Charles Dance

This article is about the contemporary English actor. For other uses, see Charles Dance (disambiguation).

Charles Dance OBE
Dance at the London Film and Comic Con, July 2012.
Born	Walter Charles Dance (1946-10-10) 10 October 1946 Redditch, Worcestershire, England
Nationality	British
Education	Plymouth College of Art
Occupation(s)	Actor, screenwriter, film director
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Joanna Haythorn ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 2004)​
Children	3

Walter Charles Dance, OBE (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor, screenwriter, and film director.

Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains. Some of his most high-profile roles are Tywin Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones, Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown (1984), Sardo Numspa in The Golden Child (1986), Dr. Jonathan Clemens in Alien 3 (1992), Benedict in Last Action Hero (1993), the Master Vampire in Dracula Untold (2014), Lord Havelock Vetinari in Terry Pratchett's Going Postal (2010) and Alastair Denniston in The Imitation Game (2014).

Early life

Charles Dance was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, the son of Eleanor (née Perks), a cook, and Walter Dance, an engineer. Growing up in Plymouth, he attended Widey Technical School for Boys (it closed when known as Widey High School in 1988) in Crownhill.

Career

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)

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.

Television and film

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 Edward the Seventh (as dissolute Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, Edward VII's oldest son, and heir to the throne), Murder Rooms, Randall and Hopkirk, Rebecca, The Phantom of the Opera, Fingersmith and Bleak House (for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie). 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. He also played Guy Spencer, the pro-Hitler propagandist, in the second installment of Foyle's War, and had an ongoing role as Dr. Maltravers in the ITV drama Trinity.

Dance made a guest appearance on the BBC drama series Merlin as the Witchfinder Aredian, and as a vainglorious version of himself in the third series of Jam & Jerusalem. He played Havelock Vetinari in the 2010 Sky adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. He played 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. Dance also played Conrad Knox on the British television series Strike Back: Vengeance as the primary villain in the series. 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. Though he turned down the opportunity to screen test for the James Bond role, 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).

On 30 June 2013, Dance appeared amongst other celebrities in an episode of the BBC's Top Gear as a "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" for the debut of the Vauxhall Astra.

Screenwriting and directing

Dance's debut film as a writer and director was Ladies in Lavender (2004), which starred Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. In 2009, he directed his own adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis's The Inn at the Edge of the World.

Personal life

Dance married Joanna Haythorn in 1970. They have two children. He became engaged to sculptor Eleanor Boorman in September 2010. They have a daughter, Rose, born in March 2012, though the two subsequently separated.

Dance was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006. He lives in Kentish Town in north London.

Filmography

Film

Year(s)	Film	Character	Notes
1981	For Your Eyes Only	Claus
1985	Plenty	Raymond Brock
1986	The Golden Child	Sardo Numspa
1987	White Mischief	Josslyn Hay
1987	Good Morning, Babylon	D.W. Griffith
1987	Hidden City	James Richards
1988	Pascali's Island	Anthony Bowles
1992	Alien 3	Clemens
1992	Kalkstein	Surveyor	Italian film
1993	Last Action Hero	Benedict
1993	Century	Professor Mandry
1994	China Moon	Rupert Munro
1994	Kabloonak	Robert Flaherty	Paris Film Festival Award for Best Actor
1994	Shortcut to Paradise	Quinn	Spanish film
1996	Space Truckers	Nabel / Macanudo
1996	Michael Collins	Soames
1997	The Blood Oranges	Cyril
1998	What Rats Won't Do	Gerald
1998	Don't Go Breaking My Heart	Frank
1998	Hilary and Jackie	Derek Du Pré
2001	Gosford Park	Raymond Stockbridge
2001	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Ralph Nickleby
2001	Dark Blue World	Wing Commander Bentley
2002	Black and White	Roderic Chamberlain
2002	Ali G Indahouse	David Carlton
2003	Swimming Pool	John Bosload
2006	Dolls	Narrator	Voice
2006	Scoop	Mr. Malcolm
2006	Starter for 10	Michael Harbinson
2007	The Contractor	DCS Andrew Windsor	Direct-to-video
2011	Ironclad	Archbishop Langton
2011	Your Highness	King Tallious
2012	Midnight's Children	William Methwold
2012	Underworld: Awakening	Thomas
2013	Patrick	Doctor Roget
2013	Justin and the Knights of Valour	Legantir	Voice
2013	Bones of the Buddha	Narrator	Voice
2013	Viy	V roli lorda Dadli	Credited as Charlz Dens
2014	Dracula Untold	Master Vampire
2014	The Imitation Game	Commander Alastair Denniston
2015	Victor Frankenstein	Frankenstein
2015	Michiel de Ruyter	Charles II
2015	Woman in Gold	Sherman
2015	Child 44	Major Grachev
2016	Pride and Prejudice and Zombies	Mr. Bennet
2016	Me Before You	Stephen Traynor
2016	Ghostbusters	Harold Filmore
2016	Despite the Falling Snow	Old Alexander
2016	Underworld: Blood Wars	Thomas

Television

Year(s)	Series	Character	Notes
1974	Father Brown	Commandant Neil O'Brien	Episode: "The Secret Garden"
1975	Edward the Seventh	Prince Eddy	2 episodes
1984	The Jewel in the Crown	Guy Perron
1987	Out on a Limb	Gerry Stamford	TV miniseries
1988	First Born	Edward Forester	TV miniseries
1990	The Phantom of the Opera'	Erik/The Phantom of the Opera	TV miniseries
1997	Rebecca	Maxim de Winter	TV miniseries
2000	The Real Spartacus	Narrator	Documentary
2000	A History of Britain	Winston Churchill	Voice (document reading) Episode: "The Two Winstons"
2000	Foyle's War	Guy Spencer	Episode: "The White Feather"
2003	Henry VIII	Duke of Buckingham	TV movie
2004	Saint John Bosco: Mission to Love	Marquis Clementi	Italian film
2005	Fingersmith	Mr. Lilly	TV movie
2005	Bleak House	Mr. Tulkinghorn
2005	To the Ends of the Earth	Sir Henry Somerset	Episode: "Close Quarters"
2005	Last Rights	Richard Wheeler	TV miniseries
2006	Marple: By the Pricking of My Thumbs	Septimus Bligh	Episode: "By the Pricking of My Thumbs"
2009	Jam & Jerusalem	Himself
2009	Merlin	Aredian	Episode: "The Witchfinder"
2009	Trinity	Dr. Edmund Maltraver
2010	Going Postal	Havelock Vetinari
2010	This September	Edmund Aird	2 episodes
2011–2015	Game of Thrones	Tywin Lannister
2011	Neverland	Dr. Richard Fludd	Episode: "Part 1"
2012	Secret State	John Hodder	TV miniseries
2012	Strike Back: Vengeance	Conrad Knox
2013	Top Gear	Himself	Appeared in Series 20, Episode 1
2013	Was It Something I Said?	Narrator	Guest (one episode)
2013	Rosamunde Pilchers's Shades of Love	Edmund Aird
2014	The Great Fire	Lord Denton	TV miniseries
2015	Childhood's End	Karellen	TV miniseries
2015	Deadline Gallipoli	General Ian Hamilton	TV miniseries
2015	And Then There Were None	Justice Lawrence Wargrave	TV miniseries

Video games

Year(s)	Series	Character	Notes
2015	The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	Emperor Emhyr var Emreis	Voice

Theatre credits

Stage

• Toad of Toad Hall as Badger (1971)
• The Beggar's Opera as Wat Dreary (Chichester Festival Theatre, 1972)
• The Taming of the Shrew as Philip (Chichester, 1972)
• Three Sisters as Soliony (Greenwich Theatre, 1973)
• Hans Kohlhaus as Meissen (Greenwich, 1973)
• Born Yesterday as Hotel Manager (Greenwich, 1973)
• Saint Joan as Baudricourt (Oxford Festival, 1974)
• The Sleeping Beauty as Prince (1974)
• Travesties as Henry Carr (Leeds Playhouse, 1977)
• Hamlet as Fortinbras / Reynaldo / Player (RSC The Other Place 1975; The Roundhouse, 1976)
• Perkin Warbeck as Hialas / Astley / Spanish Ambassador (RSC The Other Place, 1975)
• Richard III as Catesby / Murderer (RSC The Other Place, 1975)
• Henry V as Henry V (RSC Glasgow and New York, 1975)
• Henry IV, Part One and Henry IV, Part Two as Prince John of Lancaster (RSC Stratford, 1975; Aldwych Theatre, 1976)
• As You Like It as Oliver (RSC Stratford, 1977; Aldwych, 1978)
• Henry V as Scroop / Williams (RSC Stratford, 1977)
• Henry VI, Part 2 as Buckingham (RSC Stratford, 1977; Aldwych, 1978)
• The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs as Whistling Guard / Freeman (RSC Donmar Warehouse, 1978; The Other Place, 1979)
• Coriolanus as Volscian Lieutenant (RSC Stratford, 1977)
• Coriolanus as Tullus Aufidius (Aldwych, 1978 and 1979)
• The Women Pirates as Blackie / Vosquin (RSC Aldwych, 1978)
• The Changeling as Tomazo (RSC Aldwych, 1978)
• Irma la Douce as Nestor (Shaftesbury Theatre, 1979)
• The Heiress as Morris Townsend (1980)
• Turning Over as Frank (Bush Theatre, 1983)
• Coriolanus as Coriolanus (RSC Stratford and Newcastle upon Tyne, 1989; Barbican Theatre, 1990)
• Three Sisters as Vershinin (Birmingham Rep, 1998)
• Good as John Halder (Donmar Warehouse, 1999)
• Long Day's Journey into Night as James Tyrone (Lyric Theatre, 2000)
• The Play What I Wrote as a guest star (Wyndham's Theatre, 2001–2002)
• Celebration as Richard (Gate Theatre, Dublin; Albery Theatre, 2005)
• The Exonerated (Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, 2006)
• Eh Joe as Joe (Parade Theatre, Sydney, 2006)
• Shadowlands as C. S. Lewis (Wyndham's Theatre, 2007 and Novello Theatre 2007–2008)

Further reading

• Who's Who in the Theatre, 16th/17th editions, edited by Ian Herbert, Pitman/Gale 1977/1981
• Theatre Record and Theatre Record Indexes
• Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies Fourth edition by John Walker, HarperCollins 2006 ISBN 978-0-00-716957-3
• Charles Dance's own CVs in various theatre programmes

External links

• Charles Dance at IMDb