) and The Killing Fields (1984). It wasn't until his funny and romantic role opposite Denholm Elliott in A Room with a View (1985) and then his unusual role in Gothic (1986) that he garnered audience acclaim.
He continued work on screen in Vibes (1988), Impromptu (1991) and Steven Spielberg's Arachnophobia (1990), until his most remembered role as Warlock (1989), directed by Steve Miner. The film was a major success and he returned for the sequel, Warlock: The Armageddon (1993). Other credits include Naked Lunch (1991), Tale of a Vampire (1992) and the title role in Dario Argento's The Phantom of the Opera (1998). Sands has more recently been in Stephen King's Rose Red (2002) and was occasionally seen on the English stage.
Sands disappeared on January 13, 2023 after going for a hike near the Mount Baldy area of California's San Bernardino Mountains. Local authorities and search and rescue teams conducted over six weeks of multiple ground and aerial searches, which were unsuccessful. On June 24, 2023, hikers near Mount Baldy discovered human remains. On June 27, 2023, local authorities confirmed the remains to be those of Sands. He was 65 years old.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Having worked extensively in film, theatre and television in both the UK and the US, and on location in many parts of the globe. Bruce Payne (Writer, Director, Producer, Actor, 1st A.D.) was born in London Town and is a much-loved and respected talent recognized around the world. Known in the Industry as the consummate professional. Mr P, Originally trained at RADA where he was awarded the Edmund Gray Award for High Comedy (Mr Payne won 7 awards in total), went on to refine his craft on stage and in feature films such as, Privates on Parade with John Cleese, Oxford Blues with Rob Lowe Ally Sheedy and Pip Torrens. Absolute Beginners alongside Sade and David Bowie and erstwhile collaborator Steven Berkoff. (Theatre:-"West and Greek") Executive Produced Lowball for Director Demian Lichtenstein. Known for playing Charles Rane, in action-thriller Passenger 57 opposite Wesley Snipes, and also for his roles in, Highlander: Endgame, Dungeons & Dragons and Kounterfeit with Hilary Swank. Bruce also starred in For Queen and Country with Denzel Washington and Switch with Ellen Barkin and Pyrates with Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. Mr Payne has also starred in the psychological drama One Point O, which was well received at Cannes. as well as the live action feature film Steal, with Natasha Henstridge and Stephen Dorff and has also starred in Douglas Aarniokoski's Highlander: Endgame, with Christophe Lambert, Dungeons & Dragons alongside Jeremy Irons, Thora Birch and Marlon Wayans. Other film credits include Kevin Hooks ' Passenger 57, Apocalypse with the late Richard Harris. For Julien Temple starring in Absolute Beginners and the Neil Young: Over and Over again. Also starring in The Brothel, with Yvonne Sciò. For the Great Blake Edwards in Switch, with Ellen Barkin and Kounterfeit with Hilary Swank. Television credits include leading roles in the Micheal Gambon, 'Wilde' and 'Smart Money' for the BBC, plus Simon West's 'Keen Eddie' and 'Tales from the Crypt' for HBO. London West End Theatre credits:- include Steven Berkoff directed productions of West and Greek, and the lead in Nicholas Hytner's Alice, as well as playing Frank-N-further in the Rocky Horror Show. Bruce can be seen with Jon Voight, Ethan Hawke and Selena Gomez in; Warner Bros 'Getaway' and in the French Foreign Language Film Victor Young Perez, based on the true story of World Champion Victor Perez, for director Jacques Ouaniche. For director Stephen Reynolds' film Vendetta and Jonnie Malachi's film Breakdown and for award winning writer director Layke Anderson in his film 'Shopping' and the film Antwerp Dolls, whom Bruce is collaborating further with the production company with: Bharal (2025). For director Zaia, with ArtUniverse, 'Creators: The Past', as well as playing a main Acting role, Mr Payne is also the Co-Producer and 1st A.D. to the director, working with the talents of Pete Antico, William Shatner, Gérard Depardieu, in Italy. Bruce's passion for documentaries, has lead him to find time to Produce and Executive story edit, 'The Boy Who Never Came Home', which is a harrowing true story. In 2022 Mr Payne is seen in the well received 'Nemesis' alongside Billy Murray. 2023 'The Stoic' for Jonathan Eckersley, Scott Wright, Neil and Jennifer Jones. In 2024 Bruce; continues his longtime collaboration with Director, Varo Venturi, with various Film, Television, Web and Music Projects. Also in collaboration with Mimmo Fontanella, Author and Cinematographer on a special evocative, supernatural project, which mixes past and present encompassing the moving tale of Giuditta Guastamacchia.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Matt Smith is an English actor who shot to fame in the UK aged 26 when he was cast by producer Steven Moffat as the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC's iconic science-fiction adventure series Doctor Who (2005).
Matthew Robert Smith was born and raised in Northampton, the son of Lynne (Fidler) and David Smith. He was educated at Northampton School For Boys. He studied Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. He got into acting through the National Youth Theatre and performed with the Royal Court and the National Theatre.
Smith made his television debut in The Ruby in the Smoke (2006) and won several further roles on television but was largely unknown when he was announced as the surprise choice for the role of the Eleventh Doctor in Doctor Who. He was younger than any other actor to have taken the role (Peter Davison was previously the youngest, aged 29 when he was cast in 1981). Smith starred in 49 episodes of Doctor Who (three short of his predecessor, David Tennant). He left in the momentous 50th anniversary year of the Doctor Who legend in 2013, which included starring in the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor (2013), which found him acting with Tennant, guest star John Hurt and the oldest living and longest-serving actor to play the Doctor, Tom Baker.
Since leaving Doctor Who, Smith has launched himself into a film career.- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Dan Stevens was born at Croydon in Surrey on 10th October 1982. His parents are teachers. He was educated at Tonbridge School and trained in acting at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He studied English Literature at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Whilst he was a Cambridge undergraduate, he acted in several student drama productions. He played the title role in the Marlowe Dramatic Society's production of William Shakespeare's play, "Macbeth". This was staged at the Cambridge Arts Theatre from Tuesday 26th February to Saturday 2nd March 2002. The cast also featured Rebecca Hall in the roles of Lady Macbeth and Hecate. During one of his university summer holidays in August 2003 he went to Slovakia where he filmed his scenes for the Hallmark production of Frankenstein (2004). Dan played the part of Henry Clerval and the mini-series was first broadcast on American television on 5th October 2004. Shortly after graduating from Cambridge Dan was nominated for an Ian Charleson award for his performance as Orlando in "As You Like It" at the Rose Theatre at Kingston in Surrey. "As You Like It" was directed by Peter Hall and ran from 30th November to 18th December 2004. This production for the Peter Hall Company subsequently went on a tour of America in the early months of 2005, playing at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, the Curran Theater in San Francisco and the Harvey Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. It featured Rebecca Hall in the role of Rosalind.
Dan was reunited with the director Peter Hall when he played Claudio in a new production of the Shakespeare play, "Much Ado About Nothing", for the Peter Hall Company at the Theatre Royal in Bath from 29th June to 6th August 2005. In February 2006 Dan played the parts of Marban and Maitland in a revival of Howard Brenton's controversial play, "The Romans in Britain", directed by Samuel West at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. Then in May 2006 he played Nick Guest, the protagonist in The Line of Beauty (2006). This three part television mini-series was adapted by Andrew Davies from the 2004 Booker prize winning novel by Alan Hollinghurst. The Line of Beauty (2006) is about Nick Guest's relationship with his university friend Toby Fedden. The story takes place in the 1980s. It is set against the backdrop of Margaret Thatcher's free market economic policies and the spread of the acquired immunity deficiency syndrome, (AIDS). These two social developments directly affect the characters in the story because Toby's father Gerald is a Conservative member of parliament and Nick is homosexual.
Whilst The Line of Beauty (2006) was being broadcast on BBC television, Dan was appearing as Simon Bliss in the Noël Coward play, "Hay Fever". This play was staged at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London from 11th April to 5th August 2006 and the cast also included Judi Dench in the role of Judith Bliss. At the end of the year Dan played Lord Holmwood in a television dramatization of Dracula (2006), which was broadcast on 28th December 2006. In 2007 Dan played the part of Michael Faber in Miss Marple: Nemesis (2007), an Agatha Christie adaptation with Geraldine McEwan in the role of Miss Jane Marple. He also featured in the cast of Maxwell (2007), a television drama about the famous newspaper magnate. Maxwell (2007) was first broadcast on British television on 4th May 2007. David Suchet played Robert Maxwell, and Dan took the part of Basil Brookes, one of the press baron's financial directors.
Dan played the part of Edward Ferrars in a television dramatization of Jane Austen's novel, Sense & Sensibility (2008). This was broadcast in three episodes on BBC1 between Tuesday 1st and Sunday 13th January 2008. The novel was adapted for television by Andrew Davies, whom Dan had previously worked with on The Line of Beauty (2006). Davies felt that the part of Edward Ferrars was underdeveloped in the book, and so he deliberately added scenes not included in the novel to help draw out the character. So, for instance, we saw Edward out horse riding on the Norland estate and chopping logs at Barton Cottage. In the DVD audio commentary Dan joked that this was the best example of log chopping ever seen on British television! After Sense & Sensibility (2008), Dan featured in the cast of "The Tennis Court", a BBC Radio 4 Saturday play broadcast on 19th January 2008. He also played Nicky Lancaster in a revival of the Noël Coward play, "The Vortex", at the Apollo Theatre in London from Wednesday 20th February to Saturday 7th June 2008. This was another collaboration with the stage director, Peter Hall. Dan played the eponymous hero of "Dickens Confidential", a six part radio drama series set in the 1830s which imagines what might have happened if Charles Dickens had continued his career as a journalist. This was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between Monday 9th June and Monday 14th July 2008. He played the part of Peregrine in 'Orley Farm', the BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial. This was a three part adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope broadcast between Sunday 28th December 2008 and Sunday 11th January 2009. A month later he played Duval in the BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour drama, 'The Lady of the Camellias'. This was broadcast between Monday 2nd and Friday 6th February 2009.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Widely considered as one of the greatest stage and screen actors of his generation both in his native Scotland and internationally, David Tennant was born David John McDonald in West Lothian, Scotland, to Essdale Helen (McLeod) and Sandy McDonald, who was a Presbyterian minister. He is of Scottish and Ulster-Scots descent. When he was about 3 or 4 years old, he decided to become an actor, inspired by his love of Doctor Who (1963).
He was brought up in Bathgate, West Lothian and Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland and was a huge fan of the band The Proclaimers. He attended Paisley Grammar school and while there he wrote about how he wanted to become a professional actor and play the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (1963).
He made his first television appearance (which was also his first professional acting job) when he was 16, after his father sent some photos of him to a casting director at Scottish television. He also attended a youth theatre group at weekends run by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now renamed the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). When he was 16 he auditioned for and won a place at the academy; the youngest student to ever do so, and started as a full time drama student when he was 17.
He worked regularly in theatre and TV after leaving drama school, and his first big break came in 1994 when he was cast in a lead role in the Scottish drama Takin' Over the Asylum (1994). He then moved to London where his career thrived. Among other significant factors of his prolific artistic course, he spent several years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and became famous from his lead roles in TV dramas Blackpool (2004) and Casanova (2005).
In 2005, his childhood wish came true. David was cast to play the role of the Doctor in Doctor Who (2005) alongside Billie Piper, after Christopher Eccleston decided to leave. Playing the Doctor made him a household name and a sex symbol, being voted "Sexiest Man in the Universe" by readers of The Pink Paper and 16th Sexiest Man in the World by a Cosmopolitan survey. Since leaving the series in 2010 his career has continued to rise, with lead roles in films, TV series and theatre.- Actor
- Producer
Vance is best known for his lead role as Frank Martin in Transporter: The Series. Vance is also remembered for his role as Whistler in the FOX series Prison Break and Jack Gallagher in the FOX series Mental as well as others.
Bit of background... Vance was born unto a very loving Irish family and raised in the UK. He signed youth football contracts with West Bromwich Albion and Bristol Rovers, donned his skimpy shorts and tromped his way around more muddy pitches in mid-winter than he should have, given his present state of enlightenment.
Vance graduated from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with an honors degree in Civil Engineering, passing tests that he probably couldn't pass anymore, and yet he is generally more proud of a blurry recollection that he played for an England Students football team somewhere along the way.
Vance embarked on his acting career at age 25, and was breathtakingly awful in his first role, that of Paris in a production of Romeo & Juliet in Oxford. When he wasn't engaged in delivering lines that one can count on one hand, he was firmly committed to moving furniture around the stage for other actors to sit on. If he knew then what he does now, he might surely have questioned his efforts, but the draw of storytelling in all its forms draws a deep cut in Vance, thus to this day he still persists...
Next up Vance firmly, wholeheartedly, and most passionately butchered numerous roles on the London Fringe and in small Reparatory Theatres, grasping experience where it was badly needed. During this time he also launched his own theatre company, writing, directing and producing plays. Fond note: The company was funded, for the most part; by him selling anything and everything that could be considered personal possessions, in compensation for the dire lack of bums on theatre seats.
Vance's efforts, or solid determination, were rewarded with him landing his first real gig at the Royal National Theatre in a touring version of the play "Closer." After treading the back-stages of Europe and Russia for several months, Vance returned to London for a role in the play "Speer," by David Edgar, once again at the National Theatre, under the ever-treasured guidance of Sir Trevor Nunn.
Good times... but not enough for Vance, who ventured further thus...
He made his British television debut in a show called Kavanagh QC. Such was his bearing on the industry at the time, that Vance was more than enthusiastic when called upon to appear stark-naked for a less than critical one-liner in the story. To clear up any misunderstanding, Vance was keen to work, but not keen to liberate his tackle on a cold London set, that should have been a 'closed' London set. But no harm done... the leading actress, the grips, the gaffers, camera, lighting, make-up ladies, and caterers all got more than they bargained for in his humble opinion.
Vance also made guest appearances in the British television shows Peak Practice, The Bill, Doctors and Family Affairs.
At about age 30 Vance moved to Australia and performed in several television series there, including Stingers, Blue Heelers and The Secret Life of Us. His first series-regular role in TV was Dr. Sean Everleigh in the medical drama/soap All Saints, in which Vance performed from 2005 to 2007.
Somewhere around then Vance also relished a small role in the feature Macbeth, directed by the very talented Jeffery Wright.
In 2007 Vance moved to the U.S. when he booked a regular role in the third and forth seasons of the (afore mentioned) hit TV series Prison Break, for 20th Century Fox in which he played James Whistler within a cast of peers who outdid him entirely.
The following year, Vance landed his first leading role in TV, playing Dr. Jack Gallagher in Mental, for Fox, which was filmed in Bogota Columbia.
In 2011 Vance was approached to play Frank Martin in the television series based on the Transporter films created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Not one to turn down a challenge, especially one filled with fast cars, pretty women and snappy one-liners, Vance embarked on the adventure and brought his own take on the character of Frank to the fast-paced action series.
In between leading roles, Vance has also guest-starred on Fairly Legal, Burn Notice, Dexter, Rizzoli and Isles, Supergirl, Hawaii 5-O, and Bosch, most often because he loves what he does and cherishes the people he meets along the journey...
Due to the COVID pandemic and the years 2020/21, Vance was Vaccinated, locked himself in his home outside LA and got stuck into writing a passion project that has been on and off for many a year; a series of novels bound firmly in historical fiction and fairy-tale.- Christopher Eccleston trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and first came to public attention as Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It (1991). However, it was a regular role in the television series Cracker (1993) that made him a recognizable figure in the United Kingdom. He appeared in the low-budget thriller Shallow Grave (1994), and in the same year, won the part of Nicky Hutchinson in the epic BBC drama serial Our Friends in the North (1996). It was the transmission of the latter series on BBC Two that really made him into a household name in the United Kingdom. In his film career, he has starred as a leading man alongside a number of major actresses, such as Renée Zellweger in A Price Above Rubies (1998), Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (1998), and Cameron Diaz and Jordana Brewster in The Invisible Circus (2001), and Nicole Kidman in The Others (2001).
In addition to his successful film career, he has continued to work in television, appearing in some of the most challenging and thought-provoking British dramas. These have included Clocking Off (2000) and Flesh and Blood (2002) for the BBC and Hillsborough (1996), the Iago character in a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's "Othello", and the religious epic The Second Coming (2003), playing Steve Baxter, the son of God. His stage career, while not as extensive as his screen credits, has nevertheless shown him to be a formidable actor. He has given intense, focused performances in such plays as "Hamlet", "Electricity" and "Miss Julie", for which he received excellent reviews.
A very highly regarded actor, Eccleston has twice been nominated in the Best Actor category at the BAFTA Television Awards, the British premiere television awards ceremony. His first nomination came in 1997 for Our Friends in the North (1996). Although he didn't win those awards, however, he did triumph in the Best Actor categories at the 1997 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and the Royal Television Society Awards, winning for Our Friends in the North (1996). He won the RTS Best Actor award for a second time in 2003, this time for his performance in "Flesh and Blood". In 2005, he received the Most Popular Actor award in the National Television Awards for starring in Russell T. Davies's re-imagining of Doctor Who (2005). - Actor
- Soundtrack
An imposing figure (standing at 6'3") with intense, penetrating eyes and possessed of a larger-than-life personality, the actor George Raymond Stevenson began life as one of three sons, born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, to a British pilot in the Royal Air Force. Raised near Newcastle in England after the family relocated, he initially studied art and worked for some time as an interior designer. However, after seeing a play with John Malkovich at the West End, Stevenson became inspired to study drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. By the time of his graduation in 1993, he had already made his debut on the stage at the Barbican Theatre in London in the plays Temptation and Revenger's Tragedy.
He made his first recurring screen appearances in the TV crime drama Band of Gold (1995) (acting alongside his future wife Ruth Gemmell) and as DI Tony Baynham in the BBC procedural police series City Central (1998), which was briefly touted as a rival to The Bill (1984). Though Stevenson first attracted international attention as a dependable Knight of the Round Table in the motion picture King Arthur (2004), it was his charismatic performance as the rascally, hedonistic soldier Titus Pullo in HBO's historical series Rome (2005) which truly put him on the map.
More vigorous or pugnacious warrior roles soon came his way, beginning with a starring turn as the titular anti-hero vigilante Frank Castle in the ultra-violent Punisher: War Zone (2008), for which Stevenson put himself through strenuous martial arts and weapons training under the direction of U.S. Force Reconnaissance (FORECON) Marines. Among his subsequent gallery of colourful characters were the powerful Asgardian warrior Volstagg in Marvel's Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017); the relentless enforcer Redridge in The Book of Eli (2010); an Irish mobster challenging the Cleveland Mafia for control of the city's criminal underworld in Kill the Irishman (2011); Porthos, one of the The Three Musketeers (2011); the much feared Blackbeard in Starz's excellent swashbuckling Black Sails (2014), and the enigmatic Anglo-Saxon missionary and explorer Othere in Vikings (2013).
Stevenson reserved one of the most compelling performances for the strangely sympathetic Russian gangster Isaak Sirko, chief antagonist in season seven of Dexter (2006), overshadowing even that of the star Michael C. Hall (definitely no mean feat!). Add to that another acting standout as the obsessed, revenge-driven Commander Jack Swinburne in the German-produced World War II drama series Das Boot (2018).
Having first joined the Star Wars universe as a voice actor (the Mandalorian Gar Saxon in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008)), Stevenson was later cast in the villainous role of dark Force user Baylan Skoll doing battle with the indomitable Ahsoka (2023) Tano (Rosario Dawson), complete with orange/red lightsaber. Stevenson said in a 2020 interview that he had drawn much of his inspiration from veteran tough guys like Lee Marvin and Gene Hackman: "Never a bad performance, and brave and fearless within that caliber. It was never the young, hot leading man; it was men who I could identify with."
Tragically, this supremely accomplished and charismatic actor died in Italy on 21 May 2023 while filming Cassino in Ischia, in which he was cast as a fading movie action hero attempting to revive his career. At the time of his passing he was just 58.- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of stage, screen and TV's finest transatlantic talents, slight, gravel-voiced, pasty-looking John Vincent Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in Shirebrook, a coal mining village, in Derbyshire, England. The youngest child of Phyllis (Massey), an engineer and one-time actress, and Reverend Arnould Herbert Hurt, an Anglican clergyman and mathematician, his quiet shyness betrayed an early passion for acting. First enrolled at the Grimsby Art School and St. Martin's School of Art, his focus invariably turned from painting to acting.
Accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1960, John made his stage debut in "Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger" followed by "The Dwarfs." Elsewhere, he continued to build upon his 60's theatrical career with theatre roles in "Chips with Everything" at the Vaudeville, the title role in "Hamp" at the Edinburgh Festival, "Inadmissible Evidence" at Wyndham's and "Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs" at the Garrick. His movie debut occurred that same year with a supporting role in the "angry young man" British drama Young and Willing (1962), followed by small roles in Appuntamento in Riviera (1962), A Man for All Seasons (1966) and The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967).
A somber, freckled, ravaged-looking gent, Hurt found his more compelling early work in offbeat theatrical characterizations with notable roles such as Malcolm in "Macbeth" (1967), Octavius in "Man and Superman" (1969), Peter in "Ride a Cock Horse" (1972), Mike in '"The Caretaker" (1972) and Ben in "The Dumb Waiter" (1973). At the same time he gained more prominence in a spray of film and support roles such as a junior officer in Before Winter Comes (1968), the title highwayman in Sinful Davey (1969), a morose little brother in In Search of Gregory (1969), a dim, murderous truck driver in 10 Rillington Place (1971), a skirt-chasing, penguin-studying biologist in Cry of the Penguins (1971), the unappetizing son of a baron in The Pied Piper (1972) and a repeat of his title stage role as Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974).
Hurt shot to international stardom, however, on TV where he was allowed to display his true, fearless range. He reaped widespread acclaim for his embodiment of the tormented gay writer and raconteur Quentin Crisp in the landmark television play The Naked Civil Servant (1975), adapted from Crisp's autobiography. Hurt's bold, unabashed approach on the flamboyant and controversial gent who dared to be different was rewarded with the BAFTA (British TV Award). This triumph led to the equally fascinating success as the cruel and crazed Roman emperor Caligula in the epic television masterpiece I, Claudius (1976), followed by another compelling interpretation as murderous student Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (1979).
A resurgence occurred on film as a result. Among other unsurpassed portraits on his unique pallet, the chameleon in him displayed a polar side as the gentle, pathetically disfigured title role in The Elephant Man (1980), and as a tortured Turkish prison inmate who befriends Brad Davis in the intense drama Midnight Express (1978) earning Oscar nominations for both. Mainstream box-office films were offered as well as art films. He made the most of his role as a crew member whose body becomes host to an unearthly predator in Alien (1979). With this new rush of fame came a few misguided ventures as well that were generally unworthy of his talent. Such brilliant work as his steeple chase jockey in Champions (1984) or kidnapper in The Hit (1984) was occasionally offset by such drivel as the comedy misfire Partners (1982) with Ryan O'Neal in which Hurt looked enervated and embarrassed. For the most part, the craggy-faced actor continued to draw extraordinary notices. Tops on the list includes his prurient governmental gadfly who triggers the Christine Keeler political sex scandal in the aptly-titled Scandal (1989); the cultivated gay writer aroused and obsessed with struggling "pretty-boy" actor Jason Priestley in Love and Death on Long Island (1997); and the Catholic priest embroiled in the Rwanda atrocities in Shooting Dogs (2005).
Latter parts of memorable interpretations included Dr. Iannis in Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), the recurring role of the benign wand-maker Mr. Ollivander in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), the tyrannical dictator Adam Sutler in V for Vendetta (2005) and the voice of The Dragon in Merlin (2008). Among Hurt's final film appearances were as a terminally ill screenwriter in That Good Night (2017) and a lesser role in the mystery thriller Damascus Cover (2017). Hurt's voice was also tapped into animated features and documentaries, often serving as narrator. He also returned to the theatre performing in such shows as "The Seagull", "A Month in the Country" (1994), "Afterplay" (2002) and "Krapp's Last Tape", the latter for which he received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award.
A recovered alcoholic who married four times, Hurt was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by the Queen in 2004, and Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in 2015. That same year (2015) he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In July of 2016, he was forced to bow out of the father role of Billy Rice in a then-upcoming London stage production of "The Entertainer" opposite Kenneth Branagh due to ill health that he described as an "intestinal ailment". Hurt died several months later at his home in Cromer, Norfolk, England on January 15, 2017, three days after his 77th birthday.- Thom Christopher was born on 5 October 1940 in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for One Life to Live (1968), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) and Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988). He was previously married to Judith Leverone.
- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Paul McGann was born on 14 November 1959 in Kensington, Liverpool, England, UK. He is an actor and director, known for The Three Musketeers (1993), Withnail & I (1987) and Alien 3 (1992). He has been married to Annie Milner since 1992. They have two children.- Actor
- Producer
- Animation Department
Sean Bean's career since the eighties spans theatre, radio, television and movies. Bean was born in Handsworth, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, to Rita (Tuckwood) and Brian Bean. He worked for his father's welding firm before he decided to become an actor. He attended RADA in London and appeared in a number of West End stage productions including RSC's "Fair Maid of the West" (Spencer), (1986) and "Romeo and Juliet" (1987) (Romeo) , as well as "Deathwatch" (Lederer) (1985) at the Young Vic and "Killing the Cat" (Danny) (1990) at the Theatre Upstairs.
This soulful, green-eyed blonde's roles are so varied that his magnetic persona convincing plays angst-ridden villains, as in Clarissa (1991), passionate lovers like Mellors in Lady Chatterley (1993), rough-and-ready soldiers such as Richard Sharpe, heart wrenching warriors as the emotionally torn Boromir in "The Lord of the Rings," and noble Greeks, like Odysseus in Troy (2004), where his very presence in the film adds grace and validity to the rest of the movie. Recently, he did a turn in Shakespeare's "Macbeth," where as the principal lead, he so transfixed the audience that the show was extended in London and critically acclaimed. Bean, however, remains himself, a man's man, and in the glitzy world of movies this is a rare thing indeed. Bean resides in London where he enjoys raising his beautiful daughters, his beloved football, and the occasional pint.
Bean has three daughters, Lorna, Molly and Evie.- Actor
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Sylvester McCoy was born Percy James Patrick Kent-Smith on 20 August 1943, the only child of Molly Sheridan and Percy James Kent-Smith, a couple living in Dunoon, Scotland. His mother was Irish. Percy James Kent-Smith was killed in the Second World War a couple of months before his son was born, and he was brought up by his mother, his grandmother (Mary Sheridan), and his aunts. He attended St Muns Primary School in Dunoon. The headmistress, Rosie O'Grady, was keen that her young charges obtain decent jobs upon leaving the school and so organized regular talks from people in all manner of professions.
McCoy expressed an interest in every job, and as a result eventually found himself given an afternoon off school to go to see a local priest about entering the priesthood. He left school, joined Blairs College, a Catholic seminary in Aberdeen, and between the ages of twelve and sixteen trained to be a priest. At Blairs College, he realized that there was more to life than could be found in Dunoon and discovered classical music and history, which fascinated him. He eventually decided to become a monk and applied to join a Dominican order, but his application was rejected as he was too young. He returned to school and soon discovered the delights of the opposite sex in the form of fellow students and determined he didn't want to be a priest or a monk after all.
On finishing his education he took a holiday down to London, from which he never returned. McCoy approached a youth employment center looking for a job and impressed by the fact that he had attended a grammar school, they instantly found him a job in the City working for an insurance company. He trained in this job and stayed there until he was 27 before deciding that it wasn't really for him. With the help of a cook at London's Roundhouse Theatre, McCoy gained a job there selling tickets and keeping the books in the box office.
McCoy joined the Ken Campbell Roadshow. Along with Bob Hoskins, Jane Wood, and Dave Hill, he would start performing a range of plays with the umbrella theme of "modern myths". McCoy found himself in a double-act with Hoskins. After Hoskins left, and being booked at a circus, director Ken Campbell improvised a circus-based act about a fictitious stuntman called Sylvester McCoy and thought it would be amusing if the program stated that this character was played by "Sylvester McCoy". While at the Royal Court Theatre, one of the critics missed the joke and assumed that Sylvester McCoy was a real person. McCoy liked the irony of this and adopted the name of his stage identity. During one of their UK engagements, the Roadshow team was invited up by Joan Littlewood, who was directing a production of "The Hostage", before the performance of her play. This led McCoy to bona fide theater, and he was subsequently invited to appear in numerous plays and musicals.
McCoy was starring at the National Theatre in "The Pied Piper", a play written especially for him, when he learned that the BBC was looking for a new lead actor to replace Colin Baker, who had been unceremoniously dumped from Doctor Who (1963) on the orders of Michael Grade. McCoy won the role as the Seventh Doctor despite reservations from Grade and Head of Drama Jonathan Powell, who were by this time monitoring producer John Nathan-Turner's decision-making very closely. McCoy's first season took the slightly pantomimic style of Baker's final season, Trial of a Time Lord, even further and received a very dubious reception from the press and fans. Nathan-Turner put McCoy in a pullover covered in question marks, which McCoy later admitted he didn't like.
By the time of McCoy's second season, the new script editor, Andrew Cartmel, was trying to make the series darker and more complex. In the third season, his costume was changed from a fawn jacket and paisley scarf to a dark brown jacket and an altogether more muted and subdued image, but the pullover remained. Despite forming a close bond with co-star Sophie Aldred and the general standard of the stories rising again towards the end, the series was obviously starved of funds and ratings were fairly poor throughout the McCoy era, with the series being trounced by ITV's Coronation Street (1960). The BBC's opinion of Doctor Who (1963) was that it was an embarrassment. In 1989, the new series head, Peter Cregeen, pulled the plug.
After Doctor Who (1963) McCoy worked extensively in theater and on television. In theater he appeared in "The Government Inspector" twice in tours during 1993 and 1994, and in between these he starred as the Narrator, Thomas Marvel, in the stage version of H.G. Wells's "The Invisible Man". In 1995, he starred in Zorro: The Musical".
On television, his credits include Frank Stubbs Promotes (1993) and Rab C. Nesbitt (1988). He also created the character of Crud in the cult television series Ghoul Lashed for Sky TV. In 1996, he was contracted to reprise his role as the Doctor, handing over to an eighth incarnation of the Time Lord in the earthly form of his friend Paul McGann. Also in 1996, McCoy devised and presented Reeltime Pictures' I Was a 'Doctor Who' Monster (1996), a special video tribute to the men and women who had played the monsters of Doctor Who (1963).- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Malcolm John Taylor was born on June 13, 1943 in Leeds, England, to working-class parents Edna (McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. His father was an alcoholic. Malcolm hated his parents' ways. His father was keen to send his son to private school to give him a good start in life, so Malcolm was packed off to boarding school at age 11. He attended the Tonbridge School and the Cannock House School in Eltham, Kent. At school, he was beaten with the slipper or cane every Monday for his wayward behavior. Whilst at school, he decided that he wanted to become an actor; it was also around this time that his love for race cars began. He attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) to study acting. Meanwhile, he worked at his parents' pub but lost his job when the pub went bankrupt, his father drinking all the profits. He then had a variety of jobs, from coffee salesman to messenger.
His first big-screen role was in Poor Cow (1967), although his two-minute scene was ultimately cut from the completed film. Soon after, he caught the attention of director Lindsay Anderson who cast him in the role of a rebellious student in his film If.... (1968). The film catapulted Malcolm to stardom in Britain but failed everywhere else. He was so enthusiastic about the film's success that he wanted to do another right away. He began writing what would become the semi-autobiographical O Lucky Man! (1973). Then he starred as Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick's controversial A Clockwork Orange (1971), a role that gave him world fame, and legendary status (although typecasting him as a in villainous roles). In early 1976, he spent nearly a year working on what would later be one of the most infamous films of all time, the semi-pornographic Caligula (1979), financed by Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione. Around that time, the British film industry collapsed, forcing him to flee to America to continue working. His first American film was Time After Time (1979). He then did Britannia Hospital (1982), the last part of Lindsay Anderson's working-class trilogy that started with If.... (1968).
In the mid-1980s, the years of alcohol and drug abuse, including $1000 a week on cocaine, caught up with him. Years of abuse took its toll on him; his black hairs were now gray. Looking older than he really was, nobody wanted to cast him for playing younger roles. The big roles having dried up, he did many B-rated movies. The 1990s were kinder to him, though. In 1994, he was cast as Dr. Tolian Soran, the man who killed Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Generations (1994). He was back on the track, playing villains again. He played another in the classic BBC miniseries Our Friends in the North (1996). Today, with more than 100 films under his belt, he is one of the greatest actors in America. He still does not have American citizenship, but he likes the no-nonsense American ways. He resides in the northern suburbs of Los Angeles, California.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Colin Baker was born in 1943 in the Royal Waterloo Lying-In Hospital in London during an air raid. He spent his earliest years in London with his mother, while his father served in the armed forces. He narrowly avoided an early death during the wartime blitz when a piece of flying shrapnel just missed him, embedding itself in the side of his cot. After the war, Baker's father took a job as managing director of an asbestos company in Manchester. The family moved north to live in Rochdale, although Baker attended school in Manchester.
It was during his early schooling that - through the mother of one of his fellow pupils, who was a casting director at Granada TV - he had his first experience of acting. It was 1954 and the series was called My Wife's Sister (1956), starring Eleanor Summerfield, Martin Wyldeck and Helen Christie. Colin Baker went on to attend St. Bede's College in Manchester, where he was invited to take part in their annual productions of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. The twelve-years-old Baker appeared in the chorus for a production of "Yeoman of the Guard" and, a year later, landed a more major part - playing the female lead, "Phyllis" - in "Iolanthe".
After completing his schooling, Baker went on to study law. One day during this period, he and his mother went to see an amateur production of "The King and I" at the Palace Theatre, Manchester. Inspired by the performance and encouraged by the president of the company that had staged the Amateur Dramatic Society and quickly became hooked on acting. Baker took a job as a solicitor but, as time went on, became less and less interested in this career. Finally, at the age of twenty-three, he decided to become a full-time actor.
Baker joined the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), where he trained for three years. At the end of this, he was summoned with two of his fellow students to see the head of the drama school, who gave them rather gloomy predictions for their future prospects as actors and suggested that they seek alternative careers. These predictions proved somewhat wide of the mark as not only did Baker go on to great success but so too did his fellow students - David Suchet (who - amongst many other achievements - starred in LWT's award-winning productions of Agatha Christie's "Poirot") and Mel Martin (whose numerous credits include the series Love for Lydia (1977), also for LWT). After leaving LAMDA, Baker took a temporary job driving a taxi in Minehead in order to be near his then-girlfriend. He then received a call to come to London to audition for a part in a BBC2 drama series called The Roads to Freedom (1970), which he won. This led to further TV roles, including two more for BBC2: "Count Wenceslas Steinbock" in "Balzac's Cousin Bette" (1971) and "Prince Anatol Kuragin" in an ambitious twenty-part serialisation of Lev Tolstoy's "War and Peace" (1972-72). He also took on a wide range to theatre work, including several William Shakespeare festivals, appearing in productions of "Macbeth" and "Hamlet".
In the mid-seventies, Baker landed the role that would make him "the man viewers love to hate". This was "Paul Merroney" in the BBC1 series The Brothers (1972). After "The Brothers", Baker married actress Liza Goddard, who had played his on-screen wife in the series, but the marriage eventually ended in divorce. Baker later married actress Marion Wyatt. Theatre work kept Baker almost constantly busy for the next five years including appearances in everything from comedies to thrillers, as well as more Shakespeare. He also had a few further TV roles, including one as "Bayban" in "Blake's 7: City at the Edge of the World" (BBC, 1980) and one opposite Nyree Dawn Porter and Ian Hendry in the drama series, For Maddie with Love (1980) (ATV, 1980).
Baker's next TV role after "For Maddie with Love" was as "Maxil" in the Arc of Infinity: Part One (1983) story, "Arc of Infinity". Shortly before Baker took the role of the Doctor on "Doctor Who", he and his wife suffered the loss of their baby son, Jack, to cot death syndrome. Baker subsequently became a passionate fund raiser for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths, with many of is personal appearance fees being donated to the charity. Baker's time as the sixth Doctor was cut unexpectedly short, initially by BBC One controller Michael Grade's hiatus between the twenty-second and twenty-third seasons and then by the decision of Grade to oust him from the role.
After his departure from "Doctor Who", the actor returned to the theatre, appearing in highly successful runs of "Corpse" and "Deathtrap" and having a four-month stint in the West End farce, "Run for Your Wife", with Terry Scott. TV work included a guest appearance in the BBC's Casualty (1986) and presenting assignments on programmes for the Children's Channel. After directing a play called "Bazaar and Rummage", Baker was asked to play the Doctor once again - this time on stage, taking over from Jon Pertwee in the Mark Furness Ltd production, "The Ultimate Adventure". This tour proved to him that, despite the brevity of his time as the Doctor on TV, he had amassed a loyal following amongst younger viewers.
In the 1990s, Baker had continued to pursue a successful career, mainly in the theatre. He has made regular appearances in pantomime, and his stage work has included roles in the musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" and in a comedy entitled "Fear of Flying". He has also starred in the "Stranger" series of videos made by Bill Baggs Video, alongside a number of other actors known for their work on "Doctor Who".- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji on December 31, 1943 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a Kenyan-born medical doctor, of Gujarati Indian descent, and his mother, Anna Lyna Mary (Goodman), was an English actress. Ben began to act in stage plays during the 1960s. He soon became a successful stage actor, and also began to have roles in films and television. His birth name was Krishna Bhanji, but he changed his name to "Ben Kingsley" soon after gaining fame as a stage actor, fearing that a foreign name could hamper his acting career.
Kingsley first earned international fame for his performance in the drama movie Gandhi (1982). His performance as Mohandas K. Gandhi earned him international fame. He won many awards - including an Academy Award for Best Actor. He also won Golden Globe, BAFTA and London Film Critics' Circle Awards. After acting in Gandhi (1982), Ben was recognized as one of the finest British actors.
After his international fame for appearing in Gandhi (1982), Kingsley appeared in many other famous movies. His success as an actor continued. His performance as Itzhak Stern in the drama movie Schindler's List (1993) earned him a BAFTA nomination for best supporting actor. Schindler's List (1993) won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. During the late 1990s, Kingsley acted in many successful movies. He played Sweeney Todd in the television movie The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997), for which he was nominated for the Screen Actors' Guild Award. His other notable role was as Otto Frank in the television movie Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), for which he won the Screen Actors' Guild Award.
In 2002, Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's New Years Honours for his services to drama. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment. That same year, he also received the Fellowship Award at the Asian Awards in London, England.- Actor
- Music Department
- Director
Peter Davison was born as Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett on 13 April 1951 in Streatham, London. A decade later, he and his family - his parents, Sheila and Claude (an electrical engineer who hailed from British Guiana), and his sisters, Barbara, Pamela and Shirley, moved to Knaphill, Woking, Surrey, where Davison was educated at the Winston Churchill School. It was here that he first became interested in acting, taking parts in a number of school plays, and this eventually led to him joining an amateur dramatic society, the Byfleet Players.
Upon leaving school at the age of sixteen, having achieved only modest academic success with three O Levels of undistinguished grades, he took a variety of short-lived jobs ranging from hospital porter to Hoffman press operator. He was still keen to pursue an acting career, however, and so applied for a place at drama school.
Davison was accepted into the Central School of Speech and Drama and stayed there for three years. His first professional acting work came in 1972 when, after leaving drama school in the July of that year, he secured a small role in a run of "Love's Labour's Lost" at the Nottingham Playhouse. This marked the start of a three-year period in which he worked in a variety of different repertory companies around Great Britain, often in Shakespearean roles. He then made his television debut, playing a blond-wigged space cowboy character called Elmer in "A Man for Emily", a three-part story in the Thames TV children's series The Tomorrow People (1973) (April 1975). Appearing alongside him in this production was his future wife, American actress Sandra Dickinson, whom he had first met during a run of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in Edinburgh. They married on 26 December 1978 in Dickinson's home town of Rockville, Maryland, USA.
Davison spent the following eighteen months working as a file clerk at Twickenham tax office. He also took the opportunity to pursue an interest in singing and songwriting, which led him to record several singles with his wife. He later provided the theme tunes for a number of TV series, including Mixed Blessings (1978) and Button Moon (1980). Davison played the romantic lead, Tom Holland in Love for Lydia (1977), a London Weekend Television (LWT) period drama serial transmitted in 1977.
Davison's greatest acting breakthrough came when he played Tristan in the BBC's All Creatures Great and Small (1978), based on the books of country vet James Herriot. It was a highly successful series, which ran initially for three seasons between 1978-1980. His success in All Creatures Great and Small (1978) brought him many other offers of TV work. Among those that he took up were lead roles in two sitcoms: LWT's Holding the Fort (1980), in which he played Russell Milburn, and the BBC's Sink or Swim (1980), in which he played Brian Webber. Three seasons of each were transmitted between 1980-82, consolidating Davison's position as a well-known and popular television actor.
In 1980, Doctor Who (1963) producer John Nathan-Turner, who had worked with Davison as the production unit manager on All Creatures Great and Small (1978), cast him as the Fifth Doctor in the series. Taking over from Tom Baker, who had been in the role for an unprecedented seven years, Davison was seen as a huge departure as he was by far the youngest actor to date. Davison announced he was taking the lead role in Doctor Who (1963) on the BBC's lunchtime magazine program Pebble Mill at One (1972) on 3 December 1980, when he discussed with the presenter a number of costume ideas sent in by viewers and was particularly impressed by a suggestion from one of a panel of young fans assembled in the studio that the new Doctor should be "like Tristan Farnon, but with bravery and intellect".
His appearance in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1981), was recorded on 19 December 1980 and transmitted on 2 February 1981, by which time the viewing public were well aware that he would soon be taking over the lead role in Doctor Who. There was in fact only a month to go before he would make his on-screen debut in the series - albeit a brief one, in the regeneration sequence at the end of Logopolis: Part Four (1981).
His first full story was in Castrovalva: Part One (1982), the first story of season nineteen transmitted on 4 January 1982. Another significant change for the series was that it was taken off Saturdays for the first time, instead being broadcast on Mondays and Tuesdays. Davison was an immediate hit as the Doctor, with ratings picking up considerably from Tom Baker's final season. Several episodes from Davison's first season achieved over 10 million viewers, which would be the last time these numbers would be achieved in the original run of Doctor Who (1963). One particular success from Davison's first season was the stylish return of the Cybermen in Earthshock: Part One (1982), which became the most popular Cybermen story since the 1960s.
As the incumbent Doctor, Davison took part in the major celebrations of the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who (1963) in 1983, which included the multi-Doctor special The Five Doctors (1983). Nevertheless, Davison found himself dissatisfied with his second season on Doctor Who (1963), feeling that the writing, directing, budgets and tight recording schedules in the studio were frequently letting it down. With this in mind and fearing typecasting, he finished his tenure at the end of his third season in The Caves of Androzani: Part Four (1984). He left on a high, as it has been repeatedly voted one of the best stories ever by fans.
Davison became a father when, on December 25, 1984 (one day before the couple's sixth wedding anniversary), Dickinson gave birth to a daughter, Georgia Elizabeth, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London. Ten years later, however, the marriage broke down and they separated and later divorced. Most of Davison's work since then has been in the medium for which he is best known: television.
His credits include regular stints as Henry Myers in Anna of the Five Towns (1985), as Dr. Stephen Daker in A Very Peculiar Practice (1986), as Albert Campion in Mystery!: Campion (1989) and as Clive Quigley in Ain't Misbehavin (1994) all for the BBC, and as Ralph in Yorkshire TV's Fiddlers Three (1991). In addition, he has reprized his popular role of Tristan Farnon on a number of occasions for one-off specials and revival seasons of All Creatures Great and Small (1978).
Davison has returned several times to the world of Doctor Who (1963). In 1993 he appeared as the Fifth Doctor in Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time (1993), a brief two-part skit transmitted as part of the BBC's annual Children in Need Charity appeal, and in 1985 he narrated an abridged novelization of the season twenty-one story "Warriors of the Deep" for BBC Worldwide's Doctor Who audio book series. In addition, he has appeared in a number of video dramas produced by Bill Baggs Video. In 2003 and 2004 he appeared as quiet and unassuming detective "Dangerous Davies" in The Last Detective (2003), the Meridian TV adaptations of Leslie Thomas's novels.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Composer
Phil Collins was born in Chiswick, London, England, to Winifred (Strange), a theatrical agent, Greville Philip Austin Collins, an insurance agent. He spent most of his early entertainment life as a young actor and model. He played the "Artful Dodger" in the West End production of "Oliver!" alongside the future movie screen "Artful Dodger," Jack Wild. His interest in music and drumming began at school, where he drummed with a stage school band "The Real Thing," subsequently joining "Freehold" and "Flaming Youth." "Flaming Youth" recorded an album to some critical acclaim, although the group disbanded shortly afterward. Collins later successfully auditioned for Genesis, taking over vocals from Peter Gabriel when he left the band in 1975.
After separating from his first wife, Collins recorded his first solo album, "Face Value." The album was well received and Collins started to become a household name after the song "In the Air Tonight" was featured on the US TV show Miami Vice (1984). This instigated a guest appearance on the show playing a game show host. His third LP, "No Jacket Required," produced multiple chart hits and awards.
Collins is an active musician and entertainer, contributing and guesting regularly on many albums, ranging from Gary Brooker and Camel (Peter Barden's old band) to Eric Clapton. Collins also played as the drummer for the jazz fusion group Brand X and later formed his own big band to play swing and jazz music.
Collins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010. With over 200 million album sales (when his solo career and Genesis career are combined), Collins is one of the most successful musicians of all time, as well as probably the most successful British pop star to have been consistently overlooked for the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British music.
Actress Lily Collins is his daughter (her mother is his second wife, Jill Tavelman).- Actor
- Writer
One of Britain's most recognizable (and most larger-than-life) character actors, Tom Baker is best known for his record-setting seven-year stint as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). He was born in 1934 in Liverpool, to Mary Jane (Fleming) and John Stewart Baker. His father was of English and Scottish descent, while his mother's family was originally from Ireland. Tom, along with his younger sister, Lulu, and younger brother, John, was raised in a poor Catholic community by his mother, a house-cleaner and barmaid, who was a devout Catholic, and his father, a sailor, who was rarely at home.
At age fifteen, Baker left school to become a monk with the Brothers of Ploermel on the island of Jersey. Six years later, he abandoned the monastic life and performed his National Service in the Royal Army Medical Corps., where he became interested in acting. Baker then served on the Queen Mary for seven months as a sailor in the Merchant Navy before attending Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, England, on scholarship.
Baker acted in repertory theaters around Britain until the late 1960s when he joined up with the National Theatre, where he performed with such respected actors as Maggie Smith, Anthony Hopkins and Laurence Olivier, who helped him get his first prominent film role as Rasputin in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971). His performance in this film earned him two Golden Globe Award nominations, one for best actor in a supporting role and another for best new star of the year. A couple of years earlier, Baker had made his theatrical film debut in The Winter's Tale (1967).
Despite appearances in a spate of films, including The Canterbury Tales (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and The Mutations (1974), Baker found himself in a career lull and working as a labourer at a building site. However, the BBC's Head of Serials, William Slater, who had directed Baker in BBC Play of the Month (1965), recommended him to producer Barry Letts, who was looking for a replacement for Jon Pertwee as the Fourth Doctor in Doctor Who (1963). Baker's performance in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) convinced Letts that he was right for it. It brought Baker international fame and popularity. He played the role for seven years, longer than any actor before or since.
After leaving Doctor Who (1963) in 1981, Baker returned to theatre and made occasional television and film appearances, playing Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1982), Puddleglum in The Chronicles of Narnia story The Silver Chair (1990) and Hallvarth, Clan Leader of the Hunter Elves, in Dungeons & Dragons (2000).- Actor
- Soundtrack
A classical actor (and founding member in 1960 of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Richardson earned international fame as the villainous Francis Urquart in the BBC television trilogy, "House of Cards." Uttered in a cut-glass accent, the Machiavellian Prime Minister's sly "You might well think that ... I couldn't possibly comment" became a catchphrase when the series was broadcast in the 1990s. Richardson's contributions to his art were honored in 1989 when he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE.) Fittingly, his family had his ashes buried beneath the auditorium of the new Royal Shakespeare theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Born the son of John and Margaret (Drummond) Richardson on April 7, 1934, he was educated at Tynecastle School in Edinburgh, and studied for the stage at the College of Dramatic Art in Glasgow, where he was awarded the James Bridie Gold Medal in 1957. He joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company a year later where he played Hamlet as well as John Worthing in "The Importance of being Earnest." In 1960 he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company (then called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) and drew excellent notices for his work in "The Merchant of Venice," "Twelfth Night," "The Winter's Tale," "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "The Taming of the Shrew," "The Comedy of Errors" and "King Lear", among others. In 1964 Richardson played the role of the Herald before advancing to the title role of Jean-Paul Marat in the stunning, avant-garde RSC production of "Marat-Sade". In addition, he made his Broadway debut in said role at the very end of 1965, and recreated it to critical acclaim in Peter Brooks' film adaptation with Glenda Jackson as murderess Charlotte Corday. Richardson also went on to replay Oberon in a lukewarm film version of RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968) that nevertheless bore an elite company of Britain's finest pre-Dames -- Judi Dench, Helen Mirren and Diana Rigg. One of his lower film points during that time period, however, was appearing in the huge musical movie misfire Man of La Mancha (1972) in the role of the Padre opposite Peter O'Toole and Sophia Loren.
Richardson was never far from the Shakespearean stage after his induction into films with majestic portraits of Coriolanus, Pericles, Richard II, Richard III, Cassius ("Julius Caesar"), Malcolm ("Macbeth"), Angelo ("Measure for Measure"), Prospero ("The Tempest") and Mercutio ("Romeo and "Juliet") paving the way. Elsewhere on Broadway he received a Drama Desk Award and Tony nomination for his splendid Henry Higgins in a revival of "My Fair Lady" in 1976, and was part of the cast of the short-lived (12 performances) production of "Lolita" (1981), written by Edward Albee and starring Donald Sutherland as Humbert Humbert.
Customary of many talented Scots, Richardson would find his best on-camera roles in plush, intelligent TV mini-series. On the Shakespearean front he appeared in TV adaptations of As You Like It (1963), All's Well That Ends Well (1968) and Much Ado About Nothing (1978). After delivering highly capable performances as Field-Marshal Montgomery in both Churchill and the Generals (1979) and Ike: The War Years (1979), Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983), and Indian Prime Minister Nehru in Masterpiece Theatre: Lord Mountbatten - The Last Viceroy (1986), he capped his small-screen career in the role of the immoral politician Francis Urquhart in a trio of dramatic satires: House of Cards (1990), To Play the King (1993) and The Final Cut (1995). His impeccably finely-tuned villain became one his best remembered roles.
Filmwise, Richardson's stature did not grow despite polished work in Brazil (1985), Cry Freedom (1987), Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), M. Butterfly (1993), Dark City (1998), and the lightweight mainstream fare B*A*P*S (1997) and 102 Dalmatians (2000). He appeared less and less on stage in his later years. He took his final stage bows in 2006 with West End productions of "The Creeper" and "The Alchemist".
The urbane 72-year-old actor died unexpectedly in his sleep at his London abode on February 9, 2007, survived by his widow Maroussia Frank (his wife from 1961 and an RSC actress who played an asylum inmate alongside him in "Marat-Sade") and two sons, one of whom, Miles Richardson, has been a resident performer with the RSC.- Actor
- Writer
- Music Department
Jon Pertwee is best known for his portrayal of the Third Doctor on the BBC's science-fiction television series Doctor Who (1963) from 1970 to 1974. He was also the first to play the role following the transition of BBC One from black and white to colour. His 60-year entertainment career included work in radio, films and cabaret. This was despite the inauspicious beginning of having been thrown out of drama school as a young man and told he had no future as an actor.
Jon Pertwee was born John (after the apostle and disciple) Devon (after the county) Roland (after his father) Pertwee (an Anglicised version of the true family name, Perthuis de Laillevault) on 7 July 1919 in the Chelsea area of London. He was the second son of famous playwright, painter and actor Roland Pertwee, and his actress wife Avice - his writer brother Michael Pertwee being three years his senior. The Pertwee family had a long connection with show business and the performing arts, and it was at Wellington House preparatory school in Westgate-On-Sea in Kent that Jon, as a small and rebellious child, was encouraged in that direction. Later, at Frensham Heights co-educational school, Jon had his first taste of "real" theatre with real women in the school stage productions of "Twelfth Night" and "Lady Princess Stream". In 1936 he auditioned for, and was accepted by, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He was later kicked out for refusing to play the part of the wind in a play.
Jon Pertwee died on 20 May 1996 of a heart attack. The BBC announced his death. He was survived by his wife Ingeborg Rhoesa, his son Sean Pertwee, a popular and talented actor, and his daughter Dariel Pertwee, an accomplished stage actress.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Alan Young was born in Northern England in 1919, but his Scots father moved the family to Edinburgh, Scotland, when Young was a toddler and then to Canada when Young was about 6 years old. As a boy, he suffered from severe asthma, which kept him bedridden for long periods of time but encouraged his love of radio. By age 13, Young had become a radio performer, and by age 17, he was writing and performing in his own radio show for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The show was broadcast in the U.S. and led to an invitation to New York, initiating Young's career as an "All-American boy," despite his non-American origins and a vestigial Scots accent. He became popular on American radio from 1944 to 1949 with his "Alan Young Radio Show," but when radio began to lose its popularity and his show was canceled, Young decided to put together a comedy act and tour the U.S. theater circuit. After this experience, he wrote a television pilot for CBS in 1950, which resulted in The Alan Young Show (1950). The show was a well-received live revue that ran for 3 years, earned a couple of Emmy Awards, and garnered Young a star on the "Walk of Fame." However, the strain of writing and performing a weekly show got to Young, and the quality of the show declined, leading to his departure from the show and its cancellation. In the meantime, based on his popularity on radio and television, Young had established a film career, starting with his debut in Margie (1946) followed by Chicken Every Sunday (1949), Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick (1952), Androcles and the Lion (1952), Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), Tom Thumb (1958), and The Time Machine (1960).
In the early 1960s, Young landed his best-known role, Wilbur Post, in the popular television series Mister Ed (1961), which ran for 5 years. Since then, Young has made a number of television and film appearances but is known primarily for his voice characterizations in cartoons, especially as Scrooge McDuck in DuckTales (1987).- Patrick Troughton was born in Mill Hill, London and was educated at Mill Hill School. He trained as an actor at the Embassy School of Acting in the UK and at Leighton Rollin's Studio for for Actors at Long Island, New York in the USA. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy and after the war ended he joined the Old Vic and became a Shakespearean actor. He won his most famous role as the second Doctor in Doctor Who (1963), in 1966 and played the role for three years. His hobbies included golf, sailing and fishing. He was a father of six (David, Jane, Joanna, Mark, Michael and Peter), a stepfather to Gill and Graham and a grandfather to Harry Melling, Jamie and Sam Troughton.
- Actor
- Casting Director
- Soundtrack
Werner Klemperer, everyone's favorite TV German Air Force colonel, was best known for his role as the bumbling Col. Wilhelm Klink on the comedy series Hogan's Heroes (1965). Although he'll forever be known as the blustering but inept German commandant of Stalag 13, Klemperer was in fact a talented dramatic actor, as evidenced by his acclaimed performance as an arrogant, unrepentant Nazi judge being tried for crimes against humanity in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). His identification with Nazi roles notwithstanding, Klemperer was in real life the son of a Jew who fled with his family from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. When he was offered the Col. Klink role, Klemperer only agreed to do it if the show's producers promised that Klink would never succeed in any of his schemes. "Col. Klink" earned Klemperer five Emmy nominations, and he took home the trophy twice, in 1968 and 1969. After the series, Klemperer carved out an impressive musical career as a conductor and also served as a narrator with many major U.S. symphony orchestras. He was an accomplished concert violinist.- William Hartnell was born on 8 January 1908, just south of St. Pancras railway station in London. In press materials in the 1940s he claimed that his father was a farmer and later a stockbroker; it turns out that he had actually been born out of wedlock, as his biography "Who's There?" states.
At age 16 he was adopted by Hugh Blaker, a well-known art connoisseur, who helped him to get a job with Sir Frank Benson's Shakespearean Company. He started as a general dogsbody--call-boy, assistant stage manager, property master and assistant lighting director--but was occasionally allowed to play small walk-on parts. Two years later he left Benson's group and went off on tour, working for a number of different theatre companies about Britain. He became known as an actor of farce and understudied renowned performers such as Lawrence Grossmith, Ernest Truex, Bud Flanagan and Charles Heslop. He played repertory in Richmond, Harrogate, Leeds and Sheffield and had a successful run as the lead in a touring production of "Charley's Aunt." He also toured Canada in 1928-29, acquiring much valuable experience.
On his return to England, Hartnell married actress Heather McIntyre. He starred in such films as I'm an Explosive (1933), The Way Ahead (1944), Strawberry Roan (1944), The Agitator (1945), Query (1945) and Appointment with Crime (1946).
His memorable performance on the television series The Army Game (1957) and the movie This Sporting Life (1963) led to him being cast as the Doctor on Doctor Who (1963), for which he is best remembered. His son-in-law is agent Terry Carney. His granddaughter is Jessica Carney (real name Judith Carney), who authored a biography of her grandfather, "Who's There?", in 1996. - Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Rex Harrison was born Reginald Carey Harrison in Huyton, Lancashire, England, to Edith Mary (Carey) and William Reginald Harrison, a cotton broker. He changed his name to Rex as a young boy, knowing it was the Latin word for "King". Starting out on his theater career at age 18, his first job at the Liverpool Rep Theatre was nearly his last - dashing across the stage to say his one line, made his entrance and promptly blew it. Fates were kind, however, and soon he began landing roles in the West End. "French Without Tears", a play by Terence Rattigan, proved to be his breakthrough role. Soon he was being called the "greatest actor of light comedy in the world". Having divorced his first wife Collette Thomas in 1942, he married German actress Lilli Palmer. The two began appearing together in many plays and British films. He attained international fame when he portrayed the King in Anna and the King of Siam (1946), his first American film. After a sex scandal, in which actress Carole Landis apparently committed suicide because he ended their affair, the relationship with wife Lilli became strained. Rex (by this time known as "Sexy Rexy" for his philandering ways and magnetic charm) began a relationship with British actress Kay Kendall and divorced Lilli to marry the terminally ill Kay with hopes of a re-marriage to Palmer upon Kay's death. The death of Kay affected Harrison greatly and Lilli never returned to him. During this time Rex was offered the defining role of his career: Professor Henry Higgins in the original production of "My Fair Lady". He won the Tony for the play and an Oscar for the film version. In 1962 Harrison married actress Rachel Roberts. This union and the one following it to Elizabeth Harris (Richard's ex) also ended in divorce. In 1978 Rex met and married Mercia Tinker. He and Mercia remained happily married until his death in 1990. She was also with him in 1989 when he was granted his much-deserved and long awaited knighthood at Buckingham Palace. Rex Harrison died of pancreatic cancer three weeks after his last stage appearance, as Lord Porteous in W. Somerset Maugham's "The Circle".