Charles Gray (actor): Difference between revisions
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'''Charles Gray''' (29 August 1928 - 7 March 2000) was an [[England|English]] [[actor]] |
'''Charles Gray''' (29 August 1928 - 7 March 2000) was an [[England|English]] [[actor]] who was also well-known for roles including the [[arch-villain]] [[Ernst Stavro Blofeld|Blofeld]] in the [[James Bond film]] ''[[Diamonds Are Forever (film)|Diamonds Are Forever]]'', [[Sherlock Holmes]]' brother [[Mycroft Holmes]] in the ''[[The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV series)|Granada television series]]'', and as the [[narrator]] of the [[cult classic]] ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]'' in 1975. |
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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Revision as of 14:08, 26 January 2011
Charles Gray | |
|---|---|
| Born | Donald Marshall Gray |
| Other names | Marshall |
Charles Gray (29 August 1928 - 7 March 2000) was an English actor who was also well-known for roles including the arch-villain Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft Holmes in the Granada television series, and as the narrator of the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show in 1975.
Early life
Gray was born Donald Marshall Gray in Bournemouth, Dorset, the son of Maude Elizabeth (née Marshall) and Donald Gray, who was a surveyor.[1] Gray attended Bournemouth School alongside Benny Hill, whose school had been evacuated to the same buildings, during the Second World War. Some of his friends remember that his bedroom walls were plastered with pictures of film stars.
Stage career
He began his stage experience at the theatre club next to Bournemouth's Palace Court Hotel, where he was a last-minute cast replacement in The Beaux' Stratagem. Gray surprised everyone, including himself, with the quality of his performance.
When Gray moved away from Bournemouth in the late 1950s, his parents remained at the family home until their deaths. On becoming a professional actor he had to change his name, as there was already an actor named Donald Gray. He chose Charles Gray partly because Charles was the name of his maternal grandfather, partly because he had a close friend named Charles, and partly because he thought it sounded nice. For his first appearance on Broadway, in the 1961 musical Kean, he went under the name "Oliver Gray."
Film and television
| Dikko Henderson | |
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| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Tiger Tanaka |
Through the 1960s, Gray established himself as a successful character actor and made many appearances on British television. Work in this period included Danger Man with Patrick MacGoohan and Maigret. Gray also appeared opposite Laurence Olivier in the film version of The Entertainer (1960) as a reporter.
His breakthrough year came in 1967 when he starred with Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif in the WWII murder-mystery movie The Night of the Generals.
The following year he played an Australian intelligence officer assigned to the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, Henderson, in the 1967 Bond film You Only Live Twice. Four years later he appeared as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever, both films starring Sean Connery as Bond. These make Gray one of a small number of actors to have played a villain and a Bond ally in the film series (another being Joe Don Baker).
Gray's most prolific work as an actor was between 1968 and 1979 when he appeared in more than forty major film and television productions. In this period he is perhaps best known for portraying The Criminologist (the narrator) in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a similar character, Judge Oliver Wright, in its 1981 sequel Shock Treatment. In 1983, he starred alongside Coral Browne and Alan Bates in the award winning TV film An Englishman Abroad.
Other well-known film work includes The Devil Rides Out, Mosquito Squadron, Cromwell and The Beast Must Die.
Later work
Gray portrayed Mycroft Holmes in both the 1976 film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and opposite Jeremy Brett's Sherlock in four episodes of the 1984 Granada Television series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In two episodes of the final Brett series, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, he had leading roles as Mycroft, the first because Watson actor Edward Hardwicke was busy on another film project and the second as a result of Brett's illness.
Other television appearances include Dennis Potter's Blackeyes, The New Statesman, Thriller, Upstairs, Downstairs, Bergerac, Porterhouse Blue, plus a range of Shakespearean roles.
He regularly dubbed for Jack Hawkins after Hawkins's larynx was removed to combat throat cancer, as the two men's otherwise highly distinctive voices were similar. An example of this is in the film Theatre of Blood.
Death
Gray died of cancer on Tuesday 7 March 2000. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium where his ashes remain.
References
Selected filmography
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