Charles Dance

Charles Dance

Charles Dance
Born 10 October 1946 (1946-10-10) (age 64)
Redditch, Worcestershire

Charles Dance, OBE (born Walter Charles Dance; 10 October 1946) is an English actor, screenwriter and director. Dance typically plays assertive bureaucrats or villains.

Dance was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 17 June 2006.

Contents

Early life

Dance was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, the son of Eleanor (née Perks), a cook, and Walter Dance, an engineer.[1][2] He attended Widey Technical School for Boys (it closed when known as Widey High School in 1988) in Manadon. He was set for a career in graphic design from the Plymouth College of Art before turning to acting.

Career

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.[3]

Television

Dance made his screen debut in 1974, 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 Murder Rooms, Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Rebecca, The Phantom of the Opera, Fingersmith and Bleak House (for which he received an Emmy nomination). 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. Dance recently appeared as a guest star in the BBC television series Merlin as an infamous witch hunter. He also played Guy Spencer, the pro-Hitler propagandist, in the second instalment of Foyle's War, and had an ongoing role as Dr. Maltravers in the ITV drama Trinity.

Dance played Havelock Vetinari in the 2010 Sky adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal [4].

In July 2010, it was confirmed that Dance will be playing 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[5]. Dance, a fan of the books, was wooed for the role by the producers whilst filming Your Highness in Belfast[6].

Films

He has appeared in numerous films, including Plenty (1985) with Meryl Streep, The Golden Child (1986) with Eddie Murphy, Out On A Limb (1986) with Shirley MacLaine, White Mischief with Greta Scacchi (1987), Good Morning Babylon (1987), Hidden City (1987), Pascali's Island (1988), Alien 3 (1992), Kalkstein (Italy, 1992), Last Action Hero (1993), China Moon (1994), Kabloonak (1994, Paris Film Festival Award for Best Actor 1996), Century (1994), Shortcut to Paradise (Spain, 1994), Space Truckers (1996), Michael Collins (1996), What Rats Won't Do (1998), Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1998) Hilary and Jackie (1998), Gosford Park (2001), Dark Blue World (2001), Black and White (2002), Swimming Pool with Charlotte Rampling (2002), Ali G In Da House (2002), Dolls (2006) and Woody Allen's Scoop and The Contractor (2007). He recently 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, and 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).

Screenwriting and directing

His debut film as a screenwriter and director was Ladies in Lavender (2004), which starred Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith.

In 2008, filmed a role in Trinity for ITV2.[7]

In 2009, he will direct his own adaptation of Alice Thomas Ellis's The Inn at the Edge of the World and make a guest appearance in BBC drama series Merlin as the Witchfinder Aredian[8] and himself in the third series of Jam & Jerusalem.

Personal life

He married Joanna Haythorn in 1970 in Plymouth and they have two children Oliver (born 1974) and Rebecca (born 1980). After his marriage ended in 2004 he had a brief relationship with actress Sophia Myles, 34 years his junior. He currently resides in London, England.

Stage roles

Sources

2009 Jam and Jerusalem (BBC) Last Action Hero 1993

References

  1. ↑ Charles Dance Biography (1946-)
  2. ↑ Charles Dance Biography - Yahoo! Movies
  3. ↑ Dance is poignant perfection| Theatre | This is London
  4. ↑ http://www.skypressoffice.co.uk/SkyOne/news/showarticle.asp?id=2746&month=7&year=2009 Sky Press Release
  5. ↑ The Chicago Tribune
  6. ↑ Westeros.org
  7. ↑ Holmwood, Leigh (2008-07-15). "ITV2 plans 'sex, drugs and murder' drama to follow Billie Piper hit series". guardian.co.uk (Guardian Media Group). http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/15/itv.television. Retrieved 2008-07-15. 
  8. ↑ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a157039/guest-stars-confirmed-for-merlin.html

External links