John Rhys-Davies

Not to be confused with Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

John Rhys-Davies
Rhys-Davies at a convention in November 2003
Born	5 May 1944 (1944-05-05) Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Occupation	Actor/Voice artist
Years active	1964–present
Spouse	Suzanne A.D. Wilkinson (1966–2010; her death)
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John Rhys-Davies (born 5 May 1944) is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He also played Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables, Pilot Vasco Rodrigues in the mini-series Shōgun, Professor Maximillian Arturo in Sliders, King Richard I in Robin of Sherwood, General Leonid Pushkin in the James Bond film The Living Daylights, and Macro in I, Claudius. Additionally, he provided the voices of Cassim in Disney's Aladdin and the King of Thieves, Man Ray in SpongeBob SquarePants, and Tobias in the computer game Freelancer. He is also the narrator for the TV show Wildboyz.

Early life

Rhys-Davies was born in Ammanford, Wales, the son of Welsh parents Mary Margaretta Phyllis Jones, a nurse, and Rhys Davies, a mechanical engineer and Colonial Officer. He spent much of his childhood in his mother's home town of Ammanford, although he was also brought up in Tanganyika. He was educated at Truro School and at the University of East Anglia where he was one of the first 87 students admitted, and where he founded the Dramatic Society. After teaching at Watton County Secondary School in Norfolk he won a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

Although appearing sporadically on UK television in the early 1970s (for instance, as gangster Laughing Spam Fritter opposite Adam Faith in Budgie), Rhys-Davies first gained widespread popularity for his performance as Praetorian officer Naevius Sutorius Macro in I, Claudius. He then began to appear more frequently, and not just in the UK, with roles as a Portuguese navigator Rodrigues in the 1980 television miniseries Shogun, based on the novel by James Clavell, and in the Indiana Jones movies. In 1989, Rhys-Davies also starred in another James Clavell adaption, Noble House, set in Hong Kong, in which he plays Ian Dunross' corporate enemy, Quillian Gornt. He has since appeared in numerous television shows and miniseries, including Agent Michael Malone in the 1993 remake of the 1950s television series The Untouchables as well as a leading role in the television series Sliders as Professor Maximillian Arturo from 1995 to 1997. He also appeared in Reilly, Ace of Spies in 1983, made several appearances on Star Trek: Voyager as a holodeck version of Leonardo da Vinci, starred as an ally of James Bond in The Living Daylights and appeared in the movie One Night with the King. Davies has played the character Porthos in two separate projects; a two-part episode of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and the Hallmark Channel movie La Femme Musketeer. He has also appeared in a number of Sci Fi Channel original movies. In 2004, he starred in The Privileged Planet, a documentary that makes the case for intelligent design.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy

Rhys-Davies as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

He is also known for his popular portrayal of the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The cinematography of the films was aided in that Rhys-Davies is tall—6' 1", compared to the actors playing hobbits at around 5' 6". Therefore, whereas his character was supposed to be short, he was properly in proportion compared to the hobbit actors. Had he been of more similar height, shots of the entire fellowship would have required three camera passes rather than two. Rhys-Davies is the only one of the nine Fellowship of the Ring actors who did not receive a tattoo of the word "nine" written in the Tengwar script. The other members of the cast (Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, and Elijah Wood) got the same tattoo. Rhys-Davies' stunt double (Brett Beattie) got the tattoo instead as Rhys-Davies was disinclined to get one himself.

Rhys-Davies suffered severe allergic reactions to the prosthetics used during filming, with his eyes sometimes swelling shut. When an interviewer asked him whether he would consider returning to the role for the film version of The Hobbit, he said, "I've already been asked and to be honest with you, I wouldn't. I have already completely ruled it out. There's a sentimental part of me that would love to be involved again. Really I am not sure my face can take that sort of punishment any more." He added that this time around "They've got a different set of problems... because you've got 13 dwarves, a whole band of them... You're trying to represent a whole race... You're trying to do for dwarves what 'The Lord of the Rings' did for hobbits".

Voice work

In addition to voicing the Ent Treebeard in Lord of the Rings, Rhys-Davies has also lent his distinctive deep, Welsh voice to many video games and animated television series, including playing the role of Hades in Justice League and numerous times in Gargoyles (1994–1996), as the character Macbeth. He appears in the full motion video cut scenes of computer games including Ripper (as Vigo Haman) (1996), Dune 2000 (as Noree Moneo) (1998), and the Wing Commander series (as James "Paladin" Taggart). He also lent his vocal talents to the games Freelancer (as Winston Tobias) and Lords of Everquest (both in 2003) and the game Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, which was released with his narration on a CD-ROM version in 1995. He also made a voice role on Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance as the character Jherek, and narrated a documentary called The Glory of Macedonia.

John Rhys-Davies' voice can be heard on the 2009 documentary Reclaiming The Blade. In the narration, Rhys-Davies explores swords and fight choreography on film, a topic very familiar to him from his experiences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where his character Gimli wielded an axe in many scenes.

In 2004, he was the unknowing subject of an internet prank that spread false rumours in several mainstream media sources that he was scheduled to play the role of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III.

Rhys-Davies is the narrator of The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible, a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully dramatized audiobook version of the New Testament which uses the RSV-CE translation. In 2011, he presented KJB: The Book That Changed The World, which features him reading diverse snippets from the King James Version.

Political views

Rhys-Davies in an autograph session in Sweden

Rhys-Davies holds politically conservative views. As a university student in the 1960s, he had been a radical leftist, but changed his views when he went to heckle a young local member of parliament, Margaret Thatcher. Rhys-Davies says that "she shot down the first two hecklers in such brilliant fashion that I decided I ought for once to shut up and listen".

In 2004, Rhys-Davies stated the following in a very controversial interview with a Welsh news website about the Muslim population, stating:

There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we daren’t bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well… By 2020, fifty percent of the children in the Netherlands under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent… And don’t forget, coupled with this there is this collapse of numbers. Western Europeans are not having any babies. The population of Germany at the end of the century is going to be 56% of what it is now. The populations of France, 52% of what it is now. The population of Italy is going to be down 7 million people.

His comments were endorsed by the British National Party. Rhys-Davies commented that it was "distressing to find yourself on a BNP leaflet". He was also endorsed in a National Vanguard editorial. Yet, in an interview with the conservative journal National Review, he clarified that he is opposed to Islamic extremism precisely because he feels that it violates Western beliefs in equality, democracy, tolerance, and the abolition of slavery.

Personal life

In 1966, he married Suzanne A.D. Wilkinson, a translator. They have two sons, Ben and Tom. Although separated from Suzanne (who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995) they did not divorce and Rhys-Davies remained close to her until her death in August 2010. He has lived with Lisa Manning (ex-host from television show Good Morning) since 2004. They have a daughter, Maia. Davies has a house on the Isle of Man.

Filmography

• The Black Windmill (1974)
• Fall of Eagles (1974)
• The Naked Civil Servant (1975)
• A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (1979)
• Shōgun (1980)
• Peter and Paul (1981)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Ivanhoe (1982)
• Best Revenge (1982)
• Victor Victoria (1982)
• Sahara (1983)
• Sadat (1983)
• Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983)
• King Solomon's Mines (1985)
• Firewalker (film) (1986)
• The Living Daylights (1987)
• Waxwork (1988)
• War and Remembrance (1988)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)
• Great Expectations (1989)
• The Unnamable Returns (1991)
• The Double 0 Kid (1992)
• The Lost World (1992)
• Return to the Lost World (1992)
• Sunset Grill (1993)
• Cyborg Cop (1993)
• The Seventh Coin (1993)
• The Unnamable II: The Statement of Randolph Carter (1993)
• The High Crusade (1994)
• A Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
• Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness (1994)
• Sliders (1995–1997)
• Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm (1996)
• The Great White Hype (1996)
• Glory Daze (1996)
• Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996) (voice)
• Marquis de Sade (1996)
• Cats Don't Dance (1997) (voice)
• Bloodsport III (1997)
• Secret of the Andes (1998)
• Dune 2000 (1999)
• Au Pair (1999)
• Britannic (2000)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• Never Say Never Mind: The Swedish Bikini Team (2001)
• Sabretooth (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) (dual role)
• Endangered Species (2002)
• Scorcher (2002)
• Coronado (2003)
• Freelancer (2003) (voice)
• The Jungle Book 2 (2003) (voice)
• The Medallion (2003)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) (dual role)
• 12 Days of Terror (2004)
• The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)
• La Femme Musketeer (2004)
• The Lost Angel (2004)
• The Privileged Planet (2004) (voice of Narrator)
• Dragon Storm (2004 TV Movie)
• The Game of Their Lives (DVD title: The Miracle Match) (2005)
• Chupacabra: Dark Seas (DVD title: Chupacabra Terror) (2005)
• The King Maker (2005)
• One Night with the King (2006)
• The Legend of Sasquatch (2006)
• In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007)
• The Ferryman (2007)
• Catching Kringle (Short Film; 2007) (voice)
• Anaconda 3: Offspring (2008)
• Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008)
• Prisoners of the Sun (2009)
• Anacondas: Trail of Blood (2009)
• Reclaiming the Blade (2009)
• 31 North 62 East (2009)
• KJB:The Book That Changed The World (2011)

Television appearances

• The Sweeney (1975) (Ron Brett, "Poppy")
• I, Claudius (1976)
• 1990 (1977) (TV)
• The Nativity (1978) (TV)
• Shogun (1980) as Vasco Rodrigues
• Peter and Paul (1981) (TV)
• CHiPs (1982) (TV)
• Robin of Sherwood (1983) (TV)
• Marjorie and the Preacher Man (1987) (TV)
• Noble House (1988)
• I misteri della giungla nera (1991)
• Archaeology (1991) (Host)
• Tales from the Crypt (1991) (Emil Duvall, "Dead Wait")
• Batman: The Animated Series (1992) (voice only, "The Cape and the Cowl Conspiracy")
• The Untouchables (TV series, 1993–1994)
• Fantastic Four (1994 TV series) (1994–1995) (voice only- Thor, god of thunder, "To Battle the Living Planet")
• The Incredible Hulk (1996 TV series) (1996-1997) (voice only- Thor, "Mortal Bounds")
• Gargoyles (1994–96) (voice only, Macbeth)
• Sliders (TV series, 1995–1997)
• You Wish (TV series, 1997) (Mad Man Mustafa)
• Star Trek Voyager (1997–1998) as Leonardo da Vinci
• Justice League (2002) (voice only, "Paradise Lost")
• Helen of Troy as King Priam (2003)
• Revelations (Omnium Finis Imminet) (TV miniseries) (2005) as Professor Jonah Lampley
• Dark Days in Monkey City (2009) Narrator
• Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (2009) as Grimshank
• Legend of the Seeker (2010) as Horace/Panis Rahl
• Psych (2012) as the Museum Curator

Audio books

• AFFABEL (2006) (Voice)

External links

• John Rhys-Davies at the Internet Movie Database
• John Rhys-Davies at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Article about controversial statements January 18, 2004
• Andrew Leigh, "No Sean Penn". National Review. March 5, 2004.
• "Lord of the Rings star: I'm settled with a new family but I'll never leave my ailing wife" Mail Online, April 11, 2007