Ian McNeice
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| Ian McNeice | |
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 Ian McNeice at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole hotel, 17 April 2009. |
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| Born | 2 October 1950 Basingstoke, Hampshire, England |
Ian McNeice (born 2 October 1950) is a prolific English screen, stage and television character actor.
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[edit] Early life
McNeice was born in Basingstoke in Hampshire. McNeice's acting training started at the Taunton School in Somerset, followed by two years at the Salisbury Playhouse. The next few years were spent in theatre, including a four-year career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a production of Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway.
[edit] Career
His television breakthrough was as Harcourt in the award-winning series Edge of Darkness. He played the alcoholic sous chef Gustave LaRoche on the television series Chef!. He went on to appear in the 2000 television miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune as the evil Baron Vladimir Harkonnen – a role he later reprised for the 2003 sequel Children of Dune. His television appearances have included all four series of Doc Martin (in which he plays Bert Large), the third episode of the second series of Lewis and as the recurring minor character of Forum crier ("Newsreader") in the joint HBO/BBC production Rome.
McNeice has also appeared in a number of films, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Day of the Dead, No Escape, From Hell and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. His breakthrough into American films occurred when he played opposite Jim Carrey as Fulton Greenwall in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). He played Nazi Gerhard Klopfer in the 2001 BBC/HBO TV film Conspiracy, dramatising the Wannsee Conference. Since then he has been in Around the World in 80 Days (2004), and the 2005 drama/supernatural thriller White Noise. He also appeared as Potiphar in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
He has also applied his distinctive voice and accent to voice-acting roles: the Vogon character Kwaltz — director of the Vogon Constructor Fleet — in the 2005 film adaptation of Douglas Adams' multi-format creation The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; and in 2007 when he made his Doctor Who debut guest-starring as villain Zeus in the Big Finish BBC Digital Radio 7 / CD-released drama Immortal Beloved, starring Paul McGann (as the Eighth Doctor). He had a cameo role of Joachim von Kortzfleisch, a German general who refused to put his troops under the command of officers plotting to depose Hitler's government in Valkyrie.
McNeice was initially cast in the role of Illyrio Mopatis in the HBO pilot of Game of Thrones,but a month later the role was recast to Roger Allam because of scheduling conflicts.[1] He appears as Winston Churchill[2] in four episodes of Doctor Who in 2010 and 2011. He had previously played Churchill in the 2008 premiere production of the Howard Brenton play Never So Good, and later played him again in the 2012 stage version of The Kings Speech[3].
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | Wackford Squeers / Scaley / Croupier | TV series |
| 1983 | The Cleopatras | Alexander | TV series |
| 1983 | Voice Over | 'Fats' Bannerman | |
| 1984 | Top Secret! | Blind Souvenir Salesman | |
| 1987 | 84 Charing Cross Road | Bill Humphries | |
| 1987 | Personal Services | Harry | |
| 1987 | The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne | Bernard Rice | |
| 1988 | Whoops Apocalypse | Thrush | |
| 1988 | The Raggedy Rawney | The Farmer | |
| 1989 | Valmont | Azolan | |
| 1990 | The Russia House | Merrydew | |
| 1990 | 1871 | Prince of Wales | |
| 1991 | Secret Friends | First Businessman | |
| 1992 | B & B | Horace Gilbert | |
| 1992 | Year of the Comet | Ian | |
| 1992 | An Ungentlemanly Act | Dick Baker | TV film |
| 1992 | The Blackheath Poisonings | George Collard | TV film |
| 1993 | Age of Treason | Casca | TV film |
| 1993 | Don't Leave Me This Way | Oscar Ghilardi | |
| 1994 | No Escape | King | |
| 1995 | Funny Bones | Stanley Sharkey | |
| 1995 | The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain | George Garrad | |
| 1995 | Sharpe's Battle | Wagonmaster-General Colonel Runciman | TV film |
| 1995 | Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls | Fulton Greenwall | |
| 1996 | Chef! | Gustave LaRoche | TV series |
| 1996 | Cadfael : The Devil's Novice | Canon Eluard | TV series |
| 1997 | The Beautician and the Beast | Iva Grushinsky | |
| 1997 | A Life Less Ordinary | Mayhew | |
| 1998 | How to Make the Cruelest Month | Peggy Asks | |
| 1998 | Hornblower: The Examination for Lieutenant | Mr. Tapling | TV film |
| 1999 | The Auteur Theory | Sir Maximilian Fair Brown | |
| 1999 | Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat | Potiphar | |
| 1999 | The Cherry Orchard | Pishchik | |
| 1999 | A Christmas Carol | Albert Fezziwig | TV film |
| 1999 | David Copperfield | Mr Dick | TV film |
| 2000 | Longitude | Doctor | TV series |
| 2000 | Frank Herbert's Dune | Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | TV miniseries |
| 2000 | The Sleeper | Mr Tarburck | TV film |
| 2000 | The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz | The Inspector | |
| 2001 | Anazapta | Bishop | |
| 2001 | The Body | Dr. Sproul | |
| 2001 | Conspiracy | Dr. Gerhard Klopfer | TV film |
| 2001 | From Hell | Dr. Robert Drudge | |
| 2001 | Town & Country | Peter Principal | |
| 2001 | The Fourth Angel | MI5 officer | |
| 2002 | Amnèsia | Doug Chandler | |
| 2002 | Man and Boy | Nigel Batty | |
| 2002 | The Final Curtain | Priest | |
| 2003 | Chaos and Cadavers | Harry Kane | |
| 2003 | Frank Herbert's Children of Dune | Baron Vladimir Harkonnen | TV miniseries |
| 2003 | Blackball | Hugh the Sideburns | |
| 2003 | I'll Be There | Graham | |
| 2004 | Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason | The Quizmaster | |
| 2004 | Spartacus | Lentulus Batiatus | TV Film |
| 2004 | Around the World in 80 Days | Kitchener | |
| 2004 | The Rocket Post | Alex Miln | |
| 2004 | Freeze Frame | Forensic Profiler Saul Seger | |
| 2004–present | Doc Martin | Bert Large | TV series |
| 2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Kwaltz | Voice |
| 2005 | White Noise | Raymond Price | |
| 2005 | Cherished | Bill Bache | TV film |
| 2005 | Oliver Twist | Limbkins | |
| 2005–2007 | Rome | The Newsreader | TV series |
| 2006 | The Black Dahlia | Coroner | |
| 2008 | Day of the Dead | Paul – D.J. | |
| 2008 | Valkyrie | Pompous General (Joachim von Kortzfleisch) | |
| 2010–2011 | Doctor Who – The Beast Below / Victory of the Daleks / The Pandorica Opens / The Wedding of River Song | Winston Churchill | |
| 2010 | Jonathan Creek | Father Roderick Alberic | |
| 2012 | Nativity 2: The Second Coming | Mr. Peterson Senior | Film |
[edit] References
- ^ "Illyrio recast". Winter-Is-Coming.net. 2010-09-16. http://winter-is-coming.net/2010/09/illyrio-recast/. Retrieved 2011-10-29.
- ^ "First Smith 'Doctor Who' titles confirmed". 3 February 2010. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doctorwho/news/a201231/first-smith-doctor-who-titles-confirmed.html. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
- ^ "The King's Speech play has its world premiere". BBC News. 3 February 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16860995. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
