Alan Dale

This article is about the New Zealand/Australian actor. For the singer, see Alan Dale (singer).

Alan Dale
File:Caleb nickol.jpg Dale as The O.C character Caleb Nichol
Born	Alan Hugh Dale

Alan Dale (born May 6, 1947 in Dunedin, New Zealand) is a New Zealand actor who also has been on many Australian TV Shows. He is best known internationally for his roles as Jim Robinson in Neighbours, Caleb Nichol in The O.C., Bradford Meade in Ugly Betty and Charles Widmore in Lost.

Biography

Career

Dale first became widely recognized through a three-and-a-half year stint playing the bad tempered and enigmatic Dr. John Forrest in Australian soap opera The Young Doctors. After The Young Doctors he was cast as the lead in the Grundy serial Possession but the series was not a success. Dale then played the key continuing role of Jim Robinson in soap opera Neighbours. Dale continued with the role of Jim for eight years, from 1985 until 1993. In addition to being successful in Australia, both The Young Doctors and Neighbours also became popular in the United Kingdom. During his run in Neighbours he also acted in horror movie Houseboat Horror (1989).

Dale relocated to Los Angeles, California where he continued his acting career. There he appeared in many well known television series including American Dreams, ER, JAG, The West Wing and NCIS.

Dale played the "Toothpick Man" in three episodes of The X-Files, including the series finale. He then took the recurring role of Vice President of the United States Jim Prescott for several episodes of the second season of 24. That year he played the guest role of Romulan Praetor Hiren in Star Trek Nemesis.

From 2003 to 2005, Dale starred on the FOX summer TV series, The O.C. playing Caleb Nichol, a wealthy tycoon and father of Kirsten Cohen, Lindsay Gardner, and Hailey Nichol (Kelly Rowan, Shannon Lucio, and Amanda Righetti) and grandfather of Seth (Adam Brody). The producers saw that the character had further potential, and made his initially recurring role a regular character in the series.

After his role in The O.C. ended, Dale appeared in the second season finale of Lost, as the wealthy father of Penny, Desmond's ex-fiance, in one of Desmond's flashbacks. It was revealed that Dale's character had intercepted all of Desmond's letters to Penny from prison in order to cut him out of her life, and he offered Desmond a large sum of money to stay away from her. Desmond in turn refused and entered into a race around the world sponsored by Dale's character. Desmond's boat would crash during the race in a storm on the island. Coincidentally, Desmond's boat is registered in Newport Beach, CA- the posh Orange County township in which Dale's character on The O.C. lived.

From 2006 to 2007, he appeared as the patriarch of the embattled business everyone wants to run on the TV series Ugly Betty. He plays Bradford Meade, the owner of Meade Publications, which publishes the fashion magazine MODE (which is actually owned by his wife Claire), and is the father of eccentric womanizing editor Daniel Meade and post-op transgendered daughter Alexis Meade.

In Neighbours, The O.C. and Ugly Betty Dale's characters were all written out of each series respectively through fatal heart attacks.

On 20 February 2008, Dale appeared in the episode Reset of the British sci-fi drama Torchwood.

Neighbours controversy

On March 1, 2007, Dale revealed his feelings about his former employers when he worked on Neighbours. "I didn't like it there, they were not nice people.” “When we decided that we hated each other, the company and me, one of the things the company did was to market everything they could out of us and pay us nothing,” Dale said.

Future roles

He is notable as being one of only nine actors to appear in both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises. The others are Simon Pegg, Daphne Ashbrook, Barrie Ingham, Maurice Roëves, Christopher Neame, Olaf Pooley, Guy Siner and John Franklyn-Robbins. (Gregg Palmer also appeared in both franchises but his role in Star Trek went uncredited.) Dale also appears as Ray Walsman in the second season of the Australian naval drama Sea Patrol and has an unnamed role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

On 3 March 2008, Alan takes over the lead role of King Arthur in London's production of Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre. This part is currently being played by Peter Davison.

Personal life

When he was 21 he married Claire Dale, and had two children, Simon and Matthew Dale. Both are involved in the entertainment industry, as a radio announcer at Kiss 100 and writer/actor/musician respectively. This first marriage ended in divorce in 1979. During the marriage Alan lived in Auckland but after the divorce moved to Sydney. Since April 8, 1990 he has been married to the 1986 Miss Australia, Tracey Pearson. He has two children from this marriage as well.

Quotations

On how he unwinds: "By watching rugby. Especially the (New Zealand) All Blacks. Definitely when they beat England". This comment was made for broadcast in the UK, and reported in the New Zealand Herald on 2 June, 2007.

On being a New Zealander or Australian:
"I like both places but I get a lot more respect and recognition from Australia than I do in New Zealand. New Zealanders don't want to know me at all, really. I've been Australian for 20-odd years. Everywhere I went I was the guy from Neighbours so I was Australian. Then when I came here [Hollywood], because I have a New Zealand passport I became a New Zealander again. It's odd."

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1989	Houseboat Horror	Evans	Direct to video release
2002	Rent Control	George
	Star Trek: Nemesis	Praetor Hiren
2003	The Extreme Team	Richard Knowles
	Hollywood Homicide	Commander Preston
2004	Straight Eye: The Movie	Kelly's Dad
	After the Sunset	Security Chief
2008	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	Unnamed role	Post-production

Television

Year	Series	Role	Notes
1979-1982	The Young Doctors	Dr. John Forrest
1985-1992	Neighbours	Jim Robinson	Main cast member; longest-running role
1986	The Far Country	Dave Marshall	Two-part TV film
1994	Janus	Richard Issacs	Recurring role
	Time Trax	Mr. Bergdorf	Episode "The Crash"
1995	Plainclothes	Mitch Mitchell
	Space: Above and Beyond	Colonial Governor Borman	Episode "Pilot"
1997	Frontline	Dave	Episode "Dick on the Line"
	Blue Heelers	Rod Wright	Episode "Off the Air"
1997-1998	State Coroner	Dudley Mills	Recurring role; appeared in eight episodes
1999	Alien Cargo	Eichhorn, Explorer Dolphin	TV film
	First Daughter	Daly	TV film
2000	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World	Phelan	Episode "The Chosen One"
2000-2001	ER	Al Patterson	Recurring role; appeared in four episodes
2001	The Lone Gunmen	Michael Wilhelm	Episode "Eine Kleine Frohike"
	Philly	Bruce Frohman	Episode "Loving Sons"
2002	The X-Files	Toothpick Man	Appeared in three episodes including the series finale
	American Dreams	Unnamed character	Episode "Soldier Boy"
	The Practice	Judge Robert Brenford	Episodes "Silent Partners" and "The Good Fight"
2002-2003	The West Wing	Secretary of Commerce Mitch Bryce	Episodes "Twenty Five" and "20 Hours in America, Part I"
2003	JAG	Tom Morrow	Episodes "Meltdown" and "Ice Queen"
	CSI: Miami	Canadian Consulate General Dubay	Episode "Blood Brothers"
2003-2004	24	Vice President Jim Prescott	Recurring role; appeared in eight episodes
2003-2005	The O.C.	Caleb Nichol	Main cast member
	NCIS	Tom Morrow	Recurring role; reprised character from JAG, appeared in seven episodes
2004	Crossing Jordan	Carl Logan	Episode "Slam Dunk"
2005	E-Ring	Metcalfe	Appeared in three episodes
2006-	Lost	Charles Widmore	Recurring guest star; has appeared in four episodes beginning with "Live Together, Die Alone"
2006-2008	Ugly Betty	Bradford Meade	Main cast member
2008	Torchwood	Dr. Aaron Copley	Episode "Reset"
	Midnight Man	Donald Hagan	In production
	Sea Patrol	Ray Walsman	In production

External links

• Template:Tv.com person
• Alan Dale at Memory Alpha
• "Alan Dale shares his Hollywood highs and heartbreak" from New Zealand Herald (February 15, 2007)
• Broadband video interview with Alan Dale, discussing Ugly Betty. at Neighbours Girls and Boys