Charles Dance

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This article is about Charles Dance, contemporary English actor. For other uses, see Charles Dance (disambiguation).
Charles Dance
Charles Dance (July 2012).jpg
Charles Dance (2012)
Born Walter Charles Dance
(1946-10-10) 10 October 1946 (age 66)
Redditch, Worcestershire, England
Occupation Actor
Years active 1974–present

Walter Charles Dance, OBE (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor, screenwriter, and film director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains.[citation needed] Some of his most high profile roles are Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Dr. Jonathan Clemens, the doctor who becomes Ellen Ripley's confidante, in Alien 3 (1992), several villain roles like Sardo Numspa in The Golden Child (1986) and Benedict in Last Action Hero (1993), and Lord Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones.

Dance was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006.[1]

Contents

Early life [edit]

Dance was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, the son of Eleanor (née Perks), a cook, and Walter Dance, an engineer.[2][3] He attended Widey Technical School for Boys (it closed when known as Widey High School in 1988) in Crownhill. He was set for a career in graphic design after graduating from the Plymouth College of Art before turning to acting.

Career [edit]

RSC [edit]

Dance was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company during the mid- to late-1970s and was in many of their productions in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. Later he returned to the RSC to take the title role in Coriolanus at Stratford-upon-Avon and Newcastle in 1989, and at the Barbican Theatre in 1990. He received rave reviews and a Critics' Circle Best Actor award for his performance as the Oxford don C. S. Lewis in William Nicholson's Shadowlands, in the 2007 stage revival.[4]

Television and film [edit]

Dance made his screen debut in 1974, in a BBC mystery series Father Brown as Commandant Neil O'Brien in "The Secret Garden", but his big break came ten years later when he played the major role of Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (Granada Television, Christopher Morahan 1984), an adaptation of Paul Scott's novels that also made stars of Geraldine James and Art Malik. He has also starred in many other British television dramas such as Murder Rooms, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Rebecca, The Phantom of the Opera, Fingersmith and Bleak House (for which he received an Emmy nomination). He was name-checked in the British comedy series Absolutely Fabulous, as being slated to play the title character in The Life of Jesus Christ 2, which was filming in Morocco at the same time as the main characters of the series were there for a photo shoot. Dance recently appeared as a guest star in the BBC television series Merlin as an infamous witch hunter. He also played Guy Spencer, the pro-Hitler propagandist, in the second instalment of Foyle's War, and had an ongoing role as Dr. Maltravers in the ITV drama Trinity.

Dance played Havelock Vetinari in the 2010 Sky adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.[5]

Dance plays the role of Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones, based on the Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin. Dance was wooed for the role by the producers whilst filming Your Highness in Belfast.[6]

Dance also played Conrad Knox on the British Television series Strike Back: Vengeance as the primary villain in the series.[7]

He appeared in Paris Connections (2010) as the Russian oligarch Aleksandr Borinski. Dance made one of his earliest big screen appearances in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only as evil henchman Claus, and in 1989 he played Bond creator Ian Fleming in Anglia Television's dramatised biography, Goldeneye (the name of Fleming's estate in Jamaica and a title later used for a James Bond film).

Screenwriting and directing [edit]

His debut film as a screenwriter and director was Ladies in Lavender (2004), which starred Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.

In 2008, filmed a role in Trinity for ITV2.[8]

In 2009, he directed his own adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis's The Inn at the Edge of the World and made a guest appearance in BBC drama series Merlin as the Witchfinder Aredian[9] and himself in the third series of Jam & Jerusalem.

Personal life [edit]

He married Joanna Haythorn in 1970 and they had two children.[10][11] After his marriage ended in 2004,[10] he had a brief relationship with actress Sophia Myles.[11] He became engaged to sculptor Eleanor Boorman in September 2010. They had a daughter, Rose, in March 2012 but subsequently separated.[11]

Filmography [edit]

Films [edit]

He has appeared in numerous films, including:

Television [edit]

[icon] This section requires expansion. (November 2012)

TV roles include:

Stage roles [edit]

Further reading [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ The London Gazette: no. 58014. p. 10. 17 June 2006.
  2. ^ "Charles Dance Biography (1946-)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  3. ^ "Charles Dance Biography - Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  4. ^ Nicholas de Jongh (2007-10-09). "Dance is poignant perfection - Theatre & Dance - Arts - London Evening Standard". Thisislondon.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  5. ^ [1][dead link]
  6. ^ "Game of Thrones: News - Charles Dance Cast as Tywin Lannister". Westeros.org. 2010-07-29. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  7. ^ "Strike Back: Vengeance on Sky 1 HD". Skymedia.co.uk. 2012-08-15. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  8. ^ Holmwood, Leigh (2008-07-15). "ITV2 plans 'sex, drugs and murder' drama to follow Billie Piper hit series". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
  9. ^ Published Monday, May 25, 2009, 15:07 BST (2009-05-25). "Guest stars confirmed for 'Merlin' - Merlin News - Cult". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2012-11-12. 
  10. ^ a b Riggs, Thomas (2006). Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television, Volume 67. Gale / Cengage Learning. pp. 66–67. ISBN 9780787690403978-0-7876-9040-3 Check |isbn= value (help). 
  11. ^ a b c Walker, Tim (24 September 2010). "Charles Dance is to marry his artist girlfriend". The Daily Telegraph (London: TMG). ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. Retrieved 13 May 2011. 

External links [edit]
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